[SPOILERS] Ann Patchett - Whistler
Love the gentle treatment of loss; and the various characters going about it. Not to mention the struggles of being there for someone you love when you are losing them at the same time, which is something I've always feared that I would fail at.
And the portrayal of Abigail as not the perfect mum, but Daphne understands her better through the lens of adulthood. Which is probably something I need todo better myself.
Enjoyed the slight possible twist1 at the very end, though I'm believing in the happy version.
Quotes
This house is my mother's archive-the history of an entire life as recorded in personal possessions."
Her natural inclination was to flip over the front seat and land next to Eddie in a celebratory Spider-Man move, but she remembered.
"I've seen the boat," Eddie said. "I think I've seen the boat a thousand times. I can clean up by myself and then everyone can go."
"It's funny, but when I was growing up, he used to tell me there was nothing healthier than working on a boat. He said your body stayed strong because you used all your muscles pulling in the nets and stocking the ice, and your brain stayed sharp solving problems because something you'd never thought of before was always going wrong with the engine or the nets or the fish. You had to be fast, use tools, have good balance on the slippery deck. He said fishermen always had friends, both the immediate family of your own boat but also the other people on other boats. Everyone helped each other out and would go looking for you if your boat didn't come back. They all met up for a beer at the end of the day to tell their fish stories and the socialization was good for you and the beer was good for you. You stayed outside in all kinds of weather so you built up your immune system. And on top of that there were long stretches of nothingness spent staring out at the beautiful ocean, seeing dolphins and porpoises, maybe a whale, and that gave you a sense of wonder and maybe peace. I grew up thinking my father, who I pretty much never saw, lived some magical existence, and then one day I realized that fishing was hard, dangerous work and he was telling me a story so I wouldn't worry about him drowning."
What Leda had said on the train came back to me, that by going about the business of her own life, she had made us capable.
"We write each other notes, back and forth, back and forth. It's like texting for people with large collections of stationery."
"It's hard to show up for someone you love when they're suffering,”
I did love Jonathan, but I didn't want to think about the ways he had failed Candy any more than I wanted to think about the ways Skip had failed Eddie.
"Because in the book, I don't die. In the book, we're sitting on this bench, talking about a book about the two of us, and then the story stops with us waiting for Jonathan and your mother to come back."
"Possible" because according to people who've read her before, Ann Patchett doesn't really do things like this!? But who knows!?↩