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Maine

a Novel
annelibnyc
Oct 13, 2011annelibnyc rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Maine is not always a place in this book but a representation of what the family, in the story, aspires to. A dysfunctional Irish-Catholic family has a summer cottage, a property the patriarch won in a card game. the matriarch, Alice, now in her 80s, is a selfish, stuck-in-her-ways, old woman who has no appreciation for her extended family and clearly her family feels the same way about her. For pretty much all of them, the only thing in the family they really love is the their beach house in Maine which represents status, freedom and escape. The story of the family and it's dysfunction is told through several generations of the family including: Alice, her daughter Kathleen, her daughter-in-law Ann Marie and her granddaughter Maggie. This is not a literary tour de force but there is sense of tragedy, angst and real family tension that leaves the reader more than little uncomfortable in spots. I kept thinking of similar people in my own family. in the end, i liked this book but I didn't love it. I would think it would make a good book club selection - if only because at the end I know that, like me, you will be wanting to discuss the book with somebody!