Book Review: Readings

The Abortionist's Daughter

by Elisabeth Hyde

Knopf, 304 pp., $23.95

It would not be unreasonable to expect that The Abortionist's Daughter, a novel concerning the apparent drowning death of prominent pro-choice activist and abortion clinic owner Diana Duprey, would be a politically charged text. For starters, as the titular daughter tells a politically incorrect cop, "abortion provider" is the preferred nomenclature, not "abortionist." The abortion debate is among the country's, if not the world's, most divisive, and centering a novel around the family of a (fictional) murdered abortion provider is a move sure to turn off anti-abortionists (though, of course, "pro-lifers" is the preferred nomenclature). However, though this book does have its political moments, Hyde manages to sympathetically paint both sides of the picket line, achieving a measured objectivity without seeming indifferent or disingenuous.

Admittedly, The Abortionist's Daughter is a more welcoming text to the socially liberal among us. For instance, it's unlikely that conservatives will thrill to the idea of a mother and daughter smoking pot together (alcohol, of course, is as wholesome a part of family bonding as sharing the joy of Werther's), and this fact is not mentioned by Hyde to indicate familial dysfunction but rather the close-mindedness of a nosy neighbor. Still, though its leanings are leftward, The Abortionist's Daughter explores the subtleties of belief, the ways in which even seeming extremists can amend and alter their convictions without losing them. No one in this novel is without conflict. Hyde also eschews stereotypes (perhaps more in the case of the book's conservatives, a possible attempt to compensate for their relatively minor amount of face time). For instance, one of the murder suspects, a prominent anti-abortion activist, looks more like a "hip minister from the 1970s" than a buttoned-up fundamentalist.

Political controversy aside, this is a mystery that works, one whose turns are neither obvious nor illogical. The story is both emotional and suspenseful, with neither dimension detracting from the other. There isn't unnecessary exposition, and Hyde reveals details at a natural, unhurried pace. This goes for criminal evidence, as well as inessential details of the characters' lives, and it's very effective; at times, one is as anxious to find out whose cats the detective is feeding as who killed Diana Duprey. The revelation of the latter isn't arrived at in a Scooby-Dooish clue hunt, but rather after a well-told and -rendered account of a family's grieving process and the way previously disconnected lives entangle after a tragedy. It doesn't reach any moral resolution, but it doesn't intend to, and Hyde's ability to grapple with loaded issues without putting the story second is impressive.