The consensus was that the book was a good read. But the blurb on the front cover ("This could be one of the most important works of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird...") left one wondering what was hiding in those ellipses. Because it ain't. Not even close.

Yes, the characters were stereotypes. But then, the women of the day were forced into the stereotypes of their class and position. Setting the book in the sixties, just before the whole system fell to pieces, made it 'safe'. We modern liberal people could look back smugly on the benighted savages of that unenlightened era. Without thinking too hard on whether racism or other prejudice might still be present in our society. After which we wandered far afield, there not being all that much left to discuss about the book itself.