All In The Family

ALL IN THE FAMILY

by Edwin O’Connor

 

Nomination: National Book Finalist 1967

 

Date Read: March 29, 2021

 

All In The Family details the coming together and the falling apart of the Kinsella family through the eyes of their cousin, Jack. Beautifully written and subtly insightful, O’Connor artfully shows that even the closest knit family can come undone. 

 

The three privileged sons of Jimmy Kinsella, James, Charles and Phil, are largely raised in idyllic Ireland by a demanding and rich father who expects great things from his progeny. After tragically losing his mother and brother to a freak drowning (or was it?), Jack spends the summer with his cousins in Ireland and forms a lifelong bond that carries into adulthood.

 

Charles becomes the golden-boy of the family, running for mayor and then Governor, while James becomes a much-lauded priest and Phil an accomplished lawyer and eventually Charles’s advisor. Through Charles’s political maneuverings, Phil becomes disenchanted at the mere lip service Charles pays to his position rather than using it to effect real change. This rift between the brothers becomes so deep that it forever drives their family apart.

 

While it is heartbreaking to see this family that was so united become so fragmented, their story feels familiar and convincing. O’Connor is a beautiful storyteller and the first chapters of this book I found myself reading with abandon, envisioning a childhood that most never experience, even with the tragedy of Jack’s losses.

 

O’Connor brings this story to a beautiful, yet ominous close, with Jack and Jean finally expecting their own child. Of course, you can’t help but wonder what is in store for them as parents as their family is just beginning to be created.

 

Looking Forward: The Edge Of Sadness, The Last Hurrah

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gentleman In Moscow

Image
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find comfo
Read more

An Island

Image
AN ISLAND by Karen Jennings   Nomination: Booker Longlist 2021   Date Read: December 10, 2022   A short but mighty novel, An Island explores the concept of home, family, identity, the impact of political upheaval and the immigrant experience, when one’s suffering is so intense they move from one shitty country to the next. Samuel has finally found a peaceful home on an island somewhere off the coast of Africa. He was hired as a lighthouse keeper and after a tumultuous life, most of which was spent in prison as a political prisoner, he has carved out a life for himself on this island, enjoying a tranquil existence that basks in the quiet tasks of daily living.   Only after exploring Samuel’s life does the reader understand why such an isolated, spare and lonely existence satisfy him, with no desire to escape but only to grow deeper roots. His life witnessed the end of the British occupation, the installation of a brutal dictator and yet another dictator after the first was poisoned. Sam
Read more

The Changeling

Image
THE CHANGELING by Victor LaValle   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2017, PEN/Jean Stein Finalist 2018   Date Read: July 21, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “A  tragedy thrusts a mourning father into peculiar, otherworldly corners of New York City. When Apollo and Emma have their baby, Brian, it feels like both reward and challenge for the new dad. Apollo, the son of a single mother, had been scraping by as a bookseller who hunts estate and garage sales for rare first editions, so even the unusual circumstance of Brian's birth (in a stalled subway train) seems like a blessing, as does the way Apollo stumbles across a first edition of  To Kill a Mockingbird  (inscribed by Harper Lee to Truman Capote, no less) shortly after. But after some young-parent squabbles and inexplicable images on their smartphones foreshadow trouble, the story turns nightmarish: Apollo finds himself tied up and beaten by Emma, then forced to listen to the sounds of Brian’s murder. LaValle has
Read more