This book felt like a daily meet up with a comfortable friend during the past 7 days of relentless wind, snow, and cold. It’s not jaw-dropping beautiful writing or the most compelling characterization or even a page turning plot. Really, it’s the ordinariness of small town America through much of the 20th c and the way that decisions, mistakes, and secrets as well as war, grief, and family history can impact lives. You’ll feel it in your brain and heart. 

The characters, essentially two couples–Cal and Becky; Felix and Margaret–are genuine, flawed, and real. We empathize with them even if we don’t agree with their actions or motivations. Each possesses a unique attribute: Becky can communicate with the dead; Cal has a leg a few inches short and tries to overcome its effect on him; Felix agrees to closet his homosexuality in exchange for a corporate job; and Margaret never overcomes being abandoned at an orphanage as an infant. 

These are not insignificant issues, and all four of them try to adopt a life of normalcy: marriage, children, economic prosperity in Bonhomie Ohio, a small town expanding weekly in post WW2 America. 

Covering over 50 years, sometimes the pacing seems a bit slow and sometimes it races too quickly forward, but I think that’s typical of a family saga set against a wide swath of historical events (WW2, civil rights, Vietnam, red scare, bicentennial) that both significantly and insignificantly impact the characters. 

Some of the themes–psychic abilities, homosexuality, childhood abandonment–feel like they could have used more fleshing out, but at 450 pages, I’m not sure there was room to fully develop them. Other themes–psychological effects of war, coping with a disability, challenges of parenting–are given the space and emotional attention they need (though at times the shift from third person to omniscient POV was a little strange).

Grab a blanket and cozy up with this book. You’ll be glad you did.