The Children Act

I heard an interview with Ian McEwan on NPR and the book sounded absolutely fascinating. However, when I read it, it was less about the morality of difficult family law cases and more about the judge and her declining marriage.

Judge Finona Maye is a 60-year-old woman who leads the family courts in the UK. She is highly renown in her profession, but her marriage is falling apart. Her husband has come to her and asked for her blessing for him to have a quick affair with a younger woman. She says no and the book is the aftermath of her answer, with some of her difficult cases thrown in. I felt like the personal drama was maddening and boring. The judicial cases were the interesting parts of the book.

The book is sweet in moments, tense at times, and sometimes down right crazy. There is redemption in an interesting way all throughout the book. I'd probably rate it a 3.5 out of 5. That being said, it's almost the perfect book for a book club or to talk about with friends because of the morality of difficult cases throughout and to some extent the drama of her marriage.