Very good

I almost put it down after the first two chapters. I tried to like it--several other women had recommended it to me, and I didn't want to go back to them and say that I hadn't finished it. I won't recommend it to anyone else.

Has this writer never heard of the most famous adage in fiction, "show, don't tell"? If you have to belabor a point, or constantly tell the reader the backstory in lengthy paragraphs that go nowhere, then you aren't doing your job as a writer.

The reader should be able to infer from a well-crafted work what you haven't told them.

The dialogue is stilted and the "epiphanies" aren't.

Many book clubs have chosen this one for their members, and its reputation appears to be growing. I don't quite understand how.

This reads like a first effort, from someone who was published well before they were ready. It's not horrible, but it's not praiseworthy in my opinion, either.

Sorry, but more than 80 pages into this book, nothing was happening.  I could not get past the wooden dialogue that nobody would actually speak in real life!  The dialogue, by turns, was laughable and thoroughly groan-inducing.  I kept checking the spine of this book to see if it was designated "junior fiction" by my local library, but no, it was considered to be adult fiction, despite vocabularly and sentence structure suited for most grade-schoolers.  I found this book too simplistic and dull to continue.

The Miller family is meeting on a Maine barrier island to spend time together while celebrating the seventy-fifth birthday of Joe, the patriarch.  There is plenty of excitement as this gathering is the first in four years and the daughter and the two wives of the sons are pregnant each expecting their first child.

However, not all is great in Mudville.  Daniel has been wheelchair bound since a cycling accident left him a paraplegic; he is unable to cope with the fact that his spouse had to be artificially inseminated with the sperm of some Midwestern hunk instead of by him.  In spite of being the most successful of the siblings, at least financially, Jake feels inferior; his wife is carrying twins following fertility treatment and he has lost all interest in her as a person especially as his sex partner.  Hilary has no idea who the father of the fetus she carries might be and does not care.

This is a terrific family drama starring a strong ensemble cast in which the seven key players bring differing personalities to the table as they each discuss parenthood, their trepidations, and their lives.  The key to this powerful tale is that Heidi Pitlor insures each individual has a unique personality that remains consistent throughout the beguiling plot.  Fans who enjoy a deep look at relationships including how children radically change the interactions of their parents will want to read Ms. Pitlor's strong novel.

Harriet Klausner

Bought as a gift and she said. It was a good book

I purchased this book to read for a book club that I am in.  Another member had chosen it, and I was willing to give it a try. I am a mystery reader and I guess I was disappointed when there was no big event that happened to drag me into the story and keep me interested. Nice family dynamics, but a little slow.

In a family reunion filled with unexpected events and revelations, The Birthdays proves not only that you can't go home again, but that everyone carries their own interpretations of family history. It is Joe Miller's seventy-fifth birthday and his children, Daniel, Jake and Hilary and their spouses are meeting at Jake's vacation home in Great Salt, Maine, for the celebration, a real occasion for a family that has not seen each other for a while and will soon be changed by the pregnancies of two daughters-in-law, Brenda and Liz, wives of Daniel and Jake, respectively. By next year the family will have grown exponentially, a fact anticipated by all. Much to everyone's surprise, thirty-five-year old, unmarried Hilary is also pregnant, adding another dramatic layer to the story.

Following the travels of each married couple on the way to Great Salt, including Joe and his wife, Ellen, it is clear that married life is complicated at best, the recent pregnancies only adding to the issues. Daniels' life has undergone the most challenges: he became a paraplegic in an auto accident a year and a half earlier, their child a product scientific intervention. Still adapting to his drastically altered body, Daniel is plagued with self-doubts, thrown into ill-humor and confusion by Brenda's increasing hormonal discontents. Although the brothers don't agree on much, Jake is reacting as well to his wife's incipient motherhood, IVF the method that has finally given the couple their dream of parenthood. But Jake is excessively needy, emotionally sensitive and increasingly irritating to his perfectionist wife. In contrast, Hilary is the consummate rebel, refusing to name the child's father, her life plans changing as opportunities arise.

Regardless of the years that have passed, the three fractious siblings interact much the same as when they were children. Never having given much thought to their parents, Daniel, Jake and Hilary only now consider the nature of that relationship, Joe's ageing and Ellen's secrets. A dramatic turn forces the Millers to face uncomfortable truths about themselves, as well as the shock of life on life's terms. Gathered together for this celebration turned somber by events, children, spouses and parents realize that nothing can be controlled and that petty resentments are best laid to rest. While none of these characters is particularly appealing, each displays the familiar traits of family, the small agonies of competition, failures of communication and snap judgments that create distance. It is only through forgiveness and acceptance that the Millers are able to forge ahead, united against the world in support of one another. Luan Gaines/ 2006.