One true thing

An accident of birth prevents me from fully understanding this book. I imagine that had I been born female, my entire childhood and life would have contained a different undercurrent: the expectation of being a caretaker. Males don't get that. I can see, I can sense, I can empathize... but not feel. Not like this. This upbringing is, I dare say, a true dividing wall between the sexes... yet Quindlen does such a damn good job of writing that it's like the wall is but mesh. One True Thing moved me, showed me some of my life in a different light. It's a little too pat -- messy as her situations are, real life is messier -- but so what? I read to make sense of real life, not to relive it.