Run by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Both Tip and Teddy have really had enough of their father dragging them to political events; they both feel they’ve done their share and they’re pretty over it; but at the same time, neither has the ability to say no to him. Tip is more annoyed than usual on this particular night, since he’s got so much work to do before his final exams, so much more to finish up in his lab, and it’s snowing like crazy outside (and of course he did not bring an appropriate jacket). When the speech has concluded, they are outside negotiating their next step – their father is still wanting more from them – a shocking and terrifying event occurs that completely rocks their world.

This is a beautifully crafted story about a complicated family and their complicated relationships. Tip and Teddy had been adopted by Doyle and his late wife when their older son Sullivan was 12 years old. This had a very negative impact on Sullivan, as we learn in the course of the narrative. But the relationship between the younger boys and Doyle is quite tender, in spite of their friction over his ambitions for them. To complicate things further, it appears, as they learn as the story unfolds, Tip and Teddy’s biological mother has been keeping an eye on them their whole lives without them having any clue.

It is almost impossible, I believe, to not love each of these characters and therefore to not love the story itself. Each has a vulnerability, a longing, a concern for the others that is endearing and present almost in spite of him or herself. Each is tied to the other because of their sense of family that goes way beyond genetics.

I highly recommend this book – not only because most anything written by Ann Patchett is extraordinary, but because it is a unique story, rich with complex characters, and told with her remarkable wit, imagination, and gift for words.

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Finding herself married to a man she doesn’t love and pregnant with his child, Rose does the only thing she truly does love to do: she drives. She abandons her life – and her mother, whom she does love deeply – and drives herself across the country to a home for unwed mothers with the plan to give up her baby as soon as it is born. It is not at all in her plan to grow attached to anyone there, not to the kind, elderly sister who works with her in the kitchen, not to her naive roommate, and certainly not to the older, giant of a groundskeeper who barely says a word to anyone. And it is definitely not her plan to stay. But things don’t always happen as we plan them…

This is Ann Patchett’s first novel, and it is just as understated and pensive as her later books. Her characters, central to her story and artfully developed, are also mysterious and opaque, perhaps even to themselves. Everyone around Rose yearns to connect with her, to get to know her, her story. She is beautiful, quiet, hardworking and devoted to the few things she loves, but she keeps her secrets close. At the same time, Rose struggles with trying to know herself, and cannot forgive herself for her past.

What I also love about Patchett’s stories is that they end with some finality but also with some parts left to the reader’s imagination. And this in just the right proportion. I think this is a hard line to walk for authors, and Patchett has found that perfect balance, in my opinion.

This is an excellent story, with deeply moving characters that you will not forget for a time. Enjoy it!

 

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Lara is aware that there is great suffering in the world, but for the moment, she is counting her blessings. Her three daughters, who’d gone their independent ways, have come back not only out of necessity – to help work their cherry farm, when so many of their usual hands are not available – but because their own lives have been put on hold for now. And since they are together, Lara’s colorful past has become the target of the girls’ interest. What was the actual story of Lara’s romance with this famous actor they’ve been watching in this movie over and over? Who was this larger-than-life Duke and what was it like to act with him? They have had bits and pieces of her story over the years, but now they have the time and maturity to hear more of the details. And Lara now has the patience to tell her story. Well, most of it.

So, once again, we have here a story within a story. Without even mentioning the word Covid once, the author makes it clear that the family is podding together as the world shuts down. But that remains a mere backdrop, and the focus is definitely on the positive of the time the family has together. They are working side by side as they never have before – at least not as adults. And as Lara shares her story, we hear it too. And it is bright with the hope of youth and dark with the heartbreak of young, naive love.

The writing here is typical Ann Patchett-beautiful. There is warmth, nostalgia, and a subtlety that comes from a writer who can portray a story without over-dramatization, without hyperbole. Each character is so genuine they might be your next door neighbor, but their story is nevertheless so tangible it stays with you long past the turning of that last page. Even those characters who do have dramatic presence, such as Duke, have clear vulnerabilities, obvious flaws, such that they are also so human and entirely relatable. This is absolutely a gift.

And we are so lucky to have the opportunity to partake of this gift of Patchett’s. In fact, this may actually be a MUST READ. I’d love to hear if you agree!

 

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Bert Cousins has managed once again to escape his home full of young children (and another on the way, somehow), this time to attend a christening party to which he was not even invited. Oh, he knows Fix Keating, a bit, but he never knew Fix’s wife was so beautiful – stunning, really. After aiding Fix in locating the just-christened baby who seemed to have gone missing, Bert finds himself alone with the lovely Beverly. It takes just one kiss between them to set their lives, and the lives of their children, on a whole new trajectory.

Ann Patchett has imagined very realistic characters within the pages of this novel, each of whom is coping with the fallout from this decision between Bert and Beverly. The characters are richly portrayed, as are their familial relationships. The children’s connections are strong, strained, tender, and challenging. In spite of the physical distance from each other that grows as they do, their connection is instinctual, reflex. And like in most families, their attachments are complicated by their tangential stories, layered with both love and resentment.

There are times in our lives we say or do something, make a certain choice one way or another, that we think inconsequential, but may actually have ramifications far beyond anything we can imagine. This story exemplifies this over and over again in a very powerful way.

 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Outside and across from the Dutch House is where Danny and his sister, Maeve, sit together regularly to digest their past.  It is almost as if going back to the scene of their childhood trauma might relieve them of them of the anger they harbor, of the resentment they feel.  Toward the mother who fled from them, and toward the stepmother who never let them near.  But if anything, it probably does more to perpetuate the ire.  But maybe that is what they are holding onto.  Maybe that is what is holding them together.  Maybe that is all that is holding them together…

I really liked this book and am struggling to write about it.  I feel like I need a bookclub meeting or an English class discussion to fully digest the symbolism packed into the pages of this story.  I’m not sure I’m wise enough to recognize and/or articulate it all myself.

The Dutch House seems to represent something different to each of the characters.  We see how Danny, like his father, has a passion for buildings —  the bones, the design — and Danny, like his father loves the Dutch House, and all its architectural splendor.  And it is home, such as it was for him.  His mother, like his sister, Maeve, see it only for its ostentatious gaudiness.  They shun it and flee it.  And when Andrea, the stepmother, enters the scene, with her pure avarice, she sees it only for the status it will bring to her and her daughters.  But does it bring happiness to any of the characters?

There are moments of awkward writing in this book, such as with the rapid shifting of time, when Danny and Maeve are sitting in Maeve’s car, at the Dutch House, later in life, reminiscing about their earlier days.  We find them there at sudden moments in the middle of the story and have to time travel with the author back and forth.  Sometimes it keeps the plot moving, but sometimes it is confusing.  Aside from these moments, though, the writing is engaging and the characters are colorful, sometimes raw,  and authentic.

I highly recommend this book, The Dutch House.  It will hold your attention long after you’ve finished the physical pages.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

state of wonder

Marina is heartbroken by the news of the death of her co-worker, Anders, who had been sent to the Amazon to assess the progress of research being conducted down there.  But when she learned that she now was the one being sent after him to investigate his death, her feelings were, understandably, quite mixed.  Why would her boss, Mr. Fox, with whom she had an “un-bossly” relationship send her down into a perilous situation?  And what would she encounter with the strong-minded and controversial researcher with whom she’d trained and had a checkered past with herself?  After seeing Anders’ wife and 3 boys and their sadness and disbelief that their father could truly be dead, she felt it her duty, though, to go and to see for herself how he’d died and what she could do to bring back his effects to help them in their grief.  What she found was beyond what she could have ever imagined.

This novel was stunning in both beauty and its depth.  As Marina learns more and more about the Amazon —  its people, its natural habitat, its dangers and its wonders — so too, does the reader.  Because of the crispness of the writing, one can breathe in the heaviness of the air, hear the insects buzzing around ones ears, feel the murkiness of the water they bathe in, and see the filth on the clothing Marina is forced to wear because she’s lost all of her luggage on the very first day.

But there is also a layering to the story which gives it depth.  There is the search for how Anders became sick with his undiagnosed fevers and the tenderness of the relationship he’d developed with the boy raised by the head researcher, Dr. Swenson.  There is the research itself, looking into why the women in the local tribe maintained their fertility well into their sixties and seventies – and the ethical concerns surrounding this.  There is the controversial character of Dr. Swenson – her avoidance of oversight and reluctance to be beholden to those who are funding her research.  What is she hiding?

I will not say how this book ended – but I will admit to you that I cried as I read the last few pages.  There unexpected twists that tug at your heart and at least caught me quite off guard.  So well done!

I have to say, this is a must-read!