Ezra's Bookshelf

Commonwealth

by Ann Patchett · 279 pages · ~5 hrs

Fiction

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Ann Patchett's novel spans five decades in the lives of two families brought together by an impulsive kiss. At a christening in 1964, a man shows up uninvited and kisses the hostess; both marriages dissolve, and the families reform in new configurations. The six children from these marriages become the novel's central characters, siblings by circumstance who struggle with their parents' choices and each other. Patchett, known for novels like 'Bel Canto' and 'The Dutch House,' writes with characteristic attention to the complicated textures of family life. The narrative moves across years and continents, from California to Virginia, as the children grow into adults shaped by a domestic cataclysm they didn't cause. Patchett explores how family stories get told and retold, and how the meanings of childhood events change as understanding deepens. The novel is ultimately about what we owe each other and how we fail those obligations. This is domestic fiction of the highest order, finding in one family's experience the material for extended meditation on love and loyalty.

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