By Philippa Tracy
Claire Lombardo’s debut novel was described by The Observer, as a literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler. How could I resist? Two great novelists who excel on the theme of small-town American family life. Lombardo’s novel spans 40 years, lovingly detailing the complications, secrets and triumphs of David and Marilyn Sorenson’s long marriage, and the various joys and failures of their four daughters.
First published in 2019, it came to my attention earlier this year, when Reese Witherspoon picked it for her book club. Set in suburban Chicago, “Oak Park: the land of wide lawns and narrow minds,” the novel focuses on the internal dynamics of the family. The Sorenson marriage is essentially a happy one, something the four daughters at times struggle to relate to. Such a tight focus on the emotional lives of a small group of people gives the reader a sense of intimacy with the family; it gradually draws you deep into the Sorenson world.
The novel opens at the wedding of eldest daughter Wendy to an “old-money academic”, with whom she is madly in love. When tragedy quickly befalls Wendy, she is left wealthy but bitter. At one point she tells her mother “we’re all emotionally stunted because you and Dad love each other more than you love us”. It is Wendy’s closest sister, Violet, that will suffer most from the bitterness, as Wendy seeks out the secret child that Violet had many years earlier and gave up for adoption. Driven and smart, Violet now works on her apparently perfect marriage and wonderful home, instead of the legal career she gave up to look after her two young boys. With the arrival of 15-year-old Jonah that all changes.
While all four daughters are impacted differently by the belief that their parents’ perfect marriage may be difficult to replicate, relationships are never that straightforward. David tells Marilyn he misses her when she is out of his sight for half an hour. And after almost 40 years, they still embarrass their daughters with their inability to keep their hands off each other. But while David has had a successful career in medicine, Marilyn is at times clearly resentful over her own choices and often struggles with motherhood. And despite appearances, Marilyn is often bored. These are, however, fleeting moments in a much longer emotional and psychologically complex journey.
The novel shifts in time between the past and the present, between the early days of the marriage, the impact of having young children and the longer-term ramifications of every decision. The continuum between choices and events over time means that tensions between the past and present are slowly revealed and connected. Families can be dysfunctional and emotionally rewarding at the same time, as this epic novel shows. Marilyn realises that relationships are often about, “choosing to be kind even when you may not feel like it.” And, there is “no such thing as winning, as a parent.”
This is an ambitious novel. It is about desire, compromise, regrets, resilience and the rewards of a long-term commitment and family. At the beginning, Marilyn imagines marriage would be one long sleepover, but then realises that instead, it “was a strangely pleasurable power game, a careful balance of competing egos, conflicting moods.” In essence, it is a book about life, love and being human.
