I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book. I just won it in a swap - is it worth my time?

I found it very thought provoking. Here is a link to a thread I started about the book earlier this year. http://www.paperbackswap.com/forum/topic.php?t=115458

It does contain a few spoilers, not sure if they are something you would find in reviews anyway but I wanted to warn you ahead of time.

Thanks Sheila! Our similiarity rating is pretty high, too, so I am going to trust you on this one. :-)

I really, really liked it.  So much so that I'm reading all of Lionel Shriver's stuff.  She's a wonderful author.

OOOH, Shelia, I am not going to open that link because I have this book to read - soon! 

Right now I am reading The Kindness of Strangers which has received mixed reviews on these boards because of its content.  Yes, it is tough content but is wonderfully written. 

Wendy, I just looked up the Kindness of Strangers . . . I don't know if I can read it. Is it graphic?

I can separate my emotions from most difficult subject matter books (animal abuse, murder, etc) but I have a little harder time with child abuse.

Shelia, I am on the last 2 chapters of Kindness of Strangers.  It is an excellent book.  Very well written and the author really developed the characters to a point that I felt I knew them. 

As far as the content (and I will not give anything away here), it is about a boy that has been sexually abused by a family member.  His friend (and his family) tries to help the young boy get over this trauma.  The topic of child pornography and incest are certainly talked about.  But, I felt that the author did a good job at leaving some of this to the imagination and didn't go into full-details about everything.  Yes, being a parent myself it was sometimes hard to read but personally, I have read some books that I thought were far worse.  Since the book has several children as its main characters and how they handle these issues I thought the author did a wonderful job at handling these topics. 

I recommend it highly. 

Wendy, thanks for details - sounds like something I can handle.