Family and Other Accidents: A NovelSeparated by a decade and 200 points on their SAT scores, Jack and Connor Reed have a life in the Cleveland suburbs held together by spit and Chinese takeout. With his self-absorbed, over-the-hill parents dead by his twenty-fifth birthday, Jack has abandoned his own plans and returned to his parents’ house where he works marathon hours at his late father’s law firm, beds young paralegals, and throws money and advice at his teenage brother. Connor meanwhile wants nothing more than to leave the Midwest, start a family early, and do everything the way his parents didn’t. But over the years, through the car crashes and bad break-ups, the illnesses and illicit affairs, both realize that while circumstances are sometimes beyond control, there are always choices to be made. Family and Other Accidentstells the story of these brothers from their viewpoints as well as from those of their girlfriends, wives, and children. It is a story of what it means to be a family, to love unconditionally in the face of confusion, anger, and regret. Shari Goldhagen’s debut is a finely nuanced, universally resonant portrait of the ties, however strange or awkward, that bind families together through the decades. |
Contents
the only pregnant girlfriend | 111 |
all the words to thunder road | 135 |
its really called nothing | 159 |
Copyright | |
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AmeriCorps Anna anymore arms baby bathroom bedroom Beth Martin Big Dig blond Brenda Starr brother Chicago coffee condoms Conn Connor asks Connor says Daddy dead kennedys door drive everything eyes father feels fingers floor Fram Frankie fucking girls haiku hair hand Jack asks Jack looks Jack nods Jack Reed Jack says Jack's Jackie Kennedy Jenny Jones Day Jorie says Jorie's Kathy Kathy's Keelie Keelie's Kennedy kisses kitchen Laine says Laine's lips married Melanie Mona says Mona's months mother Mouse never night Nissan Sentra okay parents phyllo pick pregnant pretty pulls realizes remembers Ryan Seinfeld shakes his head shoulder shrugs sick sister sits skydiving sleep sorry stares starts stop sure talk tell there's things thought Thunder Road told tries trying voice wait watch week wonders Yeah