I read this on the recommendation of Lisa Kimmel at Kisker Road. We had been talking about how much we enjoyed Bel Canto when Lisa said I must read this novel. I tried something different this time. I read the book at home and listened to it when in the car. I will repeat this experiment in the future.
Bernard Doyle is the former mayor of Boston and he has two sons named Tip and Teddy. They were adopted at birth and 18 months. Tip is the older one. Doyle has decided his adult children will have a role in politics and towards that end he has brought them to hear Jesse Jackson speak. On a very snowy night, the Doyle family meet in an auditorium. Tip is looking for a way to get back to his job. He doesn't want to attend the reception and begins walking away, not watching where he is going. The next thing he knows there is an SUV and an unknown woman pushing him out of the way. With the appearance of this woman, the life Tip and Teddy and even Doyle know begins to unravel in ways they can not imagine.
I was drawn into this story. It takes place over a 24 hour period. The characters and their individual stories were very compelling and heartbreaking. I felt I could go and see these people, sitting down in their living room and picking up the story. The older brother Sullivan and his life was a plot line that could have been filled out a little more - making the reader understand why he reacted the way he did. That really is my only quibble with the book. Coincidence and fate in one's life are discussed - why the choices we make effect other people we don't even know. I think this is a great book for a discussion group.
Six degrees of reading: The Dead by James Joyce, The Color of Water by James McBride, Hood by Emma Donoghue.
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