It's hard to read an Alice McDermott book--if little kids are in your house--because her plots jump around and jump backwards, and the cast of characters isn't small. If you're reading a murder mystery, you have the template in your head, and you can find your footing even if one or two pages have skipped past you.
"Absolution" is about a woman in the early sixties who has received an education. She is smart, but she can also be foolish; she lets friends think that her father is a high school teacher, when, in fact, "works at a school" means "sweeps the hallways." (The sin of omission becomes a problem, later on.) The narrator marries a guy who assists the CIA; soon enough, the newlyweds find themselves in Vietnam.
The narrator has one great wish--to start a family--and her efforts lead to folly. Her catastrophic miscalculations cause her to lie even now, in 2023, because she can't quite accept what a mess she once was.
McDermott's narrator reminds me of myself, although I haven't been to Vietnam, and I'm not a wife. Also, this book is nothing like anything else I read in the past year; McDermott just does her own thing. I'd pick a different title--"Absolution" is off-putting, and its connection with the actual story is unclear--but I liked my time with McDermott's invention, this troubled, relatable narrator.
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