What An Improvement Over The Last Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       Andre Dubus III's latest novel, "Gone So Long," cannot be called a great novel, but it is a very good one. Its locales and characters are on the lower side of life--what would impolitely called White Trash--but they are fascinating, nonetheless.

                                          The whole thing starts at a Massachusetts based amusement park, where two love birds, Danny Ahearn, and his wife, Linda, who can't keep away from each other.  They have one daughter, Susan, and, when she is three, Susan witnesses her father stabbing her mother in front of her, because he was one of those bad boys, who was too possessive for his own good.

                                            Part of me wants to blame Linda, who should have known to keep away from those bad boys, but her White Trash background just would not allow it. Linda's mother, Lois, takes the child, the father is imprisoned, and moves to Florida, home of tacky aluminum one room houses with overhangs that look as trashy as all get out.  She wants Susan, Linda's daughter, to be safe.

                                              Susan has her share of trouble with the boys.  But she is book smart, and seeks education.  She marries an academic named Bobby Dunn, and they settle down for a peaceful coexistence.

                                                 That is, until Lois receives news that Danny is to be released from prison.  He wants to see Susan, to make things right, and to leave her his assets, as he is terminally ill from what is supposed to be prostate cancer.

                                                    The rest of the novel is a tug of war between Lois and Susan--will she see him, no she won't; will Danny make it in time to see Susan; what will happen, when he does.
When things finally coalesce, the outcome is not what is expected, but there is peace.  I have to confess I was with Lois on Danny up till the end.  I could not forgive him for killing Linda, but I understood him wanting some clarity on seeing his daughter.

                                                      I wondered about Susan, at the end.  She has confronted her past, lost her father and grandmother, and is expecting a child, at 43.  She will have a difficult time, but not so much, thanks to hubyy Bobby Dunn.

                                                      "Gone So Long" refers to all the characters, whose lives drifted apart in one irrevocable act.  It is a compelling family narrative, rather than a crime thriller, and those who admire Dubus III's work will not be disappointed.

                                                           This erases the bad taste of that Murakami, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!