Commonwealth

Welcome back! Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett, is this month’s pick. You might know the author from her novel Tom Lake, which featured in Reese’s Book Club last year. Commonwealth was published and almost won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2016.

This domestic fiction puts forward a surprising main character: Franny. While she doesn’t always appear in every chapter, she is the central character from which the most important parts of the plot stem from. It all started at her christening party. This lead to various affairs and divorces and her ultimate meeting of Leo Posen, her favourite author and soon to be lover. Despite the big age difference between them, Franny feels so at ease that she shares much of her familial adventures, seeing him as a confident while Leo sees her as his muse. Commonwealth uses Franny’s perspective to question the themes of self-identity, relationships, personal narratives, and fate.

I didn’t find the book extraordinary, but I must say it fits well within its genre. The focus really was on the characters, their development and relationships with one another. I do believe there is beauty in that because it felt like a story that can happen to anyone. Most people don’t live extraordinary lives and yet, just like Franny with her meeting with Leo, we can all experience unbelievable events. I liked Franny’s character development and the fact that she stayed true to herself while also realizing what SHE wants out of her life, not what everyone involved in her story expected of her.

The focus really was on the characters, their development and relationships with one another.

On the downside, I must say it was hard to keep track of the characters at first and their connection with one another because of all the affairs. The author also implements time jumps throughout the story. This means in one chapter, Franny is a baby, and in the next she’s a law student. Now this might not seem to hard to keep track of, but add about 15 more kids and adults, all new to you and it will start getting hard to follow. I wish there was also more to the plot, in terms of the familial drama. There were affairs and divorces but as the reader, we never get to really live it. These events are mentioned as facts as if we already saw them happen. I wanted to see the children react more because to me they felt very passive. One of the children, Caroline, developed this sense of responsibility early and started acting like a parent, bossing the others around, but most of the kids, dealt with it privately. No one expressed their anger or other emotions to the adults implicated in this drama. I would have preferred more action, to see the family go through more adventures instead of having the adults and the children isolated in groups that don’t really interact deeply with each other.

This is why I give it 3 stars. I don’t regret reading it and if this type of novel interests you, I suggest July by Marie Laberge as further reading. It’s still good, fast, and very character-centred. With domestic fiction, you either love it or not, depending on whether you’re a dynamic plot-seeker.

As warmer temperatures are starting to envelop us, I’m steering our journey somewhere colder for the month of May. I will be reviewing Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple, a story of a lost architect finding herself among the Arctic penguins.

Until our next literary journey, keep exploring those pages!