A Family unravels

A well-written account of a family in turmoil. Life is a neatly wrapped package for the Butterfield family. A happy marriage with two daughters, one a highly successful lawyer and the younger pre-med. The future looks settled for the couple and their children in their well-ordered world, until the father returns from a business trip and finds a strange man in his bed. His world shattered, he divorces his wife, and the family slowly unravels, the skeins of their lives pooling into a giant puddle of despair. Like a game of dominoes, each member of the family's life is knocked out of whack, so that their plans dissolve, leaving them rudderless. This was a great depiction of the death throes of a family, the struggle to come to grips with their imploding world. The road twists, skewing judgement, allowing the accepted rules of behavior to warp. Each one is faced with their derailment, and Moriarty does a fantastic job by giving each character a different voice. Veronica is left to sink, her parents
wrapped up in their own disillusionment and pain, selfishly letting her flounder until common sense resurfaces. Both Veronica and her sister learn to see their parents as real people who's lives have taken a surprising turn. Astonishingly poignant, frighteningly real, this is a story about coping and learning to accept one's limitations by opening their eyes and being honest with themselves.

Happy Reading!
Carole P. Roman