Pam is a woman in her fifties, unmarried but dating a man with a ninth-grade child. She has kept John a secret from her parents because she knows how excited they would be at the idea of a step-grandchild. On a visit, the truth comes out and they are thrilled to learn Pam and John are taking the child to a museum. But that doesn't happen because of a fall his ex-wife takes. Pam takes this hard because it's happened before. And you can see his first family will always take precedence over her and their relationship will probably not survive it.
This is part of a collection from Goodman about the Rubenstein family that is coming out soon. It didn't stand very strong on its own, there was too much you didn't know about the family, but it will probably be a good collection. What I have read from Goodman over the years has been enjoyable.
Todd Mason
George Kelley
Jerry House
TracyK
Steve Lewis
9 comments:
A danger in writing a series of linked stories, and publishing them individually.
Is it just my tired eyes, does this photo of Goodman look even more than most like your daughter?
will note two from Steve Lewis: a Bill Pronzini review: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=92291 and one by Lewis with comments by Jerry and other folk: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=92273
Yeah, she was the right age and I like to have a photo.
Todd beat me to it. I thought it was Megan at first glance too.
I'm pretty sure I read her FAMILY MARKOWITZ collection after you mentioned her previously, but I don't have all my records with me. It definitely wasn't last year.
I haven't had much time for reading the last four days - mostly read short Fredric Brown stories from the big collection. I'd probably read them all (or mostly) before, but "Arena" was the only one I remembered so far. I also finished the John M. Floyd collection (RIVER ROAD) from Crippen & Landru, and I finally read Denis Johnson's TRAIN DREAMS.
It does sound like an interesting family dynamic, Patti, and I can see how you'd want some more background on the characters. I hope the collection is a good one.
So have you arrived in FL? Megan said TRAIN DREAMS the story was different and better than the movie.
from jeff: Yes, we arrived last evening. We've been unpacking and shopping most of the time since then. It's beautiful, warm and sunny.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but the book/novellas was pretty good.
I read about this story online but I decided I would wait and get the book instead of reading it now. I will buy it later in the year. I did go ahead and buy a Kindle edition of THE FAMILY MARKOWITZ by Goodman.
Jeff, Glad to hear that you are safely in Florida.
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