Brookeworm (Canada) (2007/10/14): Unfortunatley, I think I'm a little too young to really relate to this book. I've never been married and had my husband cheat on me, or lost a son to war, or had a marriage slowly leach the life out of me after I get pregnant too young and miss out on my dreams. I'm sure to someone who's had those experiences or who knows someone who has this novel is touching and poiniant, but to me it seemed like a catalogue of all the ways my future marriage could unravel like the heirloom quilt that is a constant metaphor for various aspects of a woman's life.
The use of this metaphor in its many facets was interesting, but I sometimes felt put out by the "instructions" sections telling the reader how to feel about the experience of life that was being described. There was a short saving grace of hope at the end with a return to the young Flinn as narrator and her realistic optimism about her upcoming marriege.
