"Reading Stranger Will" ©2011 Kristin Fouquet Having loved Ross’ collection of short stories, Charactered Pieces , I greatly anticipated reading his first novel. I was not disappointed. Again, he takes the reader out of his or her comfort zone. The theme of this book reminded me of a strange incident. In the fall of 2003, I was seven months pregnant with my first child when I visited San Francisco for the fourth time. In the previous three trips, I noticed the homeless population, but didn’t dwell too long on the issue as I live in a city with a similar problem. However, this time, I became acutely aware of a deep hatred by many of the homeless for pregnant women and parents in general. I was verbally harassed by a couple of homeless men and given a roundhouse kick to the shin by a homeless woman. I was among the despised, a group many called “breeders.” This prompted many thoughts for me about cruelty and a desire to end a species. I thought of pregnant victims like Shar...