I consistently enjoy books, shows, and films that grapple with the fact that the 90s really are becoming a more and more distant past. Sure prevailing ideas around sensitive topics were largely more progressive than they were among earlier generations but this novel did a great job of showcasing how far we hadn’t come by 1997. Ng’s impressive story centers around the different journeys of mothers and would-be mothers in an upscale Cleveland suburb. The legacy of Shaker Heights’ history as a previously whites-only community looms ominously over all the conversations surrounding who gets to belong where and what aspects of culture should or shouldn’t be valued in raising children.