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melannrosenthal 's review for:
Ask Again, Yes
by Mary Beth Keane
OOOF!! Mary Beth Keane has very nearly stolen all of my words for her superbly written novel and I don't know how to do it justice, but I'll try:
In the style of [a:Celeste Ng|164692|Celeste Ng|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1404857644p2/164692.jpg], [a:Donna Tartt|8719|Donna Tartt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409871301p2/8719.jpg], [a:Lauren Groff|690619|Lauren Groff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330389831p2/690619.jpg] or even, dare I say, [b:A Little Life|22822858|A Little Life|Hanya Yanagihara|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446469353s/22822858.jpg|42375710] (!!!!!) or [b:Pachinko|34051011|Pachinko|Min Jin Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529845599s/34051011.jpg|50384116] (??!!), Keane has herself also crafted a near-perfect emotional family epic. Spanning the years between patriach Francis Gleeson's and his partner Brian Stanhope's first days on the force in the NYPD in the early 70s, all the way through to present day, she artfully styles sentences that provided bits and pieces of her characters, summarizing whole seasons or years in a few words, but allowing the reader more insight than might have been accomplished in 100 pages. Elsewhere, in lesser books, some of the details included may seem superfluous (I'll never forget how as a 13yo, Kate Gleeson slapped the For Sale sign as she and Peter Stanhope bounded away from their meeting place at an abandoned home), but here, every meandering sentence/paragraph made me sigh or gasp or tear up and left me desperate for more of Keane's excellence, but really desperate for the rest of the Gleeson/Stanhope story. Often while savoring these 375 pages I'd forget I was reading, so utterly lost in the words, and look up to notice an hour had passed. I read specifically to encounter books like this one.
TL;DR- what are you waiting for, read the book not my review!
To summarize (no spoilers): Cop Francis Gleeson moves out of the city to start a family with his wife, Lena, after being inspired by his short-term partner Brian, who mentioned the idyllic town of Gillam, NY and his own hopes to move out there soon with his pregnant fiancée. The years roll on, the Gleesons move out of the city, and have 3 daughters in quick succession. Sometime in between those births Lena meets her new neighbor Anne and her husband (surprise!) Francis' old friend Brian. Francis has a bad feeling about Anne and tries to keep his wife away from Brian's, but left alone all day with the babies, Lena can't help but reach out to and try to bond with the aloof, pregnant Anne only to get pushback again and again. Despite the Gleesons' youngest daughter Kate being just a few months younger than the Stanhope's son, Peter, and the two kids' tight-knit friendship throughout grade school, the parents refuse to befriend or even like each other.
And then the night that changes everything, a few months after Anne had a breakdown at the Food King, now at the end of Kate & Peter's 8th grade year, Anne spirals out of control. Peter had snuck out to meet with Kate and they're caught coming back inside. Lena is furious but Anne outdoes her, picking a fight with Brian over her hatred for Kate (and the Gleesons). Peter sneaks back next door to Kate's house to use their phone and call the police, but good Samaritan Francis goes over himself to check on Anne who has Brian's service weapon ready, and fires.
The subsequent 30 years follow the aftermath for the individuals of both families and the vitriol that bubbles beneath the surface and affects their decisions even as they're moving on and away from that night. Rare is it to see such real humans portrayed in fiction as they were here dealing with so much of what so many of us shy away from discussing in our day-to-day. For anyone who knows someone with mental illness or addiction (or for someone who may have one or both)- this book with likely tear you up as much as it did me. Keane's stunning prose is like a whole other character here, dipping in and out of focus on Lena, or Francis, or Kate, or Peter, or Anne, following them closely as they feel joy or mess up or grieve again and again forcing me to emote as they do, it's a roller coaster I'll revisit for the rest of my life.
In the style of [a:Celeste Ng|164692|Celeste Ng|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1404857644p2/164692.jpg], [a:Donna Tartt|8719|Donna Tartt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409871301p2/8719.jpg], [a:Lauren Groff|690619|Lauren Groff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330389831p2/690619.jpg] or even, dare I say, [b:A Little Life|22822858|A Little Life|Hanya Yanagihara|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446469353s/22822858.jpg|42375710] (!!!!!) or [b:Pachinko|34051011|Pachinko|Min Jin Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529845599s/34051011.jpg|50384116] (??!!), Keane has herself also crafted a near-perfect emotional family epic. Spanning the years between patriach Francis Gleeson's and his partner Brian Stanhope's first days on the force in the NYPD in the early 70s, all the way through to present day, she artfully styles sentences that provided bits and pieces of her characters, summarizing whole seasons or years in a few words, but allowing the reader more insight than might have been accomplished in 100 pages. Elsewhere, in lesser books, some of the details included may seem superfluous (I'll never forget how as a 13yo, Kate Gleeson slapped the For Sale sign as she and Peter Stanhope bounded away from their meeting place at an abandoned home), but here, every meandering sentence/paragraph made me sigh or gasp or tear up and left me desperate for more of Keane's excellence, but really desperate for the rest of the Gleeson/Stanhope story. Often while savoring these 375 pages I'd forget I was reading, so utterly lost in the words, and look up to notice an hour had passed. I read specifically to encounter books like this one.
TL;DR- what are you waiting for, read the book not my review!
To summarize (no spoilers): Cop Francis Gleeson moves out of the city to start a family with his wife, Lena, after being inspired by his short-term partner Brian, who mentioned the idyllic town of Gillam, NY and his own hopes to move out there soon with his pregnant fiancée. The years roll on, the Gleesons move out of the city, and have 3 daughters in quick succession. Sometime in between those births Lena meets her new neighbor Anne and her husband (surprise!) Francis' old friend Brian. Francis has a bad feeling about Anne and tries to keep his wife away from Brian's, but left alone all day with the babies, Lena can't help but reach out to and try to bond with the aloof, pregnant Anne only to get pushback again and again. Despite the Gleesons' youngest daughter Kate being just a few months younger than the Stanhope's son, Peter, and the two kids' tight-knit friendship throughout grade school, the parents refuse to befriend or even like each other.
And then the night that changes everything, a few months after Anne had a breakdown at the Food King, now at the end of Kate & Peter's 8th grade year, Anne spirals out of control. Peter had snuck out to meet with Kate and they're caught coming back inside. Lena is furious but Anne outdoes her, picking a fight with Brian over her hatred for Kate (and the Gleesons). Peter sneaks back next door to Kate's house to use their phone and call the police, but good Samaritan Francis goes over himself to check on Anne who has Brian's service weapon ready, and fires.
The subsequent 30 years follow the aftermath for the individuals of both families and the vitriol that bubbles beneath the surface and affects their decisions even as they're moving on and away from that night. Rare is it to see such real humans portrayed in fiction as they were here dealing with so much of what so many of us shy away from discussing in our day-to-day. For anyone who knows someone with mental illness or addiction (or for someone who may have one or both)- this book with likely tear you up as much as it did me. Keane's stunning prose is like a whole other character here, dipping in and out of focus on Lena, or Francis, or Kate, or Peter, or Anne, following them closely as they feel joy or mess up or grieve again and again forcing me to emote as they do, it's a roller coaster I'll revisit for the rest of my life.