In contrast to the beach scene on the front cover, J. Courtney Sullivan’s second novel, Maine, is anything but a light beach read. It is a serious and sometimes melancholy look at 3 generations of Irish American women who for one reason or another end up at the family beach house in Maine together. There’s Alice, the widowed matriarch of the family, clinging staunchly to her Catholic faith as she gets closer to the end of her life. Her daughter, Kathleen, who never wanted to return to the Maine beach house again due to the conflicted relationship with her mother and Maggie, Kathleen’s’ daughter, who is unmarried at 32 and just found out she is pregnant. There is also, Ann Marie, the “perfect” Irish Catholic wife of Alice’s son, struggling with the resentment and disappointments left in the wake of all the work required to be perfect.
Sullivan’s writing is descriptive and she allows us to get into the thoughts and feelings of each of these characters by sharing the storyline through each of their perspectives. By the time I had read the first fifty pages, I was hooked. If you are looking for a thoughtful, engaging read that will remind you how truly difficult and yet rewarding family can be; then this is the book for you.