Housebreaking

Zusatztext "I could gush here about the roller coaster twists and turns in Housebreaking. Or I could marvel at the contemporary spin Dan Pope gives the suburban novel that Richard Yates and John Cheever made familiar. But instead I will simply say that Housebreaking is exciting and wonderful from start to finish! and that you must must read it and discover its pleasures for yourself." Informationen zum Autor Dan Pope Klappentext In this heartfelt chamber piece of flawed personalities, calamitous decisions, and unexpected moments of grace ( The New York Times Book Review ), two suburban families are hopelessly entangled during an explosive Thanksgiving weekend that changes their lives forever.When Benjamin's wife kicks him out of their house, he returns to his childhood home in Connecticut to live with his widowed father. Lost, lonely, and doubting everything he felt he knew about marriage and loveeven as his eighty-year-old father begins to date againBenjamin is trying to put his life back together when he recognizes someone down the street: his high school crush, the untouchable Audrey Martin. Audrey has just moved to the neighborhood with her high-powered lawyer husband and their rebellious teenager, Emily. As it turns out, Audrey isn't so untouchable anymore, and she and Benjamin begin to discover, in each other's company, answers to many of their own deepest longings. Meanwhile, as the neighborhood is wracked by a mysterious series of robberies, Audrey seems to be hiding a tragic secret, and her husband, Andrew, becomes involved in a dangerous professional game he can never win. And, by the way, who is paying attention to Emily? Powerful, provocative, and psychologically gripping, Housebreaking explores the ways that two familiesand four livescan all too easily veer off track, losing sight of everyone, and everything, they once held dear. Like the best from Tom Perrotta and Rick Moody, this compassionate, utterly engrossing novel of suburban dysfunctionmakes some trenchant points about how easily people can lose sight of what's most important ( Booklist ).Housebreaking The last day of summer, 2007 THE NIGHT his wife kicked him out, Benjamin Mandelbaum took the dog and a bag of clothes and drove to his father's house in Wintonbury. It was 10:00 P.M. on a Saturday, the suburban street as quiet as a graveyard. He got out of his car and felt the wind rise, stirring the leaves of the apple tree he'd climbed as a boy. He took the spare key from under the flowerpot and let the dog in ahead of him. The house smelled like mothballs and stale cologne, an old man's lair. A few minutes later Leonard appeared in his bathrobe at the top of the stairs. Who's there? It's me, Dad. Benjamin? What's going on? Yukon rushed up the stairs and sniffed at a stain on Leonard's robe. Benjamin realized that, in all the commotion, he had forgotten to feed the dog its dinner. I'll be staying over, if that's okay. That's fine. That's fine. His father had a habit of saying things twice. Where's Judy? She's home. His father's eyes were bloodshot, his face puffy from sleep. Go back to bed, said Benjamin. We'll talk tomorrow. There's some tuna salad in the fridge. In the kitchen, Benjamin filled a bowl with water while the dog went from room to room, inspecting. The refrigerator was practically empty: the bowl of dry tuna, a few brown eggs, mustard and ketchup on the side shelves, lemons and wilted lettuce in the crisper. His father had lost weight since Mom's death, and now Benjamin could see why. In the cold-cuts drawer he found an unopened can of corn. In the freezer, among the f...

Autorentext

Dan Pope

Klappentext

"In the vein of The Ice Storm, a ... literary drama about two suburban families whose lives intersect explosively over the course of one Thanksgiving weekend"--

Zusammenfassung
In this “heartfelt chamber piece of flawed personalities, calamitous decisions, and unexpected moments of grace” (The New York Times Book Review), two suburban families are hopelessly entangled during an explosive Thanksgiving weekend that changes their lives forever.

When Benjamin’s wife kicks him out of their house, he returns to his childhood home in Connecticut to live with his widowed father. Lost, lonely, and doubting everything he felt he knew about marriage and love—even as his eighty-year-old father begins to date again—Benjamin is trying to put his life back together when he recognizes someone down the street: his high school crush, the untouchable Audrey Martin. Audrey has just moved to the neighborhood with her high-powered lawyer husband and their rebellious teenager, Emily. As it turns out, Audrey isn’t so untouchable anymore, and she and Benjamin begin to discover, in each other’s company, answers to many of their own deepest longings. Meanwhile, as the neighborhood is wracked by a mysterious series of robberies, Audrey seems to be hiding a tragic secret, and her husband, Andrew, becomes involved in a dangerous professional game he can never win. And, by the way, who is paying attention to Emily?

Powerful, provocative, and psychologically gripping, Housebreaking explores the ways that two families—and four lives—can all too easily veer off track, losing sight of everyone, and everything, they once held dear. Like the best from Tom Perrotta and Rick Moody, “this compassionate, utterly engrossing novel of suburban dysfunction…makes some trenchant points about how easily people can lose sight of what’s most important” (Booklist).

Leseprobe
Housebreaking

The last day of summer, 2007

THE NIGHT his wife kicked him out, Benjamin Mandelbaum took the dog and a bag of clothes and drove to his father’s house in Wintonbury. It was 10:00 P.M. on a Saturday, the suburban street as quiet as a graveyard. He got out of his car and felt the wind rise, stirring the leaves of the apple tree he’d climbed as a boy. He took the spare key from under the flowerpot and let the dog in ahead of him. The house smelled like mothballs and stale cologne, an old man’s lair.

A few minutes later Leonard appeared in his bathrobe at the top of the stairs. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Dad.”

“Benjamin? What’s going on?”

Yukon rushed up the stairs and sniffed at a stain on Leonard’s robe. Benjamin realized that, in all the commotion, he had forgotten to feed the dog its dinner. “I’ll be staying over, if that’s okay.”

“That’s fine. That’s fine.” His father had a habit of saying things twice. “Where’s Judy?”

“She’s home.”

His father’s eyes were bloodshot, his face puffy from sleep.

“Go back to bed,” said Benjamin. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“There’s some tuna salad in the fridge.”

In the kitchen, Benjamin filled a bowl with water while the dog went from room to room, inspecting. The refrigerator was practically empty: the bowl of dry tuna, a few brown eggs, mustard and ketchup on the side shelves, lemons and wilted lettuce in the crisper. His father had lost weight since Mom’s death, and now Benjamin could see why. In the cold-cuts drawer he found an unopened can of corn. In the freezer, among the frozen vegetables and meats, he found something even odder: a pack of Marlboros with only two cigarettes left. His father didn’t smoke. Had he started now, at eighty-four? And why keep them in the freezer?

After Myra’s funeral, Benjamin and his sister had tried to convince their father to sell the house and move into a retirement community. They thought it would be good for him: Leonard had always been a social creature; part of his job at the car dealership was going to restaurants and functio…