Absolution | Alice McDermott

I have to admit that I was attracted to this book since it was set in Vietnam, and I loved The Women by Kristin Hannah. It's a very different book, since the main characters are the wives of men serving in the early Sixties. The main character, Patricia, or Tricia, is married to Peter, an intelligence officer. McDermott is known for writing books that center her Catholic faith and Peter is the standard-bearer for this. Tricia is sucked into the wives-club by Charlene who is trying, in her own way, to make a good difference but goes too far and crosses over into the worst things. The story is told in first-person narrative in what we're told are letters (although it's not an epistolary novel) between Tricia and Charlene's daughter, some years after Charlene has died and Tricia's husband Peter has also died. These are the strongest parts of the narrative and they build, slowly, to the end. The end of the story is a gut-punch that brings to a fine point just how far off Charlene's intentions were. A portion of the story focuses on Dominic, a young conscientious objector whose faith is also central to his purpose there. I think the weakest part of the story, and the coincidence of Charlene's daughter having a vacation home next door to Dominic a decade or so later is just a little too much of a reach.

Reviewers gave the book generally high marks, although I agree with those that thought it good, but not great. I haven't read a lot of McDermott's work, and I'm not Catholic, so that might be part of the reason. I understand that this is her first to take place away from her home back of Long Island/New York/suburbia.