Attenberg is less interested in the mechanics of plot than in the emotional vectors between striving, imperfect people ... She does all this with wry, streamlined wit and almost ruthless efficiency, distilling the essence of her characters and sometimes sealing their fate in the same paragraph. Even minor players are so sharply sketched that they feel immediately familiar ... But the episodic nature of the narrative can also serve to distance and sometimes disengage the reader. Major moments...are deftly, often movingly captured, and then a few pages later, they’re (literally) old news. It’s a testament to Attenberg’s gift for world-building that even the lovely, most likely temporary grace note that arrives in the final pages...somehow feels like a loss. From her, I’d take 10 more chapters of unhappily ever after.
Attenberg's characters are as loveable as they are maddening, and the combination of choices and luck makes the novel's events feel as random—and genuine—as real life.
Attenberg can be harsh; her wry authorial voice creates an emotional distance even from the women, as do her occasional asides telegraphing the future. But the vicissitudes of her characters are undeniably absorbing. A sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter take on family dynamics.
