You've never encountered a haunted house like this one
Kerri Miller's Must-Read
"Commonwealth"by Ann Patchett
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When Ann Patchett is on book tour, she spends a lot of her time talking about other people's books — which is unusual for an author. But the thing about Ann is that she also owns a bookstore, and she's a die-hard ambassador for other talented writers.
When she joined me for Talking Volumes this week, we were halfway through the interview before we even started talking about her own novel, "Commonwealth," because we were too busy discussing other books we love.
We talked about why and how books have changed us.
We talked about why we're a culture that connects artists and writers so closely with their work, and why we need that biographical element to appreciate it.
Then we talked about what it was like to be a woman that few people would deem “nice” — and how we each owned and reveled in that.
The night was almost over, and I was feeling pretty guilty that we’d barely discussed the book, but Ann quickly absolved me of that. She reassured me that if the audience had bothered to buy a ticket and show up, they were probably going to read her book.
They — and you — should. “Commonwealth” is terrific.
It’s a sprawling, messy, absorbing family saga that moves between the Keating and Cousins families over decades — through marriages, divorces, triumphs, tragedies and regrets. Patchett has said "Commonwealth" is her first “autobiographical novel." She said it was a book that would have been difficult to publish while her father was alive.
In a review for the The New York Times, Curtis Sittenfeld wrote that Patchett's "observations about people and life are insightful; and her underlying tone is one of compassion and amusement.”
Read “Commonwealth” for fresh appreciation of the drama and rewards of family life.
-K.M.
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