Commonwealth

I have mixed feelings about this novel. On the one hand, once it settled into a rhythm, I enjoyed the reading experience immensely. On the other hand, it is on the whole unsatisfying because of its disjointed structure. In some ways, the book is a saga of the combined Keating and Cousins families, a kind of dysfunctional Brady Bunch where two cheating spouses contribute a total of six children the marriage that is the result of their affair, but where the ex-spouses remain in the picture for the next fifty years. But the lens is focused slightly more on Franny Keating, who in the opening chapter is a newborn and star of her own christening party. But we also settle from time to time on the other kids–her sister Caroline and also her step-siblings Cal, Holly, Jeannette, and Albie–as well as all the parents of this tribe. The book seems to have a randomness to it, which perhaps become clear near the conclusion, when Franny thinks about how things might have been different if this even had not occurred, or if that thing had never happened. One change early on and everything would have been different. Is that the point? If so, it's not particularly profound. My favorite character of the book is Leo Posen, a novelist with whom Franny has a long affair, but long before the book ends he has died and life has moved on.

In many ways, the book reminds me of Patchett's The Magician's Assistant, which had a similar feel. The direction of that book never seemed clear to me either, and yet that somehow didn't affect the joy of the reading experience.