ABSTRACT
While the novel is framed around best friend Melissa’s decision of whether to abort or have her baby, the drama of the novel is really narrator Jaime’s eorts to convince readers that she moves from doormat to non-doormat status through her interactions with Melissa. We are to believe that by the novel’s end Jamie is an independent thinker, able to put her needs ahead of the others’. What is not clear is how Jaime became a doormat in the rst place. We never really understand why and how Jaime and Melissa are friends. Jaime says that they have always been friends. Is Jaime a doormat to everyone around her? e examples of Jaime’s doormat status seem to be the actions of anyone willing to help out a friend in need. At the novel’s end, we are not sure if Jaime and Melissa will ever be friends again because their lives have changed so drastically. Yes, many narrative gaps are le open, not necessarily to ponder in this novel, but that might be more fully developed. For example, why are most of the males in the novel literally or guratively absent or irresponsible? I suppose this move highlights that the pregnant female has to deal alone with any decision about her body. e gaps in the story line do not necessarily add up to complex narrative ambiguities.
