Ayelet Waldman, author of the Mommy Track mystery series, Bad Mother (2009), and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits ( ), lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, novelist Michael Chabon, and their children.
The Story: On their way to their wedding reception in Maine, where the bride’s affluent New York family owns a summer home and the groom’s working-class single mother lives year round, golden couple Becca Copaken and John Tetherly, a local boat builder, tragically die in a car accident. The social differences between the families become readily apparent as Becca’s mother, Iris, embarks on a power struggle with John’s mother, Jane, over their grieving processes, and their younger children turn to each other for solace. But over the four Maine summers following the accident, the different families try to find common ground, and they shakily, uncertainly, start to come together.
Doubleday. 343 pages. $25.95. ISBN: 9780385517867
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"All of the characters are acutely rendered. ... One of the pleasures of the book is in its detailed description of work: boat building, boxing, teaching and learning music." Brigitte Frase
USA Today
"Waldman, who made headlines in 2005 for writing that she loved her husband (the writer Michael Chabon) more than her children, articulately plumbs the depths of the parent-child bond with clarity and intense feeling. ... The only trepidation reading this book was that the sadness it so exquisitely portrays is too relentless, that there is no relief from the bleak plot." Carol Memmott
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"By shifting points of view, Ms. Waldman gives us an inside look at how surviving members of each family process grief, from anger to bewilderment. ... [Iris’s father Emil Kimmelbrod’s] insights--mostly kept to himself and beautifully understated--give the story a depth and context lacking in the self-centered people around him." Clara Silverstein
Washington Post
"Waldman sometimes seems engaged in an act of emotional masochism. ... Along with lots of wonderful detail about restoring wooden boats and an engaging subplot involving classical music, her best insights are about class conflict in a modest Maine town that endures an annual three-month influx of wealthy, sophisticated visitors who like to think the place belongs to them." Ron Charles
Boston Globe
"For all this novel’s strong points, though, it is formulaic women’s fiction. The machinery grinds on, churning out predictably unpredictable plot turns, perfect characters, neatly phrased remarks that will enliven the inevitable movie version." Diane White
San Francisco Chronicle
"Scenes and episodes tend to be rendered more quickly as the story moves forward, so the novel’s best scene is undoubtedly the novel’s first lengthy scene, with the lovingly detailed description of the wedding and the wedding reception before the bad news arrives. For all these reasons, it’s hard to get absorbed in this novel, to lose oneself in the story, and not be aware that one is reading a book that someone wrote." Debra Spark
Critical Summary
Critics diverged over Waldman’s dissection of the aftermath of tragedy, loneliness, and grief. While some felt drawn in by the intriguing plot, characters, and portrait of grief, no matter how bleak, others felt hoodwinked by an overly depressing, clichéd story of fairytale romance and family relationships gone terribly awry. The ending ("a sudden loss of narrative control that sends the story careening into melodrama," according to the Washington Post) also left something to be desired. Yet almost every reviewer praised Waldman’s sharp eye for detail--from her descriptions of Maine, boat building, and classical music to her commentary on social and class conflict. In sum, Red Hook Road is probably best for those who want an emotional, tearful read.