The last first day

This book was very oddly structured. For the first 150 pages almost nothing happens except a lot of flashbacks in Ruth's mind. Then abruptly we go all the way back to her traumatic childhood and spend the next 150 pages rushing hurriedly through some very disturbing events. I felt like I was reading two separate although related short stories. It was an interesting portrait of an intelligent woman who came of age at a time when women didn't have many options besides supporting their husbands, but ultimately I have no idea what Carrie Brown was trying to say.