The Outer Cape: A Novel

by Patrick Dacey

“ The Outer Cape is a wonderful book from a remarkably talented author...” —NPR.orgAn Amazon Editor's PickRobert and Irene Kelly were a golden couple of the late ‘70s—she an artist, he a businessman, each possessed by dynamism and vibrancy. But with two young boys to care for, Irene finds herself confined by the very things she’d dreamed of having. And Robert, pressured by Irene’s demands and haunted by the possibility of failure, risks the family business to pursue a fail-safe real estate opportunity.Twenty years later, their now-grown sons, Nathan and Andrew, are drawn back to confront a fateful diagnosis. As they revisit the Cape Cod of their childhood, the ghosts of the past threaten to upend the tenuous peace of the present.In The Outer Cape , Patrick Dacey delivers a story of four people grappling with the shadow of infinite possibility, a book in which chasing the American dream and struggling to survive are one and the same.

Genres: Fiction, Beach Reads, Unfinished

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2017

About the author

Patrick Dacey holds an MFA from Syracuse University. He has taught English at several universities in the U.S. and Mexico, and has worked as a reporter, landscaper, door-to-door salesman, and on the overnight staff at a homeless shelter and detox center. His stories have been featured in The Paris Review, Zoetrope All-Story,Guernica,Bomb magazine, and Salt Hill among other publications.

Reviews

[Amanda Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible read, I couldn't put it down! As a woman and mother, I related to Irene. I think all parents struggle with their sacrifices and we all wonder where other paths could have gone. But she is also so full of life and love. I felt like I was sharing dirty secrets with a good friend over a bottle of wine.
The other characters have pulled at a piece of me as well. The struggle to find your place in this world. What will you do, where and why. Life is full of good intentions (as they say), but that only goes so far.
This story will make you laugh, cry, and blush. So grab a glass of wine and find a comfy chair, because you won't want to let go of the Kelly family.

[Eileen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title hooked me immediately as I love Cape Cod and most associations with New England. The story was supposed to be about a dysfunctional family and that part was certainly accurate. However, the reason I continued at all was that I was on an airplane (on the way home from the Cape, incidentally) with no alternative available, and I won’t be finishing. The language was crude and the characters worse than unlikable. The setting which had been the lure was hardly a factor, aside from an occasional mention of a town. No redeeming qualities from my perspective. Oof! Moving on!

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Library Thing win. 2.5 stars
This book was just ok for me. A depressing tale of a dysfunctional family living on a beautiful part of the country. Irene an artist, sacrifices her art in order to raise 2 boys. Robert a real estate agent who is always looking for a way to make it big, which eventually lands him in jail for white collar crimes. Fast forward 20 years where the boys return to care for their dying mother and relive their childhood. The characters were bland and I couldn't connect with any of them.
Thank you LibraryThing for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Wish I could've enjoyed it more.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

a really good book goes on sale in June. my copy was a advanced readers edition

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books remind you that nothing is ever simple or just black and white. Dacey's characters are not necessarily easy to love, but are complex and truly memorable. I felt the same when reading Richard Yates' classic, Revolutionary Road~ rooting for the characters, frustration and disappointment, and a realization that the author has painted a realistic portrayal of the human experience. I've not read Dacey's work before, but I will definitely be following Dacey's work from now on. This book proves he is a helluva storyteller.

[Sue Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I think a lot about the things I do for my family and how sometimes I lose myself. This book made me think about that. the characters were well developed, and I'd pass this on for friends to read. Thank you to Henry Holt and Net Galley for the e-ARC in exchange for an advance read.

[John Luiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant and piercing insight into a flawed American family, in the vein of great novels like Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road. Patrick Dacey is an immensely gifted writer who lets you inside the head of the father, Robert, his wife, Irene and their two boys, Nathan and Andrew. We see the couple's tempestuous relationship when the boys are young, then flash forward several decades to the parents still chasing their demons and the adult boys dealing with the emotional scars of their difficult home life. Each character is so multi-dimensional - you understand what drives them even when they are behaving badly as the father Robert in particular is often wont to do. It can be heart-wrenching at times but this moving novel shows the author can fulfill the brilliant promise he showed with his amazing short story collection, We've Already Gone This Far.

[Blaise Lucey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of "Revolutionary Road" - with all the depressing views of suburban, American life that come with it. The 'fiery couple turns sad, passive, and detached' seems to be a popular trope for literary fiction these days. & this book would have been five stars, but it does follow that very tried and true formula of "what ever happened to us?"

But if you like Franzen, Yates, or Safran Foer, you will like this book.

The writing is powerful and quite unique for the literary genre. It reminded me of "The Descent" by Jeff Long & "Fourth of July Creek" by Smith Henderson. Dacey has a clear, sparse style reminiscent of Hemingway, and I found the characterizations fascinating.

Robert & Irene's backstories are threaded through choice scenes, which means we are constantly building the characters in our heads as the plot moves along. Overall, the novel isn't so much plotted as it is a character study in what it means to be human and whether people can escape and change their nature.

I haven't read a book with so many flawed characters in a while, and I appreciated it. The characters tend to at least have more agency than a Franzen or Foer "Sad Couple" and the continued progression of character development beyond the initial upset provided an interesting journey from start to finish.

[Brayden Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't actually read the book. But Mr Dacey is the absolute GOAT of English Teachers.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book!!!! Robert & Irene Kelly where a golden couple in the 70's. She an artist and he a businessman. Irene with 2 young boys to raise finds her self confined by the very thing she dreamed of having. Robert pressured by the demands of Irene haunted by the possibility of failure risks the family name and business to get a cant miss real estate scheme. Twenty years later their 2 sons are drawn back home to deal with a fateful diagnosis. They revisit the cape cod of their childhood they must lay to rest the ghosts of their past. A book in which chasing the american dream and struggling to survive are one and the same.

[Lisa Burns Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book and I connected with most of the characters in a deep way. Every family is screwed up- this is just a glimpse of one in particular. I'm around the same age as the boys so I felt a connection to them I wouldn't normally feel for two people I couldn't be more different from. Well written with beautiful imagery. Irene is an incredible woman and I wouldn't mind an entire book about her. I think the question of what is the American dream and does it still exist is present on every page. The book touches on all the things that make America 'America' which, given the current political climate, is needed more than ever.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the fictitious town of Wequaquet in Barnstable County, Cape Cod. I’ve been there and the roads are pretty much as described. Sand Dunes are ever moving and though not mentioned specifically the marshes are an ideal habitat for growing cranberries.

Henry David Thoreau said: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” In any resort community there is the picture book ideal presented to attract the tourists essential to the lifeblood of the economy and then there is the hardscrabble life of those who must attempt to make a living there year round after the tourists go home. The tension between providing facilities for tourists and preserving the wild lands that attract them and protecting the wild life that inhabit them.

By the same token there is the front that families present to the outside world, the community in which they live and the inner turmoil that is their existence. There are no licenses required to raise children and the ideal family life does not exist. Every child at some points arrives at the discovery that his parents have feet of clay. Patrick Dacey gives us a fly on the wall view of one such family.

These are neither good nor happy people so the reader should not expect to have a feel good experience here. The choices people make determine their outcomes and bad choices lead to bad outcomes.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Outer Cape" offers a moving, decades-hopping look at a New England family that's falling apart.

The immediate cause of the Kelly family's disintegration is the desperation and greed of dad Robert, a failing real-estate developer who turns to fraud to try to resurrect his holdings. But Robert's problems hail back to his own abusive dad, and, in a lineage worthy of Philip Larkin, his children find their own routes to panic, PTSD and despair.

Author Patrick Dacey offers skillfully rendered vignettes from the family's life, pinpointing moments of joy and sorrow in trying to paint the larger picture of how it all went wrong. Robert is the story's centerpiece; his sections have a special vitality, even as his circumstances degrade down to prison and self-help books. (Which is worse? The reader can decide.)

Dacey is empathetic but unyielding in capturing the family's decline. The sorrow they experience feels unique to them, but it also reflects the meanness and meagerness of contemporary life, a pervading sense of grasping beyond one’s reach and consistently falling short. It's bleak and beautiful, a great debut novel.

[R J Mckay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads in exchange for a review.

By all appearances, Robert and Irene Kelly had it all: a thriving job, a beautiful family. But slowly the cracks begin. Irene is unhappy and putting pressure on her husband, and Robert takes risks in his job that start the family finances spiraling out of control. For his role in a business scheme gone bad, Robert goes to jail and Irene is left to fend for herself and take care of her two sons.
Sadly, the boys, Nathan and Andrew seem destined to follow in the footsteps forged by their parents until fate intervenes. When Irene becomes ill, the two adult sons return to Cape Cod and the ghosts of their past that continue to haunt them well into adulthood.
A sad story of a family whose ‘good life’ seems to be just beyond their grasp.

[Sherrie Howey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irene and Robert begin as a happily married couple; she is an artist and Robert is in real estate. Ann gives up her art to focus on her 2 sons as a full time mother, which has long term ramifications. Robert's work suffers due to the real estate market fallout and he falls into a series of poor job opportunities which also have long term ramifications.
Nathan, the oldest son had a promising football career but it is derailed due to an unfortunate incident. He joins the Army and is sent overseas and returns to the US with drug issues. Andrew has had a successful career but his marriage is in trouble. He abandons his marriage difficulties to take care of his mother when she becomes ill.
The book is well written but I did not like any of the characters and I found the book to be depressing. I assumed this would be a light beach read and it definitely was not.

[Nancyann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the title of the book that caused me to choose The Outer Cape. Cape Cod is a favorite place of mine so a novel set on the Cape should be a good read, right? It was an excellent read although the actual premise of the story sounds depressing. It is the story of a dysfunctional household parented by Robert and Irene Kelly. Robert and Irene were once an "it" couple of the 1970s but they are now raising two boys, experiencing financial difficulties, and have Robert's aging father to contend with. We see the downfall of Robert and his removal from the family, Irene's attempt to continue on as a single mother, and eventually a fast forward into the future where now adult sons Nathan and Andrew must tend to their aging parents. The Outer Cape has pathos aplenty but also true familial love.

[Ed Gosney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not unlike Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides, The Outer Cape by Patrick Dacey takes an emotional toll on the reader. In order to do this, we have to feel something for at least one of the characters, and this, perhaps is the hardest part in reading it.

These are not the sort of people most of us would want to be associated with, especially the mother and father, but as time passes and the sons, Nathan and Andrew, suddenly become men, we begin to feel for them and understand why they are who they are.

Dacey is a gifted writer, and although I struggled at times with The Outer Cape, I’m glad I read it, because from this reader’s perspective, I’m taking this story as a warning of what not to do as both a parent and husband.

[Erin C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert and Irene once had it all. He was a successful businessman, she a talented artist. Then life happens. Robert is sent to prison for tax fraud, Irene is smothered by raising two boys alone. Yet, in the midst of this, Irene realizes that her marriage was not a failure because without it, she would not have Nathan and Andrew. Nathan grows up to go to war, coming home with a PTSD diagnosis. Andrew tries to correct the sins of his father by being the ultimate nice guy, often times too nice. The four are reunited decades later to say goodbye to Irene as she lays dying.

This book was good, but I felt the characters were in some parts only a brief sketch of who they could have been.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to stay interested in the story. Based on the title, I thought the setting of the story would be more important than it turned out to be. Yes, there were references to the ocean, but really this story could have unfolded anyplace that subdivisions were being built. From the gritty sex scene that opens the novel to the unsavory business practices to the painful father-son bonds, I rarely wanted to be spending time with these (mostly male) characters. That said, I could still admire the skillful handling of time and point-of-view shifts, and I appreciated the compassion shown for the damaged family.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway, and the beautiful cover was just calling to me for a June read! This one releases on June 27th, so I’m excited to present an early review.

The first section of this book follows Robert and Irene as their marriage endures tests. We change perspectives and get to know their individual motivations while also seeing the bigger impacts this has on each other, and more specifically, their two young sons. Irene is a stay-at-home mother, who works hard to raise Andrew and Nathan. Nevertheless, she wonders what would have happened if she’d chosen another path. She toys with the idea of pursuing her artistic side.

Robert on the other side is a man who wants to win. He has this uncontrollable desire to be the best. He uses this desire in his career and in his attempts to make money, but this eventually leads him down the path of fraud and deceit. After participating in a housing fraud scheme, he spends stints in and out of jail. When he isn’t in jail, he is not in contact with his wife and family, but rather is always scheming the next way to make some money.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone from the Outer Cape, this title is misleading since it appears to be set in the Upper Cape or perhaps the Mid-Cape-Hyannis area but not the Outer Cape! But the story is worth reading. The Kelly family's dysfunction is hard to read and understand, for me anyway. The author portrays the emotional and psychological dilemmas many people face. The stories we tell ourselves to keep going through life are well developed. I was surprised at the end to feel update about the characters futures.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can relate to the main character, Irene, and the ambitions and dreams that we hold but let fall to the side as a sacrifice to the demands of raising a family and tackling the day-to-day demands that life hands us. It is a pretty realistic portrayal of the hopes, disappointments and reconciliations of real life. The setting was engrossing and makes me want to escape to the beauty of the northeast coast.

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Outer Cape is the story of the Robert and Irene Kelly family. They start out happy and then they find out life is not what they were hoping it would be. It goes through their happiness, then living their everyday mundane lives, and their hopes and dreams which they never seem to fulfill. They have two sons whose lives are affected by their upbringing and who find out that life has it's tribulations. I got this for free in a GoodReads Giveaway.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book depressing. Robert and Irene were selfish, unhappy people who profoundly failed their sons Nathan and Andrew.
The first part of the book was slow and somewhat boring. I just didn't care about the story of Robert and Irene. I found the part where the boys were adults much more interesting. Nathan became quite real to me, and everything that happened to him broke my heart a little. He tried so hard to overcome his struggles. Andrew never came alive to me at all.

[Russel Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dacey's output is as good as anyone writing today. The plot is engaging enough but his characters are the highlight; complex, well-drawn, rarely purely villainous or virtuous. However little I may have in common with Robert, his anxieties about fatherhood, marriage, breadwinning and his sense of self resonate. It is melancholic and seems deeply personal, but above all it and its characters are human.

[Lacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just got back from a trip to the Cape, and was hoping this would remind me of my time or at least make me smile with memories.
Nope.
This is the story of two parents and two sons, none of which are particularly nice or likable humans. It follows their lives over decades, and how they deal with success, failure, and relationships.
Luckily the least likable character somewhat gets his comeuppance, but still.
Depressing.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.25. Much of Dacey’s writing is fantastic and sharp and very original. But the overall narrative didn’t quite hang together for me. To boot, there’s a clear effort to be raunchy or shocking with the sex--and literary, of course--but it comes off gratuitous. And not literary. Also, the novel is called “The Outer Cape,” but there is very little sense of place, of Cape Cod. Overall, I wasn’t thrilled. A bit of an inflated rating, perhaps, because there are some fantastic nuggets of text here, and Dacey is doubtlessly extremely talented, but it’s going to take a very particular sort of reader to love this book.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really grew on me. It’s full of irascible, head-shaking characters but they’re all more or less understandable as you learn more about them. I’m not going to say too much more other than this book has one of the most beautiful, unexpectedly hilarious deathbed scenes I’ve ever read; that, and something truly heartbreaking happens at the end.

[Lori Winslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book and hope to read more from this author. I love the author's style, no flowerly language - but an amazing use of words. I empathized with the characters and accepted their flaws - just like a member of the family. The story itself feels very secondary to the characters, so if that appeals to you - then grab a copy and enjoy.

[Teresa Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book and for the second half my interest began to fade. I felt that the behaviors of the character's were repetitive and could easily guess what the outcomes would be. I enjoyed the way the author writes though.