Annabelle McKay finds herself sobbing amidst frozen pork chops in a New Hampshire supermarket. Almost fifty, Annabelle’s husband Grant is deeply engrossed in his book about labor union history, her son is a freshman in college and would rather participate in extreme sports than study, and her newly married, pregnant daughter Sophie is living in Manhattan while her husband films a documentary in Brazil. A problem with Sophie’s pregnancy brings Annabelle back to Manhattan, where she and Grant started their marriage, to care for her, and where Sophie revisits the events of the first years of her marriage that have shaped the last twenty-eight years. The narrative is told in alternating chapters between the late 1970’s and present day. Some of what occurs during the 1970’s chapters is drawn-out, slowing the pace of the novel. Through Annabelle’s journey for peace, she learns what she and Grant need to do in order to find their way back to each other, turning the stuff that never happened into stuff that they can work through and put behind them.
2 comments:
I wonder if the back and forth between present day and past, especially given the review of the past chapters as "slow" and "drawn out" makes this book difficult to keep reading?
L.Z.
L.Z.
The pace does make it difficult to hold your interest in places, but I kept hoping that Annabelle and Grant would work through their troubles and put things back together. I can't say I especially liked Annabelle, either, but something did make me want to finish the book. ~ Jennifer
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