Siblings living a life journey under the burden of a tragic accident that occurred when they were 4yrs old. Engaging character development as a family unravels and then gets put back together again. Impact of loss on life and perspective, bigotry, living with fear, declining small town reaction to being invaded by a culture obtuse, contrasts big city metro life and life in declining rural New England town, sense of home, being home, responsibility for siblings well being, bad choices. The writing is stylistically superb...occasional incidents when analyzed closely don't fit but needed to happen for the characters to unfold. I love Strout's writing and I found this book, more than her others, a page turner. This is a lot about the complexity of family relationships, particularly between siblings, and gets the complexity of the love, dislike, and bonds of time and history. I also appreciated having a UU woman minister as a secondary character, since this is the first time I have seen that and I thought she was believable. Stout's other book, Abide With Me, has a minister as the main character and had a lot to say about life in the church. The book is set in Maine and New York City and place is very important in this, as in most of her books. There is also an interesting subplot about Somali refugees in Maine that fits into some of the larger themes of belonging and displacement.
Do You like book I Ragazzi Burgess (2013)?
Helen should have become a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters.
—smile
It me a while to get into this, but once I did I enjoyed it.
—Ducky
