I wondered, as I read Commonwealth, if not for the kiss, would the outcome have been different. Shared custody brings the six children together for a few weeks each summer, and it is during one of those summer vacations that they experience a deep, life-changing loss. Patchett’s writing is beautiful, as always, and she captures the abandonment the children experience as their parents build new lives. Some of them are at peace, others struggle, and all of them carry the consequences of the aftermath of their parents’ decision. The novel follows this expanded family-parents, step-parents, and children-through the following decades. They leave their spouses to marry, destabilizing two families and dragging six children into a new constellation of relationships. A man and woman, both married to others, kiss one another during a Christening party, and a chain reaction begins. I luckily came across it on the new releases shelf at my local library last week, and devoured it in two days.Ĭommonwealth opens with a kiss. I have been a Patchett fan since The Magician’s Assistant and Bel Canto, and have had Commonwealth on my to read list for a while now. I finally read Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, and I really liked it.
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