Commonwealth: A Novel

 

Commonwealth: A Novel
by Anne Pratchett
HarperCollins, 2016. Fiction. 322 p.

This is a sweeping epic account of two families that are split apart and molded together by divorce and remarriage over two generations. It all starts when Bert Cousins shows up, uninvited, at a christening party for the daughter of Fix and Beverly Keating.  Beverly is stunningly beautiful, and tired of her life with Fix.  Bert is bored with his life with his wife, Teresa, and their 3 3/4 children.  The party is the beginning of an affair between Bert and Beverly that ends in divorces in both families so the two can marry.  Their 6 (combined) children spend summers together and build a odd kind of bond, even after one of the boys dies in a tragic accident.  The book ends with the initial couples in advanced age, looking back at their lives and their wonderful crazy family.

This is a story of a modern family with complicated, often dysfunctional relationships, but bound together by something more than blood.  The timeline of the book is fluid.  Point of view bounces erratically from the children's childhoods, to the middle years when they were young adults, and to their later years when kids are pretty much settled with families of their own. Underlying everything  is the hopeful message that tragedies soften over time, and people really do end up settling down into a kind of peaceful resolution in the end. 

(note: readers should be aware that this book has a lot of harsh language.)