Therefore, another of his books was on the cards.
When Henry Molise, a 50 year old writer, is called by his brother and told his parents are on the verge of a divorce, he returns reluctantly to his home town to try to help sort the problem.
While he's there, he is persuaded (read emotionally blackmailed) to help his father on one last building job. His father's alcoholism is not likely to help with the building process.
This is a slim volume at a shade over 200 pages. However by the end of it I knew Henry and Old Nick (his dad) inside and out. Even the slightly more background characters were fleshed out fairly well. These were complex and well rounded characters.
This is one of the most moving and funny novels I've read this year. The father/son dynamic is by turns hilarious, sad and infuriating. His relationship with his mother is equally good. She is a great comic creation and I'm grinning now just remembering the scene where she takes the phone off henry while he's talking to his wife.
His brothers and sister aren't as rounded, but as supporting cast they do their job well. The running joke with Mario gets funnier every time it appears. The brotherhood of the Grape - aka Nick's drinking buddies - are similarly great comic supporting cast.
It's told in a very easy prose that has true hidden depths. I raced through this book in two days and it's well and truly restored my failth in the written word to be entertaining after the drudge that was The Year's Midnight. In a third the number of pages, this book gave far more entertainment and characterisation.
This made me laugh, it made me wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, Books like this are the reason that I read. I really can't praise it any higher than that.
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