A more apposite title for this take on the
great American novel could be “Life with the Lamberts” as we get a forensic
examination of parents Alfred and Enid and their three grown up children –
Chip, Gary and Denise.
As the book opens Alfred and Enid are in New
York to embark on a cruise of the Canadian Atlantic coast, but are stopping en
route to have lunch with Chip, who becomes first to take centre stage. He’s a
failed academic (a career undermined by a penchant for young female students)
who now writes unpaid for the obscure Warren Street Journal (his parents think
it is the Wall Street Journal and he has failed to correct them) while working
on the umpteenth rewrite of the screenplay that will launch his literary career.
His parents’ visit is at an inconvenient time coinciding with a deadline for
his script, his latest girlfriend walking out on him, and a new opportunity
suddenly appearing.
Each family member has a turn in the spotlight
to share their back story and perspective on the current state of relations.
Alfred, retired railroad engineer and
executive, man of principle and too stubborn for his own (and his family’s)
good, is now deteriorating physically with Parkinson’s and mentally with
dementia. Enid is in good shape but is struggling to cope with Alfred;
concerned about the children’s lives and obsessively intent on bringing them
back home to St Jude “for one last Christmas”.
Gary is, to all appearances, ‘the successful
one’; a banker in Philadelphia with an attractive wife, Caroline, who is too
attractive for his comfort. She uses their three boys to play him like a fish
on a line.
Daughter Denise is to me the most appealing.
The youngest, she is wilful, resourceful and strong; getting what she wants (or
what she thinks she wants) then, finding it unsatisfactory, throwing it away.
She is a renowned chef, also in Philadelphia, and the one who exhibits most
responsibility for Alfred and Enid.
It’s a big rambling book, the structure
seemingly loose and wandering, with a style of prose that takes some getting
used to. But it grew on me and eventually the diverse stories and the
resonating family history coalesce in a satisfying manner as Enid’s “one last
Christmas” takes shape and threatens to impact disproportionately on all their
lives.
Maybe “The Corrections” is a suitable title
after all.
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