William Waters had a childhood marked by his parents’ grief since his sister died when he was a baby, and they could never love and nurture him. He played basketball in high school and at the college level for Northwestern. He met Julia Padavano from a strong Italian American working-class family in Chicago. William and Julia marry and have a baby, but William is uncomfortable in the marriage, and they end up divorced. Julia brings her daughter, Alice, to live in New York, which breaks with many traditions of her Italian Catholic family and their strong roots in Chicago. Although Julia becomes a professional woman and successful, her life has severe voids when she cuts communication with her three sisters with whom she had had strong bonds.
William’s true love was basketball, and he had been working on a book about basketball in which he inadvertently expressed his feelings and identity. The peaks and valleys related to basketball and his relationship with Julia’s family and his loyal basketball friends are well-developed in this novel. It was amazing how the expectations the characters had for themselves, and others played into the events delineated in the story. The importance of family and love during formative years is also a predominant theme.
Julia’s deceptive maneuvers as she navigates life apart from her family are paramount to the story, and in her efforts to better herself, she loses sight of her loving upbringing. So, William learns about the value of family in his adulthood, and Julia spends many years trying to deny her valuable childhood in a close-knit family. There is much heartache and upset in the family dynamics, and readers can understand different points of view as the plot develops. Anne Napolitano masterfully explores family secrets and mental health as well as friendships, betrayal, sickness, and the consequences of the choices one makes.
