Schulman, Sarah. The Child. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008, c2007. 229p. paperback. $17.95. ISBN: 9781551522432.

In The Child, Sarah Schulman follows two intersecting story lines. Eva, a lesbian lawyer-turned-English instructor, is undergoing tests for breast cancer; her partner is a struggling playwright. Stew, a fifteen-year-old gay teen, is arrested by an undercover cop he propositions in a public restroom. Under pressure, Stew relinquishes the names of a male couple he met online, with whom he has just had sex. David and Joe are subsequently arrested for pedophilia. Eva is enlisted to help in David’s defense by AIDS-afflicted lawyer Hockey Notkin. Before David’s case comes to trial, Stew has an emotional breakdown and murders his 6-year-old nephew. The court intends to try him as an adult.

This inequity in the law—where Stew is considered a child in one legal battle and an adult in another—is the most thought-provoking twist in the story, one that could have been the crux of a terrific novel. Schulman, however, has too many other issues on her agenda—age of consent laws, the marginalization of women and gays, the health care, insurance, and theater industries, the legal system—and manages to trivialize them all through improbable situations and characters who are unrealistic, dysfunctional, and incapable of logical conversation. Is the awkwardness of their interactions and dialogues intended to be amusing–or poignant? Either way, Schulman falls short of the mark, leaving the reader with little empathy for their situations.

Recommended only for fans, those looking for a quick read, or as a springboard for discussion on intergenerational sex.

Reviewed by Roseann Szalkowski
Senior Cataloger
Skokie Public Library