Author: Richard Russo
Jack Griffin grew up with miserable parents-- snobby English professors who thought that they'd been exiled with their tenure-track jobs in the mid-f*&%%-west and lived for the time they spent each summer on Cape Cod. After years of infidelities and acrimony, they eventually divorced. Griffin grew up not wanting to become them, but in his early fifties he's also an English professor, also set in his ways, also a lover of Cape Cod, and also in danger of losing his marriage. He's also carrying his father's ashes in the trunk of his car, but is somehow unable to part with them.
Russo is my favorite kind of author-- readable and smart. My only criticism of the book is that Griffin is a little too wrapped up in his head, and it seemed at times that he might not pull his head out of his butt enough to do the right thing. But the characters, even the supporting characters and most memorably Sunny Kim, are all full of life. The book is a quick read, but it's memorable and thoughtful and funny. And you just might look at your next wedding invitation with different eyes.
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