Summer in Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan Review

1945 concerned a betting debt of $ 50, the friend Ned could not redeem. So Daniel Kelleher is a wonderful land on the beach of Cape Neddick on the East Coast in the State of Maine overnight owner. Here erect Daniel and his brothers in self-work a generous summer house. At the long wooden table in the kitchen loose ten people can sit while hinköchelt on the cast-iron wood stove eating going on. Anyone willing and able to make on the black piano in the living room music.

Unforgettable moments brought the outdoor shower, especially when the stars sparkle on clear nights over it. Truly a “little piece of paradise”, where the growing family Kelleher spends many summer.

For Thanksgiving 1942 Daniel had met his future wife, Alice. Her brothers had dragged him to the famous dance hall “Coconut Grove” in Boston, where also wanted to enjoy the sisters Alice and Mary. The attractive Alice felt even then chosen for greatness; their plan was to get all their talent, painting indulge in Paris.

Since the nondescript at first glance, Daniel was in her eyes, “surely an absolute dud”.

But the evening ends dramatically and Alice’s life will steer you in completely different paths. The “Coconut Grove” burns down, and among the 492 people who die in the Inferno, is Mary. Henceforth, Alice stressed a sense of ownership, the indelible complicity in Mary’s death. Only many years later they can again open to others …

First, she needs someone by her side. Daniel is there, and slowly growing love.

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Six months later, the two married. Alice is an active member of the parish, trying to find peace in prayer.

In 2000, Alice is 83 years old. Much of their possession they had already cleared out this summer, drawers and closets are empty. Because she has made her will and the beach plot with summerhouse and widening construction – a million dollar building – the Church bequeathed. Pastor Donnelly knows the gift nbsp & the; the future of the community secures to estimate, but has no idea that Alice’s last wish is going it alone – not a malicious coup against her family, no selfless generosity. but only the need arisen to pay off their debt as oversize perceived in any way.

How are the children and grandchildren react when they arrive in a few weeks? None of them suspects something from Alice’s own authority the decision is made.

So the plot is heading towards the culmination, the meeting of the family in Maine. The characters are there already so strongly influenced their constellation and their behavior already set so that it is foreseeable that must come.

The children Kathleen, Clare and Patrick have a hard time with her mother behind. Up high in Alice’s age no one can understand why they never could have from the beginning a loving, self-sacrificing mother why she handled so moody, irritable, often cynical and hurtful with their loved ones. were particularly bad the days when they got drunk to unconsciousness. After they had caused a serious car accident in noise and their children with them endangered, Daniel met while clear arrangements and the bottles disappeared, but despite his calm, serenity and tolerance he never succeeded more to mitigate discord, dislikes and misconceptions among the children. The inability to prejudice, harmony and understanding to live together, the family peace had no chance.

Kathleen, who divorced eldest daughter, has deducted from their union nut up to the West Coast, where she lives with a alternatives ( “this Arlo bum “). On their farm in California they feed food waste from schools and canteens of worms, their excretions are highly in demand as a fertilizer. Despite her great success of Kathleen applies in her own family as an underdog – it lives and burrows after all the dirt. As his favorite daughter had left much of the money that Daniel, she will have this once burned? But it is not foreseeable that after Mother’s death the siblings will be a fair balance in the form of the cottage given?

The hardening in the family still have an impact in the grandchildren’s generation. Alice also had Kathleen alcohol problems that leave along with a marriage crisis mark on her daughter Maggie. Constantly on the lookout for a strong, loving bond meets Maggie to men who do not want to carry such a responsibility, and a pregnancy can not force marriage. After the failure of the couple’s relationship Maggie flees to the pavilion to find himself and a future for themselves and their child. But Kathleen is this perspective unbearable; she travels to Maine to take the matter in hand …

The Least Favorite in the family is Patrick’s wife, Ann Marie. Her husband is successful, their three children are making a flawless figure, and Ann Marie makes every effort to please everyone. The glossy facade cracks has that others do not see, but Ann Marie and Patrick makes it to create. But for Ann Marie just to look ahead applies: take care law Alice, you still can not let operate alone in the summer house in her old age; delve into delicate sewing whose perfection it contributes to the finals to London; a doll’s house with brick finish tinkering …

These are just some of the Kelleher women in J. Courtney Sullivan’s novel ” Maine < " < a title = "J. Courtney Sullivan." Maine "in"

After many pages full of venom is like expecting a furious finale, a hearty Familieneklat with all the fuss, even with dead (actually or metaphorically) , Alone, the author has decided otherwise, and so innocuous as its title “Summer in Maine” so unpretentious the novel ends actually – and remains only as a light summer breeze in memory

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