"We All Love the Beautiful Girls," by Joanne Proulx

I mentioned (11/11/18) partly choosing to read the novel “A Hundred Small Lessons” because it was set in Brisbane, Australia, a city that I visited a few years ago. Similarly, I picked up Joanne Proulx’s novel “We All Love the Beautiful Girls” (Grand Central, 2017) partly because the story takes place in Ottawa, Canada, which I visited a few months ago for (despite my Canadian heritage) the first time. I soon became caught up in this story of pain, anger, revenge, disconnection, as well as love, connection, reconnection, and a modicum of redemption. At the beginning of the story (very early, so the following are not spoilers), the Slate family suffers two terrible losses. One is financial: Michael discovers that his business partner and close friend Peter, whom he has always trusted absolutely, has stolen his share of the business, and therefore his and Mia’s life savings. Then, even worse, their teenaged son Finn passes out in the snow after too much (uncharacteristic) indulgence in alcohol and drugs at his friend Eli’s house; he lives, but suffers physical health consequences. The Slate family is closely entwined with two families – Peter’s and Eli’s – and feels doubly betrayed by these families, with an exception for one member of Peter’s family: his daughter Frankie. Each of the family members – Michael, Mia, and Finn – responds to these twin catastrophes in different ways, some of them far from healthy. There is anger, there is vandalism, there is acting out – all understandable, but verging on dangerous, and none of it promotes healing. What does help, ultimately, is the surviving connections among some family members, notably between Finn and Frankie (Peter’s daughter) and between Mia and Helen (Peter’s wife). Despite all the painful events and feelings, the story keeps the reader engaged and, despite everything, a little bit hopeful. The hope is not a sentimental, kumbaya type, but rather a tentative, hard-earned version. Still, that is something.