Despite tragic-comic moments, the mood is melancholic as Vanderbes sensitively surveys static careers, unhappy wives and fearful adults pressured by stressful times and expectations, culminating in an explosive blast of what-goes-around-comes-around dark irony.Įxcessive back story overshadows forward momentum in a compassionate though schematic portrait of middle-class characters in crisis.Ī flabby, fervid melodrama of a high-strung Southern family from Conroy ( The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline), whose penchant for overwriting once again obscures a genuine talent. Ginny’s unreliable stove forces the family to decamp to Douglas’s house, unaware that a couple of poor teens have broken in. Also in attendance are Ginny’s parents, Eleanor and Gavin, whose marriage is another story of shame and failure: Gavin was a gilded youth whose service in Vietnam blighted his career and personality while Eleanor has acted as a steadfast, unquestioning homemaker. Her brother Douglas, who has just lost a fortune in the construction business, arrives with his no-nonsense wife Denise and three children. Hosting the turkey dinner is Ginny Olson, the unmarried, 35-year-old academic of the family who has given up on relationships and recently, impulsively, adopted a mute Indian child.
Spanning three generations and a mix of ethnicities and incomes, Vanderbes’ second novel ( Easter Island, 2003) reaches for social and historical breadth as it assesses individual efforts to make meaning out of life and lineage. Viewed through the familiar lens of a chaotic Thanksgiving Day reunion, a family’s history of disappointment and struggle is brought violently up-to-date.
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