Housebreaking by Dan Pope
Simon & Schuster: 5/12/2015
eBook review copy, 288 pages
hardcover ISBN-13: 9781476745909
http://www.danpope.com/
My Thoughts:
Benjamin Mandelbaum, a man in his mid-forties, has just been kicked out
of his house by his wife Judy after she suspects he has had another
affair. After two previous affairs, this suspected third marks the end
of their marriage. Ben takes his dog and moves back home to live with
his father, Leonard, in Wintonbury, a suburb
of Hartford, Connecticut. Leonard, 84, has started dating again, much to
Ben's surprise.
Ben claims to miss his family, but once he discovers that an old high
school crush, Audrey, has moved back to town and is now living just up
the street with her busy lawyer husband, Andrew, and troubled teenage
daughter, Emily, that point seems to escape him. Ben and Audrey start
having an affair almost immediately after meeting. But there is a whole
lot more trouble brewing behind the scenes and everyone seems to have
secrets they are keeping and information they are withholding.
The quality of the writing is excellent. Pope manages to give each
character tells their own story in their unique voice, explaining their
unhappiness and revealing shocking secrets. Adultery looms so large in
the plot of this dark drama featuring a plethora of dysfunctional lives
in two families that it was overwhelming for me. I wanted the adults to
snap out of it and start looking at the consequences of their actions.
Pope does manage to infuse a little humor while presenting us with this
collection of very flawed people. Housebreaking by Dan Pope is recommended.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy
of Simon & Schuster for review
purposes.
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