(4/11/2023)
This imaginative novel by Ann Patchett is a complex examination of the meaning of family, the secrets we hold to protect those we love, and what it means to do the right thing for others and ourselves—and it all takes place at that tricky intersection between privilege and poverty.
But most of all, it's just a really good story. I was mesmerized!
Bernard Doyle, the former mayor of Boston, lives in a beautiful, stately home in a well-to-do area of the city. A widower who still grieves the untimely, long-ago death of his wife, Bernadette, has three sons, two of whom were adopted. Sullivan, the oldest, is 33, and has caused undue heartbreak and scandal to the family. Teddy and Tip, the adopted Black sons, excel at what they do but are still a disappointment to Doyle, who had high hopes for them to go into politics. One night in January with a big snow forecast to hit Boston, Doyle drags Teddy and Tip to a lecture at Harvard given by Jesse Jackson. Afterward, the two boys want to go home; Doyle wants them to accompany him to a private party for Jackson. They argue on the street as the snow falls. And in a split second, Tip goes sailing through the air. An SUV was about to hit him when some kind of guardian angel shoved him out of the way. Not an angel, but a woman—and the SUV hits her instead. The woman is accompanied by her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, who is a superstar on the track (hence, one of the meanings of the title of the novel). Kenya is devastated as her beloved mother, Tennessee, lies unconscious and bleeding in the snow. Over the course of 24 hours, the lives of these two very different families, one that has known nothing but privilege and the other that has known nothing but struggle, do more than intersect. They seemingly merge in a tale that is riveting, fierce, and tender.
There is a brilliant and totally unexpected plot twist about two-thirds of the way through the book. Only the reader knows the astonishing secret that is revealed; the main characters never discover it, which gives the rest of the story a haunting poignancy.
The novel's primary strength is in the characters, each one fully defined and distinct, and how they interact with each other. The powerful, aging Bernard Doyle, the sullen, scandal-plagued but highly personable Sullivan, the friendly, faithful Teddy, the studious, taciturn Tip, the delightful, precocious Kenya, and the big-hearted Tennessee. Add to the mix 88-year-old Father John Sullivan, brother of the late Bernadette, who is slowly dying but seems to have acquired the ability to heal the sick with his touch—something even he doesn't believe he can do.
I only have one quibble with the novel: These two Black children are brought up in the White Irish Catholic culture and are fully immersed in it, never exploring, much less embracing, their own Black culture. Something is missing because of this.
Still, the book shines brightly, as do all of Ann Patchett's novels and essays, because of the writing. It is magnificent with words that beguile and enchant. Sometimes I had to just stop reading and savor a sentence or a paragraph or an entire page.