Annie Brown was the proverbial glue of her household. She picked up her husband, Bill, at a celebration and so they married after their fling led to a being pregnant—the primary of many for the Brown household. Annie introduced pleasure to the sufferers on the nursing house the place she labored. She supplied accountability for her greatest pal, Annemarie, when the temptation to revisit addictions flared. Beyond Bill’s trusted life associate, Annie was each function mannequin and caregiver for his or her daughter and three sons. So when she dies, immediately, the individuals round her should not merely bereft—they’re misplaced. As Bill displays on his spouse’s loss of life, he observes the disjointed method Annie’s family members stumble via their grief: “There was some kind of river of loss underneath them all. There was no way to know how to move on.”
In Anna Quindlen’s newest novel, After Annie, the novelist turns her masterful eye on the lives of the individuals closest to Annie: Bill, their daughter Ali, and Annemarie. As Quindlen cycles via their views in the course of the first yr following Annie’s loss of life, we see the methods the characters circle one another. Ali turns into an grownup the second her mother falls to the ground, absorbing the duties her dad is simply too shell-shocked to tackle. Bill, a plumber, responds to infinite calls from the city’s single ladies. Annemarie initially makes time for Ali however quickly drifts away as her dependancy surges once more.
Throughout her profession, Quindlen’s fiction and nonfiction alike have showcased her consideration to element and talent to weave compelling narratives from the frequent experiences that comprise life. After Annie follows within the footsteps of Miller’s Valley, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Alternate Side and different Quindlen novels that look at households and the individuals of their rapid orbits. After Annie is a heartfelt, nuanced portrait of life after loss.
Discussion about this post