This story is told in 1st person from Mary Beth's view (the mother of Ruby, Max, Alex). Since we only hear her thoughts, we are just as surprised as Mary Beth when certain things unravel.
Quindlen knows how to *show* you a person, place, or thing. Rather than *tell* us that the Latham family was pretty average, she shows us how Ruby can be moody (an average tendency for teenage girls). And we are shown that Max is a boy of few words and kind of down on himself. And we see that Alex is the outgoing one. Same parents, but each kid is very different, which is also fairly average.
The central event of this book is horrific. Thankfully, Quindlen keeps the details to a minimum. But we hear what happens, and right alongside Mary Beth, we feel her grief. We see her groping around, trying to find a way thru immense grief. Luckily, a couple of friends reach out and help Mary Beth. But of course there are reasons for her to go on. She knows and we feel it too.
"L" and I both recommend this book, but we both found the first section to be a bit disjointed and overflowing with minutia. Quindlen is trying to show the "normal" stuff of a family, but it's just a bit too much detail, just a tad. Once you get past that first section, the rest flows naturally. Quindlen writes beautifully.
Food for thought -- It's easy to second-guess someone else's actions. It's easy for us, the reader, to say, I would've done this or that. Parents miss lots of things. Make mistakes that could have awful outcomes. That seems to be the point of the book. Bad things happen to families who seem to be trying their best.
No comments:
Post a Comment