Customer Reviews

The Abortionist's Daughter

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The title of THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER suggests that the novel will center on Megan, a Colorado college student who comes from a local prominent family. Not only does her mother run the local abortion clinic, but her father is on the DA's staff. But for all their upper middle class affluence (they even have a lap pool with a motor-generated current against which to swim), the family is touched by tragedy. Megan's younger brother Ben, born with Down's Syndrome, died ten years ago at the age of four.

But while Megan does play an important role, the novel is far from just her story. On a December evening, a few weeks before Christmas, Dr. Diana Duprey is found dead in her lap pool. She has a direct line to the police department because so many threats have been made against her, but she also puts her house on an annual home design tour. Therefore, the people who had access to case her house are unlimited in number. She was seen in the company of a local religious right leader, against whom she has a restraining order, earlier that day. Her neighbor heard her engage in a screaming match with her husband, Frank, that afternoon. The local coroner takes herself off the case because she had an affair, years ago, with Frank. So just who did kill the abortionist?

While the murder mystery provides the framework for the story, the novel is much more than a whodunit. It flashes backwards as needed, slowly providing the clues needed to recreate Diana's last day, the events leading up to her murder, and the effect it has had not only on her daughter and husband, but the greater community as a whole. The slow unpeeling of the layers makes for compelling reading, and the revelations are well-paced.

However, this is a not a character study. While there are some beautifully drawn characters in the novel, the writer's use of omniscient POV keeps the reader at a distance and we never get to know the characters intimately. Therefore, the impact of Diana's death, while acknowledged, is not really felt. Diana herself is the novel's most intriguing and vivid character, and one almost wishes that the author had discarded the mystery and focused on the living Diana, her conflicts and ambiguities. Here is a woman who provides abortions (reset buttons, she calls them) yet chooses to keep her Down's Syndrome baby, only to lose him at the age of four. She is far more interesting than Megan, who is your average mixed-up teenager rebelling against her parents and upbringing.

Still, THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER is a beautifully written book that keeps the reader turning pages.

At its core, The Abortionist's Daughter is a mystery novel, but I wouldn't dare cheapen it by assigning a genre label. This is modern literary fiction at its best, with reflections on a marriage between two high-profile professionals, on the trials of raising a special needs child, on raising a teenaged daughter, and, of course, on the ethics of abortion.

The plot centers on the bludgeoning death of famed abortion doctor Diane Duprey. An outspoken activist, Duprey had garnered plenty of attention and a few public enemies in her two-decade career. She had a laundry list of restraining orders. On the other hand, her husband, the district attorney, had a violent temper, and the neighbors have heard their glass-shattering fights over the years. All of this leaves Dr, Duprey's college-age daughter, Megan, with a host of unanswered questions, including suspicions about her own father's whereabouts on the night of her mother's murder. Megan also has her own personal and romantic life to deal with, in addition to the complete upheaval of her family situation.

Author Elizabeth Hyde delivers a subtle twist in the murder of Diane Duprey, but it is only one of a half-dozen low-key (and entirely plausible) twists in the lives of this small Northeastern town. The outspoken pro-choice Reverend has several of his own skeletons in the closet, Dr. Duprey had recently violated her own retraining order to have conversations with the Reverend, Dr. Duprey's husband refuses to disclose his activities in the hours preceding his wife's death, there is a scandalous affair in the past history of the husband and wife, a cop is accused of questionable behavior with a witness, and daughter Megan has used questionable judgement in dealing with an ex-boyfriend.

This is a thoroughly engrossing novel that addresses a spectrum of topics from family relations to parent-child relations to love affairs to true crime. While the slant of the book is decidedly favorable to a pro-choice viewpoint, the anti-choice perspective is also portrayed in an objective and thought-provoking manner. Fans of this book may enjoy the movie Vera Drake, which is similarly philosophical on the topic of abortion.

Dr. Diana Duprey is infamous in the small Colorado town she calls home. Not because of her husband, Frank, who's a Colorado District Attorney, or because of her beautiful home, which has been in the Home Show for the last three years. No, Dr. Duprey is well-known because of her profession: She runs the only abortion clinic in town. So when she's found floating dead in her pool, an ugly bruise discoloring her forehead, the list of murder suspects is not a short one.

For detective Huck Berlin, everyone is a suspect: the religious zealots who camp outside the clinic every day with their disturbing signs and leave hateful messages on Diana's answering machine, the reverend in charge of the local Coalition for Life, the coroner who had an affair with Frank years earlier...Even Diana's husband and daughter, nineteen-year-old Megan, who both quarreled with her on the day of her death, are being closely watched. The investigation gets even more complicated when Frank won't provide a motive for his whereabouts at the time of Diana's death, and Huck begins to fall for Megan against his better judgement.

I'm completely in the minority here, but I just didn't like THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER as much as most of the other reviewers. It just felt like there was something missing. All of the characters lack depth--with the exception of Diana herself, who we meet only in flashbacks--and they just aren't compelling or likeable. I couldn't wait to read this novel, because it seemed like there was so much potential for a sensitive discussion about some controversial issues (abortion, infidelity, contemporary marriage, recreational drug use, obsession, etc.). Unfortunately, while Hyde touches on all of these issues, she doesn't go in depth enough to make any kind of worthwhile statement about them. The plot itself seems empty--there's just not a lot of meat to the story. The murderer is obvious pretty much right away, and the relationship between Megan and Huck feels completely inauthentic. Megan herself comes across as an immature, spoiled brat, and she didn't gain my sympathy at ALL.

The last two chapters of THE ABORTIONIST'S DAUGHTER are just stellar (and the last paragraph is poignant and beautifully written), but it's not enough to save the rest of the novel, which flounders under its own weight after an explosive beginning. Hyde tackles the big issues in her new novel, that's for sure; but the results are mixed. Not really recommended.

Super book! "The Abortionist's Daughter" is engaging on many levels. It's an engrossing murder mystery that keeps you guessing to the end, but it's also much more. The characters are vividly drawn, the human relationships complex, and the dialogue rings true. And parts are very funny. The characters you'd expect in any mystery - the police detective, district attorney, forensics expert, distraught family members, etc - are deep and complicated. In the course of unfolding the mystery, Elisabeth Hyde examines and dissects the parent-teen relationship, angst of young adults, strained marriages, and the fragile line between love and loneliness.

I've read and enjoyed all of Hyde's previous books, but this one may be her best.

I was quite disappointed in this book. Based on the professional reviews I had read, I expected a better, more absorbing story. First of all, I could not find a single character in this book that I liked, much less related to. From the ecstasy-popping daughter of the title to the fanatical "Reverend," I found I didn't really care what happened to ANY of them. Secondly, I thought that maybe the provocative title meant that the book would make me think about my own position on abortion and why I feel that way, but there was nothing there I hadn't already considered. In the end, the doctor's chosen speciality had nothing to do with her murder, which made me wonder why the author even chose to make her an abortionist. What was the point?

After reading the great reviews, I was really looking forward to this book. But I was disappointed. The author's prose was excellent, and the story well conceived. But the only compelling character happens to be the victim, Dr. Diana Duprey, whose story is told through flashbacks. She is a multi-layered and very interesting character. Her husband Frank is bland, and her daughter Megan is a spoiled brat. I wanted to reach out and choke her halfway through the book. The "romance," if you can call it that, between Megan and the detective seemed unnecessary and not believable. I also saw the ending coming a mile away. I kept waiting for a twist at the end, but it didn't come.

I particularly appreciated Hyde's rendering of a longtime marriage with unresolved conflicts, which rang very true. As did the relationship between Diana Duprey and her daughter. A minor complaint: an autopsy report indicates that Diana had sex near the end of her life, but unless I missed something, this element is left dangling.

I got halfway through this book and had to put it down. The characters were not sympathetic or even likeable. There were times that I could feel the author using her "skills" -- descriptive phrases and throwaway lines that felt too forced and technical and interrupted the flow of the story. At one point I thought, Wow--she must have used that in a different story in some writing class! Then, half-way through the book I could see what was coming, and just decided that I couldn't spend more time on the story when I could already see the outcome. I read ahead some and skimmed the last few pages and was not at all surprised by whodunit. This is the second book by this author that I have read, and I come away from this one feeling the same way I did about the first. Maybe one day she will break out and have a fantastic and moving story, but right now her stuff is just good 'nuff...just not for me.

I borrowed this book from a friend... well, really she forced me to take it after she read it. She said it was great, but it didn't really sound like the usual books that I read. Well, I finally decided to read it, and was skeptical even after I read the first chapter. But something about the book pulled me in. I started reading this book before I went to work on Friday, read to about page 25 on Friday night, and then ended up finishing the book before I could go to sleep on Saturday night. It was a page turner that I did not expect, and I am thankful that the book was pushed onto me.
I liked the characters becuase they were so full of faults. Hyde presents all the problems that the characters have when she first introduces them. Then as you read more of the book, the characters's faults start to be explained and you see the other side of them as well.
I think that my favorite parts of the book were when Dr Duprey life was being examined. It was hard to read the when they described how exactly an abortion was done, but I really like the woman that this doctor was.
Some things in this book could be guessed from the beginning, but all in all the book is a great read and I highly recommend it!

Dr. Diana Duprey, an abortion doctor, is found dead, floating in the family pool. The suspects include her husband Frank, who is the town D.A. who fought with her last, Rev. Steve O'Connell who visited Diana in her home even though she had a restraining order in place, and her daughter Megan, who also argued with Diana the same day.

"The Abortionist's Daughter" is sort-of whodunit mystery wrapped around a controversial issue. The mystery aspect of the novel was predictable at best. I guessed who had murdered Diana halfway through the book. That didn't stop the book from being enjoyable, though. One thing I liked about the book is that it didn't shove certain views down your throat. Hyde didn't put down people for abortions and/or people against abortions.

One thing that absolutely bugged me was the "blossoming" relationship between the cop investigating the case and the victim's daughter, Megan. Was I supposed to be rooting for that relationship? Because I wasn't. That could not have been more inappropriate. It wasn't sweet or romantic. The novel would have been better off if that particular route had not been taken. So, two stars.