Ask No Vacancy Member Ratings:
Combined: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.7 / 5
Mrs: Mellark: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Juliet: ★ ★ ★ ★ ⯨
Scarlett: ★ ★ ★ ★ ⯨
Finch: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Shallan: ★ ★ ★ ★ ⯨
Scarlett selected September's pick for No Vacancy Book Club: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane.
Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come. In Mary Beth Keane's extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.
So this choice was purely off reviews as being one of the best books of the year. And the tagline " How much can a family forgive?" I mean I do love a family drama and I love character driven novels so on both those fronts it did not disappoint.
This is the story of two families and the tragedy that binds them and almost breaks them. The focus is on the children Kate & Peter who love one another despite their families past.
Keane writes with a strong sense of empathy coming through for all her characters, even the ones you don't think deserve it. Themes of addiction and mental illness are raw and yet she dignifies her characters even in those stories. You find much to love about them and I found myself wondering how I would react if in their shoes.
The story spans several decades and once the violent tragedy passes, I did find myself expecting another big shocker from their past to be revealed. So for me that caused some dragging but after finishing it, I realized that I kept thinking about them even without a dramatic reveal. She took an ordinary family, an ordinary town and developed very real people.
I read a review that said this novel illustrates the "softening effects of time" and that is a beautiful description. Besides one character, most of them didn't let justified anger and resentment continue to control them.
They did the work to forgive, make peace, and love. My favorite quote from the book " We repeat what we don't repair."
- Scarlett
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