At Weddings and Wakes (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Alice Mcdermott
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, New York City, Sisters, Death or dying, Tragedy, Catholics or Catholic Church, Separation, Weddings
- Locales: Brooklyn, NY, Long Island, NY
Alice McDermott’s poetic meditation on the Townes and the Daileys, and extended Irish Catholic family living in Brooklyn and on Long Island, centers on two tragic events, one past and one present. In the first, Annie Towne dies shortly after bearing her fourth daughter; her widower, married shortly thereafter to her sister Mary, dies while she is pregnant with a son who becomes an alcoholic. In the second, Annie’s daughter May dies suddenly four days after her marriage to mailman Fred Castle.
As the novel opens, May’s sister Lucy Dailey is on her way from her home in Long...
[The entire page is 897 words long]
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