I failed

Once again, I've failed to complete a novel. I had such hopes too, charging $9.99 to my Amazon account. So yes. I am referring to A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein.

Great premise, told from the first person voice of a Jewish father, Pete, a doctor, a lover of the suburbs who wants nothing more then to watch his only son, Alec, flourish. Pete has risen in social status alongside his friends, Joe and Iris, who experienced a family tragedy when their eldest daughter, at seventeen years old, hid her pregnancy, killed the baby when it was born, and spent two years in a mental hospital. Alec was eight at the time. Now Alec is twenty, and Laura is thirty, and they meet. Alec is smitten. Peter is horrified. The story is potent, the language smart and crisp, the characters in full bloom.

However, while I started off the book liking the narrator Pete, my sympathy for him faded when he wouldn't give Laura any chance. On the other hand, I didn't like Laura's growing manipulations and self-centered attitude. And I didn't like Peter, who seemed spoiled and self-righteous. They were all given valid reasons for their points of view, and the author didn't let you easily take sides, mirroring the complexity of life. But it left me feeling a bit empty, with no character to love. (I did like Pete's wife until she, perhaps too easily, disbelieved her husband at the end.)

Some might find my issue ironic and say that my characters aren't the easiest people to admire -- Tess was filled with rage, and Shannon disconnected from her own baby. But I truly love them. I think of Shannon, from Mother Prowls, and I smile with affection. They are just my kind of people. They see life as a swamp, yet they keep trudging through.

The righteous opinions of the characters in A Friend of the Family seemed humorous at first. Then the humor faded and left little for me to hang onto. I read about a third of the book. I skipped to the end and read backward another third, leaving the middle third alone.

Which is not to say I would not recommend this novel. I would! It's well written. A different reader might find Pete reminiscent of a father or grandfather or mother for that matter. He is a man who lives and breathes. And Alec is a son of the upwardly mobile. Readers just need to be interested in the people (young and old) who think they know how we SHOULD conduct our lives.