Skip to main content

Anything is Possible: Lucy Barton's Return

Lucy--now a successful and highly regarded author-- returns to Amgash to visit her brother Pete. Her sister Vicky, resentful, says she is busy--but she shows up.   They sit in Pete's house and discussed their dysfunctional upbringing and their odd parents.  Mom took her sewing shears to Vicki's clothes.  Dad's loud sex with Mom in the room right next to Pete.  Vicki forced to eat food she'd thrown into the toilet.  Pete and Lucy forced to eat food they'd thrown in the garbage.They share this tension regarding their upbringing, but they aren't close.  Pete is autistic, so he's not close with anyone, though he does keep the women from arguing.  Vicky is resentful of Lucy's success and even more of Lucy's escape from Amgash.  (Lucy hasn't been back in 17 years.) Lucy says she has returned because she is feeling her own mortality and wants to reconnect with her siblings.
Toward the end of the visit Lucy has an anxiety attack. Lucy requests that Vicky drive her rental car back to Chicago with Pete following along behind.  (This is a big deal for Pete as he has never been to Chicago. As they drive, Lucy regains her composure and insists she is well enough to drive herself. This leaves Vicky and Pete to return to Amgash together. On the drive back, Pete tells Vicky that she's an incredible person--not quite sure why.  Nevertheless, the two who stayed behind seem bonded.  Lucy, on the other hand, is glad to get away. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin . . . finished

 Follows Sadie and Sam (Mazer) from childhood to mid-thirties when both are feeling old and a bit out of it in the gaming world.  Characters are well-rounded, develop throughout the novel in interesting way.  Plot is involved but sensible.  Not a single, "Oh, come on!" moment.  The book could have been faster paced. Odd, since the main topic is video games which are not for their speed of engagement and Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her video games. Recommended by Michael Connelly in an interview.  He also has Bosch pick up the book in his novel, Resurrection Walk, as Bosch tails a possible witness to a crime as she moves through a bookstore. Sadie and Sam do not get together at the end, which is good.   Marx killed by homophobic nutcase who really wants to kill Sam, but Sam isn't there. Marx is father of Sadie's child. 
Post a Comment
Read more

The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey--opening pages

Blair, a lawyer in Milford, gets a strange call.  His practice is wills and similar--nothing criminal.  A woman tells him that Scotland Yard is accusing her of abduction and implores him to come out to help her, even if later on he passes the case to someone else.  The woman says she has called him because he is "her type," meaning respectable and conservative.  He agrees.
Post a Comment
Read more