That Old Cape Magic-Richard Russo

That Old Cape Magic
Richard Russo
Knopf, Aug 4 2009, $25.95
ISBN: 9780375414961

When Jack Griffin was growing up in New England, he vowed to never follow in the footsteps of his academia parents, both professors. Instead he fled to Los Angeles where he became a screenwriter and ultimately married Joy.

Ironically, after his parents die, he and his spouse move east as he accepts a position as a professor of film. As Jack has the urns containing the dust of his parents in his trunk, he looks back at his life wondering is that all there is. He thinks of his honeymoon with Joy at the cape where he demanded they go and a year later to Maine where she demanded they go. He reflects on the marriages of his parents and her parents while pondering whether he needs to call its quits on his.

This is an intriguing look at relationships with the emphasis being on marital, parent-adult offspring, and parent adult offspring’s spouse. How haunting these combinations can be is accentuated by Jack’s inability to spread the ashes. With flashbacks, the audience sees how dynamics change over time due to age and marital status. Although Jack can overkill a poetic soliloquy with a passionate display of motor mouth, fans will appreciate Richard Russell’s deep look at relational magic.

Harriet Klausner