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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780385334693
ISBN number: 0385334699
Label: The Dial Press
Manufacturer: The Dial Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: September 25, 2007
Publishing house: The Dial Press
Release Date: September 25, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 73883
Studio: The Dial Press
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Product Description:
On a wild, windy April day in Manhattan, when Mary very first meets John Keane, she cannot know what lies ahead of her. A marriage, a fleeting season of romance, and the birth of four children will bring John and Mary to rest in the safe embrace of a traditional Catholic life in the suburbs. But neither Mary nor John, distracted by memories and longings, can feel the wind that is buffeting their children, leading them in directions beyond their parents’ control. Michael and his sister Annie are caught up in the sexual revolution. Jacob, brooding and frail, is drafted to Vietnam. And the youngest, Clare, commits a stunning transgression after a childhood spent pleasing her parents. As John and Mary struggle to hold on to their family and their faith, Alice McDermott weaves an elegant, unforgettable portrait of a world in flux–and of the secrets and sorrows, anger and love, that lie at the heart of every family.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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This book reads like a series of exercises from a writing class: Describe, in detail, using the five senses as much as possible, the following: a family day at the beach, an unexpected birth, a confused passenger on a bus, a barroom scene, a young girl awaiting an abortion, a nun trying to shock a classroom of bored female students, etc. Truly significant scenes such as courtship, marriage, and death may be reserved for later, more advanced assignments. Bonus points will be given for how many firsts you can identify on a very first date.
For some readers these set pieces apparently coalesce into a meaningful whole. For this reader it was tedious detail upon tedious detail, for the sake of tedious detail.
Rated by buyers 
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I must say this book was a disappointment. Maybe it is just the style of the author I did not care for. At times I found the plot
iteresting to keep reading. However, it was hard to follow. The author seems to jump around too much and not stick with a thought.
I have no problem with the plot being a so called "Catholic family". In fact the plot sounded like my type of book. But, the style of writing is not my cup of tea. I doubt I will seek out other books by Alice McDermott.
Rated by buyers 
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Alice McDermott is a wonderfully evocative writer, but for me, the story didn't come together in any meaningful way. More like a series of vignettes or short stories. A little tedious, in fact.
Rated by buyers 
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A collection of vignettes about the Keane family of Long Island, living in the wake of the Vietnam War. In vignette-like chapters, McDermott probes the inner lives of this family. McDermott flawlessly encapsulates an era in the private moments of one family's life.
Rated by buyers -
I really enjoyed "Charming Billy" and looked forward to this novel, especially after all the glowing reviews in the press. But seriously, that wind started a'blowin' on page one and kept on for the subsequent 80 pages or so. Blowing people and their lives randomly into the unknowable future. In case you didn't get the meaning of the wind, its spelled out on the back cover. The wind finally lets up and turns to rain -right when people start crying (raindrops =tear drops, get it? Ms. McDermott even explains it for you in case you missed it). Somehow what seemed like a promising novel turned into an Iowa Writers Workshop assignment.
Yes, the woman can write but I don't know what happened here. This is really a sub par effort. Maybe charting two generations of an Irish Catholic family on Long Island from the post WW II era through the turbulent 60s and 70s in 280 pages was overly ambitious. The very first 100 pages I found relatively uninteresting but I persevered based on her reputation. The middle section was the best but once I realized that she was just going to finish out the novel with set pieces about each child (with their eventual future telescoped parenthetically), my interest waned and disappointment set in. As other reviewers have noted, this really isn't a novel. Its also not a bad effort. More like something from Oprahs book club that will be made into a movie for the Oxygen network. The real problem is the abundance of good writers competing for readers' diminishing free time. After This, Ms. McDermott just dropped down on my priority list.
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