Mixing droll wit with heartfelt emotion, the capricious storyline follows the Keating and Cousins families through five decades of upheaval. The intoxicating, multi-layered scene may make you think “Commonwealth” will dwell upon matters of faith or fidelity, but Patchett isn’t known for predictability. “He realized then what he had known from the first minute he saw her … This was the start of his life.” Later that day, “the magic of gin and orange juice” places Bert and Beverly alone and tipsy in the nursery, where he steals a kiss. Bert, however, swears that fate brought him there just so he would meet Fix’s wife. Bert Cousins, a lawyer he recognizes but didn’t invite, arrives late bearing a tall bottle of booze.įather Joe Mike, a priest in the crowd, likens the subsequent allocation of spirits to the miracle of loaves of fishes, then corrects himself: It wasn’t an actual miracle. On a scorching Los Angeles afternoon in 1964, multitudes of thirsty guests are packed into policeman Fix Keating’s bungalow for his daughter’s christening party. Ann Patchett’s muscular new novel begins with what might be a miracle.
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