{"id":8129,"date":"2019-12-30T06:07:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T06:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=8129"},"modified":"2020-01-27T12:06:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T12:06:16","slug":"ask-again-yes-by-mary-beth-keane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/?p=8129","title":{"rendered":"Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Published by Scribner 28 May 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

400pp, hardback, $27<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Elsbeth Lindner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to buy this book<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a category of American literature \u2013 let\u2019s call it quotidian smooth \u2013 that, at its best, offers a kind of soaring take on everyday life, laying a wise balm over the more or less ordinary events that occur in middle class homes, while penetrating the soft but rich psychology of its characters. One of the best of these, in recent years, was Matthew Thomas\u2019s We Are Not Ourselves<\/em> which explored a family history across decades, through the particular lens of dementia, but which raised wider issues too \u2013 heredity, housing, loyalty and the daily of business of wedded life. Not to mention the US favourite, redemption.<\/p>\n

Mary Beth Keane\u2019s third novel joins these ranks. It too takes the long view, assessing the vicissitudes of two families living in neighbouring houses in Gillam, a suburb twenty miles north of New York City. The Gleesons and the Stanhopes know each other before settling in Gillam. Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope met as rookie copies in the NYPD. Yet they are not entirely friends. Upright Frances holds back a little from his less centred colleague. Their wives differ too. Lena, mother to Francis\u2019s three daughters, offers friendship to Anne Stanhope but is rebuffed. Anne is prickly, mercurial, shading, over time, into violence and unpredictability. Meanwhile Francis\u2019s youngest child, Kate, and Anne\u2019s son Peter have formed an undying friendship which will slide frictionlessly into star-crossed love.<\/p>\n

Keane\u2019s quiet capability embraces a three-generational plot, multiple character perspectives and some complicated topics, notably mental health and addiction. Her empathy extends easily to Anne who, after reaching a shattering crisis, is incarcerated in a secure facility. Anne\u2019s struggle to regain control of herself and a degree of normalcy in her interactions with her family are one facet of the story. Another is Kate\u2019s response to this challenge and how it feeds into to the amelioration of another threat. Meanwhile Francis and Lena are tackling major threats to their own union.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a broad yet domestic canvas. The story springs from Anne\u2019s \u2013 or Keane\u2019s \u2013 belief that \u2018the beginning of one\u2019s life mattered the most, that life was top-heavy that way\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gentle but affecting, Keane\u2019s novel delivers a mature version of a narrative likely to appeal widely. Love will weather vicissitudes. It doesn\u2019t get more conventional, nor special, than that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* A 2019 Notable Book<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Elsbeth Lindner<\/p>\n

Keane\u2019s quiet capability embraces a three-generational plot, multiple character perspectives and some complicated topics, notably mental health and addiction. Her empathy extends easily to Anne who, after reaching a shattering crisis, is incarcerated in a secure facility. Anne\u2019s struggle to regain control of herself and a degree of normalcy in her interactions with her family are one facet of the story. Another is Kate\u2019s response to this challenge and how it feeds into to the amelioration of another threat […] in Reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-fiction-and-non-fiction","category-notable-books","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8129"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8296,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8129\/revisions\/8296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bookoxygen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}