Romy Hall is serving multiple life sentences in California for killing a man who relentlessly stalked her. Her extenuating circumstances, and there are many, were never presented in court by her hopelessly overworked public defender, but the reader learns all of them. Surrounding Romy are a fascinating group of flawed but human fellow prisoners, all drawn in terrific detail. The novel is full of gorgeous visuals of California desert and mountains, perfectly tied to the narrative, and the writing is of the 'can't stop until the last page' variety. But something fell short here, though it's hard to say what, exactly. It wouldn't make sense for a novel such as this to have a happy ending, and I didn't want one. Still, Kushner seems to have put all kinds of things in here - references to Thoreau, and the Unabomber, and ancillary characters whose stories just fizzle out - and then grown tired of it, too early for the reader. Great writing but not, in my view, a great novel.
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