Hmmmm, I was starting to make my way through the Women's Prize for Fiction long list and this was the second one I finished. I loved the first one I read, Trespasses, but the Dog of the North was not good and I am a bit skeptical on how it made it onto this list.

The main character, Penny, is suppose to be in her mid thirties but reads like she has the emotional capacity of a 16 year old. She's very immature as she navigates all of these farcical events that are too far fetched to make any sense.

What really tipped me over the edge was a scene in part 2 of the book. Penny is on a plane to Australia and her seat mate happens to be a medical student who believes Penny has sepsis (from being stabbed with her grandmother's pin in the leg). Then the flight attendant proceeds to ask if there are any doctors on the plane (there are 8 apparently) and the solution is to have her stand in her underwear in the airplane bathroom as each doctor opens the door to examine her standing there half naked (even a random ophthalmologist, who was just "hoping he could be helpful in anyway") examines her. THEN the last doctor to examine her in her underwear is just coincidentally her pediatrician from over 20 years ago... who happens to be flying to Australia on the same plane.

I am not sure if this is suppose to be funny - but as a representative novel for women's literature, it was sad to see this female character portrayed in this bumbling way, with no head on her shoulders, and weirdly exploited in an airplane bathroom.