Strangers at the Feast Jennifer Vanderbes (Scribner, August 3, 2010)
At first glance, I thought the title would refer to the young men who would be the catalysts for the tragedy that was to occur this Thanksgiving evening, but as I began to read the novel, I realized the strangers were actually the members of the Olson family, both to each other and to themselves. Ginny can't quite explain to anyone, including herself, why she has impulsively adopted a child from India; Douglas has become withdrawn from his wife and children as the real estate market has begun to plummet; his wife Denise is no longer living the life she feels she signed on for. Ginny and Douglas's father has been withdrawn from his family since his return from Vietnam, his only passion being looking at the stars and planets through his telescope, distancing himself from life; their mother Eleanor has tried to keep her family together all these years and is just worn out, only managing on the surface any longer. Kijo and Spider, while strangers to the Olsons, display, at times, more sense of themselves and their families, as Kijo seeks revenge for a wrong he feels Douglas committed against Kijo's grandmother.
As each character's story unfolds, the tragedy begins to take shape and is foreshadowed, but what ultimately occurs is startling and though most characters’ reactions to it is predictable, as most react the way they have reacted to the events in their lives thus far, there is one notable exception. The story of the unraveling not only of a family, but of each of the characters who thinks they have reached an apex in their lives serves as a reminder of our responsibilities as members of our own families, however torn and dysfunctional they may be. Each characters is searching for something, though they may not know what it is and may not recognize it when they find it.
Overwritten and dramatic in places, Strangers at the Feast is one of those books that as you are reading it you are not sure you really like the characters, but that will resonate with you after you read the last pages, wondering how each character could have acted and reacted differently over the course of their lives, up to and including those last moments on Thanksgiving, that could have altered the outcome of the evening and everyone’s futures. Ultimately, though, fate is fickle, and if Ginny's oven had not failed, this family’s story would have had a much different ending, though not necessarily a happy one.
As each character's story unfolds, the tragedy begins to take shape and is foreshadowed, but what ultimately occurs is startling and though most characters’ reactions to it is predictable, as most react the way they have reacted to the events in their lives thus far, there is one notable exception. The story of the unraveling not only of a family, but of each of the characters who thinks they have reached an apex in their lives serves as a reminder of our responsibilities as members of our own families, however torn and dysfunctional they may be. Each characters is searching for something, though they may not know what it is and may not recognize it when they find it.
Overwritten and dramatic in places, Strangers at the Feast is one of those books that as you are reading it you are not sure you really like the characters, but that will resonate with you after you read the last pages, wondering how each character could have acted and reacted differently over the course of their lives, up to and including those last moments on Thanksgiving, that could have altered the outcome of the evening and everyone’s futures. Ultimately, though, fate is fickle, and if Ginny's oven had not failed, this family’s story would have had a much different ending, though not necessarily a happy one.
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