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Maine by Courtney Sullivan (view source)
Revision as of 10:07, 4 January 2012
, 10:07, 4 January 2012no edit summary
Katherine's the second child and she was Daniel's favourite. She inherited the drinking gene but has been dry for many years and now lives in California with her partner. They have a worm poop farm - a constant source of cruel digs by the rest of the family. She hoped that she would never go to the Maine property again. The other side of the country is just far enough to distance herself from the memories. But when her daughter is ditched by her boyfriend - and that was before he knew that she was pregnant - she has to intervene.
The story is old told from the point of view of the women in the family - and if I have one quibble about the book it's that the men are rather shadowy characters. But the women are superb, coming off the page fully-formed to live in your mind. Alice is carelessly cruel but has suffered from survivor guilt for decades - and she can't even talk about the problem. Katherine can't resist the urge to interfere and Anne Marie should have 'MARTYR' tattooed on her forehead, but it's Maggie your heart goes out to. In years to come you know that she'll be glad to be well-shut of the wastrel boyfriend, but right now she's living in the hope that he'll get in touch to tell her it was all a mistake. Their shortcomings are all so human, so common and so ruthlessly exhibited to us.
So, great characters. There's a great sense of place too. I swear that there were times when I could smell the sea and feel its chill, even in the middle of summer. But the plot pulled me in from the first page and as I was getting closer to the end I really couldn't see how it was all going to work out, but it did. It's a superb book and highly recommended.