Red Hook Road - 5 stars > Likes and Comments

This story explores the way that several individuals from two families joined by marriage cope with their grief when tragedy strikes on the wedding day. I won’t try to describe what happened. The setting is Maine, where one family is year -rounders, and the other has evolved into “summer people.” That difference sets up some interesting dynamics, heightened by differences in education and economic status. I thought the author did a wonderful job in her characterizations and the story line also kept me interested. A major issue was the controlling personality of the matriarch, Iris, and this came out consistently in her relationship with her husband, her daughters, and her in- laws. It didn’t make her likeable -- I was quite angry with her several times -- yet, by the end of the book I believed that she acted out of love. My only complaint was that sometimes the author spent too much time on descriptions (over writing?) and I wanted to hurry through these. I’ll remember this novel for a while and look for other books by the author.

Susan, I remember reading this book years ago and loving it. Since I've forgotten much of it, I may reread it.

I like the author very much, but read her books some time ago. She is married to Michael Chabon, another author. I believe that she had been a legal prosecutor before turning to writing. She is open about having bipolar illness and has written a memoir about trying micro-dosing of LSD to control it. I don't think the micro-dosing was sustainable.