AUDIO

The Middlesteins

by Jami Attenberg
8 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 7 hrs. AudioGO 2012. ISBN 9781619695382. $69.99; Playaway digital; digital download. F
COPY ISBN
Edie Middlestein has just been diagnosed with diabetes and may need bypass surgery. Her love affair with food seems to have trumped her love of anything else, and she will do nothing to improve her condition. Her husband, Richard, unable to change his headstrong wife, leaves her and files for divorce. Richard and Edie's adult children, Robin and Benny, are horrified with both parents and work hard to find a new normal for the family. Attenberg (The Melting Season) captures a realistic time of crisis and adjustment through the eyes of each of her characters.
VERDICT While flashback and the nonlinear story are common literary devices, these elements seem somewhat superfluous in this story. Narration by Molly Ringwald lacks the fire that might be expected in this emotional tale. Still, readers of general fiction will enjoy this book. Recommended. ["Attenberg seamlessly weaves comedy and tragedy in this warm and engaging family saga of love and loss," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Grand Central hc, LJ 7/12.—Ed.]
Reviewed by Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence , May 15, 2013
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