Cal and Beth Jarrett are an ordinary couple raising two children. One son drowned while sailing a boat with his brother. The other son, Conrad, overcome with grief and guilt in the wake of his brother’s death, attempts suicide. When the story begins, we realize that Conrad had spent time in a mental health facility, and now his parents’ lives feel anything but ordinary.
Judith Guest develops relatable characters who convey so many human emotions and force us to examine relationships. The traumatic events exacerbate marital issues between Cal and Beth. Beth resents Cal’s openness about Conrad’s mental health issues, and both of their backstories help us understand their personalities and ability to heal and accept new challenges.
Many themes relating to the human condition and life’s unwritten rules. The one that stands out most for me is “if you can’t feel pain, you can’t feel life.” One of my favorite characters is Berger, a psychiatrist Conrad sees in Chicago’s “bad section.” He bonds with Conrad in a seemingly nonclinical way. He uses ordinary language, no psychobabble, and helps destigmatize mental illness by showing how ordinary a conversation between therapist and client can be.
Other memorable concepts expressed through the novel’s characters include:
There’s no sense taking questions seriously if there are no answers.
Words can lie, but body language doesn’t lie.
Apologies are tough.
Overprotective and obsessed are challenging to define. Both are situational.
Nobody is normal.
Nobody sees things except in a way that they are affected.
