I appreciated it even more on second reading. But hadn’t there been a time, back in the old days, when Keith, the powerful man of the house, would’ve pulled aside the other powerful man, the cop, and, between them, a deal would have been struck, and the two freaks would’ve been quietly led outside for a little “talk” and, oops, while out there, had the living shit beat out of them? She felt - if she was being totally honest? - that, back at the station, Keith had, well, not failed them, exactly. Fine with some random creep assaulting their kid and walking away scot-free. Here is one, for example, where the mom is considering her husband, Keith, as they drive home from the police station, having failed to figure out which of the two suspects pushed their son, Derek:

There are also several extended passages where I think Saunders is just firing away, completely in the zone.

Other things really worked for me, such as the way the mom responds to everything, even the stressful things, by coming up with titles for the cutesy stories she thinks will become her bread and butter. For example: “Was he deliberately ignoring her? Because pre-adolescent?” That kind of construction, which is not so unique and feels so much more like I’m reading someone talking on TikTok, is a bit grating to me, even though I would like to not care. Some of Saunders’ quirks still annoyed me, slightly. I’m relieved! I liked this one a lot! Maybe I’m finding a way around my usual response to more recent Saunders or maybe this story just struck the right cord with me, but I found it riveting and I loved where it made me go.įollowing the mother around while she tried to love and defend her family was pretty painful because it is pathetic and familiar as we look at a case of when it’s you and yours ethical lines “get complicated” - usually by selfishness and delusions of grandeur and fragile pride, as we can see here.

Lincoln in the bardo sparknotes