Ex Utero

Ex Utero Laurie Foos (Coffee House Press, $16.95) In this wryly funny debut novel, a 31-year-old loses her uterus in a shopping mall, she thinks, after buying red high heels and lingerie. Her search for her lost uterus draws national attention, wins her the endorsement of an activist group called the Fruitless Wombs, and inspires a series of womb sightings, including one by a softball player: ''It landed right in my glove like it had been there all its life I noticed it was pink. That's when I realized we were playing with someone's womb.'' Steeped in absurdism and cheeky wordplay, Ex Utero gently spoofs on women's issues from abortion rights to ticking biological clocks. Though its subplots are muddled, Ex Utero leaves no question that Foos is a writer who's going places. B+ -Margot Mifflin