This book is well-written, interesting, and thought-provoking. It is also quite depressing. It tells the story of the Lambert family: Enid; the elderly mother, who is exhausted from caring for her husband and is super-critical of her family; Alfred; her husband, who is losing himself to Parkinson's, Gary, the oldest, who worries about being clinically depressed and struggles with his wife Caroline (an unlikeable, manipulative woman with strange parenting ideas); Chip, an intellectual academic whose life is a mess; and Denise, the youngest and only girl, who is challenged by her sexual identity and sexual choices that make her life harder. They all have big challenges and don't seem to communicate with the people in their lives to make it better. I just had a hard time reading about people's mistakes and wanted to see them make different choices. Even the end, which is optimistic if you read it exactly as it is, still feels depressing.
I found myself thinking about the story after I finished it, which is a good indicator to me of at least an intellectually stimulating book. But don't read it if you want a feel-good story. It is also a fairly long read, so it takes some time.
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