MAINE by J.Courtney Sullivan (fic)

"Maine" is a decent summer read, a book to be taken to the beach, while keeping one eye on the kids.  Sullivan writes about the Kellaher women, a Boston Irish family.  There is a familiar feel to books about the Boson Irish.  There is usually a priest involved, strong women, men conducting shady business on the side, the good cop, the bad cop, the detective, etc.  Despite this formular, "Maine" is largely concerned with four women of different generations.  The matriarch is Alice, and she is a complex bitter character, who becomes interesting in her intereactions with the family.  Her daughter Kathleen who has a wealth of baggage of her own, Ann Marie who is up-tight and terrified of making a wrong move (her fantasies are amusingly naive), and Maggie, a grandaughter, round off the main characters.  The action takes place at the family summer home on the coast of Maine where the women come together.  While their dislike for each other is blatantly presented in on-going family quarrling, there is the deeper bond of family responsibility and bonds forged through years of closeness that are not easily broken.