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Title: What to Keep: A Novel
Author: Rachel Cline
Narrator: Piper Goodeve
Format: Unabridged
Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-20-11
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Denny Roman at 12: a Midwestern girl with a clueless family, a bit part in the school play, a crush on the drama teacher, and concerns about frontal development. Her mother and father, divorced neuroscientists, are raising her with benign neglect. The family is virtually run by an agoraphobe named Maureen, who has a taxi fleet and a superorganized and compassionate method of managing other people's lives, especially Denny's.
Denny Roman at 26: jets home from Hollywood for the weekend and lands in the marital minefield of her mother and stepfather's imminent relocation to New York. She has to pack up her childhood possessions in 48 hours before returning to L.A. for a big audition with Robert Altman. She's supposed to be deciding what to keep, but she's worried about what to wear. In a deranged moment, she kisses her stepfather. On the lips.
Denny Roman at 36: A playwrite on the eve of her first Off-Broadway production and once again living within sparring distance of her mother, she comes home from rehearsal one afternoon and finds a 13-year-old boy on her doorstep: Luke, the son of Maureen and a Mauritanian refugee cabdriver. Bewildered by his mother's recent death, Luke is looking for a place where he might fit. Will Denny keep him in New York? Will she get any help from Sean - an actor whose good looks may be all there is to him? Will she be reconciled with her mother at long last?
What to Keep looks into the lives of Denny Roman, her mother, her father, her stepfather, and her surrogate mother - all practicing variations on the theme "parent" but none of them quite done being children themselves. Bubbling with sly humor and psychological insight, their story holds out a refreshingly flexible and realistic model of what a good family - whether created by nature or chance or both - can consist of.
Critic Reviews:
"This study in emotional dislocation, held aloft by astute psychological insights and deadpan humor, moves to a satisfying denouement about connections that run deep and can surface when people try hard and are lucky." (Publishers Weekly)
"This is a wryly funny novel that feels completely fresh. It has an odd but effective structure; depicts offbeat, memorable characters; and offers a perceptive, nuanced take on familial relationships." (Booklist)
A smart, ruefully funny debut... perfectly observed details of ordinary life that coalesce to offer a realistically hopeful and genuinely touching finale. (Kirkus Reviews)
Members Reviews:
One of the Best of the Year
Rachel Cline has captured the love and connections and frustrations inherent in family relationships so well. I loved Denny, especially as a child, and the book had me chuckling throughout and a little misty-eyed at the end. And, as mentioned before, as an added bonus, the cover is terrific.
Can't wait for Cline's next work.
Excellent story
This is a great first novel. Although the story spans 3 acts, over 25 years, I was instantly drawn into the characters and became a member of the extended, but surely disfunctional family. Rachel Cline has made her characters grow throughout the story; it was a pleasure to go with them.
Brava.
Enjoyable quick read
I read this book for my bookclub ~~ and while enjoyable, it's not my favorite book this year. It is written very well and I thought, personable.
