jacket image for A Friend of the Family

A Friend of the Family

Hardback , 304 pages  (also available in CD-Audio and Paperback and Electronic book text and Electronic book text)
ISBN: 9781565129160 (1565129164)
Published by Algonquin Books
$23.95(US)
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Review Quote

“With suspense worthy of Hitchcock . . . Grodstein is a terrific storyteller.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The novel is spot-on in its depiction of affection and jealousy among longtime friends; boozy suburban bashes; unrequited love; and adjusting to middle age . . . A Friend of the Family beautifully captures the ever-striving angst of parents who will take any step to ensure their children's lives are easier or better. Parents sweating through a teen's college applications would do well to spend some time with Dr. Pete.” —USA Today

“Grodstein’s harsh, honest prose makes this haunting tale worthwhile.” —People

"Stunning . . . She has written a novel that will leave her readers sitting up, sifting the evidence in the dead of night." —The Boston Globe

“Absorbing . . . an incisive diagnosis of aspirational America . . . What Grodstein captures so strikingly is the anxiety of a father's love, that aching affection . . . Grodstein never pushes these characters into caricatures. She has a sharp ear for the discordant tones of conversations between parents and their almost adult children . . . Grodstein is such a perceptive and knowing critic of suburbia that I kept expecting to see her driving slowly up and down my street peering in the windows . . . The last 50 pages of the novel swell to such a gripping climax . . . Horrifyingly plausible and deeply poignant, A Friend of the Family will leave you shaken and chastened—and grateful for the warning.” —Washington Post

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