Book Review: After This

A family is the focus of Professor Alice McDermott's latest novel, After This. The family, most importantly, is a haven despite the harsh realities of the world and this family is the Keanes, whose parents, John and Mary, guide their children through the tumultuous time surrounding the Vietnam War. Beginning with the first meeting of Mary and John, the novel's plot traces the growth of their relationship -- how it is affected by time, the growth of their children and social circumstance -- and then takes over the tales of their children, exploring the different life choices that each of the siblings make.

The Keane children grew up in a Catholic, suburban Long Island community in a tight-knit family that enforced good Catholic values. They went to Catholic school and were trained in the ways of the Church, a motif that is prominent throughout the novel's entirety. The oldest child, Jacob, is timid and not much of a student. He decides that college isn't for him and ends up being sent to fight in Vietnam.

McDermott weaves Jacob's tale most effectively through the scenes where his character is not immediately present but instead is ruminated upon by various characters, like his parents or sisters. Jacob's own longing for what he wants to be, coupled with the impressions of and expectations for him discussed from the prospective of others, gives an element of realism and honesty to this character that is almost lacking from the book's other characters.

The second son, Michael, excels in all the areas his older brother doesn't. His path takes him to college, where he contemplates how he wants his life to be and what to make of the hedonistic aspects of the college culture in which he participates: beer, drugs and sex.

The Keane girls undergo a more striking development. Starting with Annie, portrayed as the picture of innocence, her story traces most vividly her sexual awakening and its indirect effect on her faith. Whether it's accompanying her best friend to an abortion clinic, or escaping her past by going to England, Annie's evolution is intricately related to her notion of sin and its influence on her life.

Clare, the youngest of the children, is the only child whose story is introduced at the womb. Her age and innocence are used as a marker of time for the other characters, as it is her birth which kick-starts the bulk of the novel's action. She is a key observer of the book's characters, and through her many facets of the family's personality are highlighted. With her growth comes the mark of change within American society: She comes of age slightly later than her siblings and her parents are older, two facts which are manifested through her desperate desire to maintain a sense of naiveté among the influences of the world around her.

Pauline is a work friend of Mary's who becomes an integral part of the family from their sense of obligation to her, despite their dislike of her.

Pauline remains a reminder of the family's past, embodying a metaphor for the traditional values that the Keanes wished to impart to their children. As the children grow and the devoutly Catholic values their parents wished to instill in them are slowly abandoned, so deteriorates Pauline's bodily well-being until she ultimately becomes devastatingly ill at the exact moment of utmost crisis for the Keane family.

The most enjoyable aspects of the novel are definitely the clear prose and the development of the plot.

Written in a clean style without much fuss, McDermott uses language effectively to establish a scene or emotion without relying heavily on flowery metaphors or exorbitant language; the avoidance of both is critical to the establishment and maintaining of the novel's brisk and somewhat authoritative tone.

Despite some occasional uncertainty of action or emotion by the characters themselves, all is told through the use of a narrator who is able to evaluate precisely the characters' states of mind -- even when a character himself may be conflicted.

This directness carries the plot along nicely, allowing it to jump through time and between vantage points without losing the reader in the process.

The plot is riveting enough to maintain the reader's desire to read to the end. Part of this can be attributed to the switching between the viewpoints of various family members; if the story of one starts to drag, there is the reassurance that someone else's will be starting soon.

Each sub-plot contributes to the over-arching goal of portraying the desperate struggle of two parents struggling to keep their family together in the face of the various emotional tribulations that the family encounters over time.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect is the realism McDermott brings to her characters. It is easy to imagine that this is the story of your own family or the one next door; it is easy to relate to the temptations, triumphs and failures that the Keane family endures throughout the novel.

After This is a novel that could serve as the mouthpiece for American culture of the last three decades, depicting the conflict between family and independence, tradition and the lure of the future.