Most of the way through A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee I was thinking Jonathan Dee’s previous book was The Imperfectionists, but finally realized The Privileges was the book I should have been comparing it to. This made more sense, since A Thousand Pardons is more like The Privileges than The Imperfectionists in tone (snarky/sympathetic), subject (family/marriage breakdown and drastic life changes), characters (unhappy privileged New Yorkers and/or narcissists), and theme (self-destructive behavior and forgiveness).
At the start of the book, Helen and Ben have been married for eighteen years; have a twelve-year-old daughter whom they adopted from China as an infant; and have been in doomed marriage counseling for a while. Everyone in the family is tightly wound in his or her own way; it’s clear that something’s got to give. And, boy, it sure does, launching Helen, Ben, and Sara into completely changed lives – Helen into the world of public relations, Ben into rehab (actual and metaphorical), and Sara into the New York City public middle school scene.
Here’s an excerpt about Helen from very early in the novel, after Helen and Ben have driven home in silence to their tony New York suburb after a painfully revealing marriage counseling session:
She knew what the right thing to do was. Dismantle it together: help him find a new place, work out the money, sign whatever needed to be signed, put on a united front for poor Sara, who’d already had two parents abandon her, after all. But for once in her life Helen didn’t want to do it. Why should she make even this easy for him? She’d made everything easy for him for eighteeen years, and he repaid her by making an explosive, weepy public display of his horror at the very sight of her. Screw the right thing. If he hated her so much, if life with her was such a death sentence, then let’s see him be a man about it, for once, and devise his own escape.
If you’re a reader who can gleefully appreciate a truly spectacular marriage break-up, complete with public scandal, but feels sympathy for all parties involved and wishes there could be news stories how each of them picks up the pieces and go on, you’ll love the nuances of this sharply observed, very funny but ultimately humane, modern New York novel. Or – if you just like novels by authors named Jonathan (e.g. Franzen, Lethem, Tropper, Evison) you’ll probably like this one.
A Thousand Pardons
Dee, Jonathan
Random House
March 12, 2013
978-0-8129-9321-9
224 p.
$26.00
Disclosure: I received a free advance reading copy of A Thousand Pardons from the publisher through NetGalley.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
15 Responses to Do the Right Thing: A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee
Audiobook Jukebox: Your link to audiobook reviews online
SoundBytes
Generally I don’t like dysfunctional family stories because each of the parties is so UNsympathetic, but it sounds like that’s not the case with this one!
Now I’m not sure. I looked through other LibraryThing reviews after I posted mine, and some readers did find the characters unsympathetic. But what do they know?
This sounds interesting. But now you have me wondering if I like authors named Jonathon. I’m sure I’ve read SOMETHING but can’t think so I will type&click myself over to goodreads and see who pops up.
(none! I’ve not read anything by any Jonathon! huh.)
Ooops, I was spelling it Jonathon but I have read a JonathAn – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. OK, I’ll leave now…
I forgot to mention that Jonathan!
Dang it, I didn’t like that Jonathan’s books, but now I’m curious about A Thousand Pardons. Not a dilemma though, it’d be unfair to dismiss all other authors named Jonathan
That’s true. Going by writing style, though, Jonathan Safran Foer might not exactly fit in with the other Jonathans, anyway.
I like the quote, but I’m not sure about reading the book, at least for now – I think the disfunction would put me off at the moment when I’m reading so many positive books (sounds silly, I know). It does sound good, though.
I understand being in the mood for something more cheery. That’s when I like Alexander McCall Smith’s books!
I do enjoy a good family dysfunction but generally want there to be some kind of redemption in the story. I’ll have to think about this one.
I’ve been meaning to read this one. I enjoy stories with dysfunctional families.
Thanks for stopping by my review of A Thousand Pardons – as you know it got a big ‘yes’ from me – loved it (but I am a devoted Dee fan).
You mentioned The Imperfectionists – I haven’t read it but it has been sitting in my TBR stack for a while – is that the book by Tom Rachman or is the a book be Dee of the same name?
No, I was thinking of the book by Tom Rachman. I was mixing up the two authors. You should definitely read The Imperfectionists, though!
[...] Do the Right Thing: A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee [...]