"The Condition" - Jennifer Haigh

I got this from the library because I either heard about it on mpr or read something in the paper... in any case, it's a story about a dysfunctional family full of flawed but complex people. Someone on amazon.com compared it to "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen, and I can see their reasoning, but that book was far more cynical in its worldview. I struggled a bit at the beginning because we first see the world through Penelope's eyes - her struggle for status, dealing with her husband's sexual needs and her concern for her children - but as the book progressed and I grew to know the cast of characters I was drawn into their worlds. The author does a good job of presenting realistically difficult people, flawed and without easy answers. I'm particularly impressed with her ability to show us the ways in which the different characters see the world from their very different perspectives. It's beautiful and ironic that Penelope only decides to try to understand her daughter's world at the point at which her daughter has decided to cut ties with the family.