This novel begins in the summer of 2013, in the pleasant, upscale community of Brookline, Massachusetts, where Scott and Deborah Greenspan are throwing a dinner party, a dinner party that is abruptly ended when Scott receives a phone call that signals the downfall of the Greenspan family. Taking place over the following year, Ridker follows each member of the Greenspan family, from Scott, watching his career and his marriage collapse when he is caught cheating on signing up his patients for a medical study; to Deborah, who runs to her lover, a woman who runs a chain of charter schools and who may be less compatible with Deborah than she had initially thought; to their two adult children, Gideon, whose hero-worship of his father is taking a serious beating, and Maya, whose past has just grabbed her and forced her to reassess what happened to her in high school.

This is a traditionally structured novel, well-told and well-written, which means that it was a very enjoyable book to read. I like experimentation and authors trying new things, but there is little more satisfying than a well-executed traditional novel. As in his previous novel, The Altruists, the characters are all a little silly, their conflicts a little exaggerated, but here it holds together better, as Ridker finds his feet as a novelist. There's a lot of heart here, and even thought it takes place a scant decade ago, it feels almost like a historical novel, the Obama years feel so far away now. ( )

A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a seemingly perfect family in an era of waning American optimism.

I thought this was a very silly clone of Fleishman's In Trouble. Bad doctor dad uses his own blood for a medical study; Mom decides to open up marriage but ends up with a right-wing gay woman; daughter working in publishing meets up with old high school teacher boyfriend whose involvement with her was rape, based on her being a student of his and herage, and decides to promote his novel; son dithers in pre-med and goes off to Israel with strange consequences. The best character is the grandmother, a very feisty cliché who sends her money to a teenager abroad in a scam. Plus a puzzling ending. Some bright moments but mostly too silly, with characters acting in ways that are almost too dumb to be conceivable. ( )

It is 2013 and the Greenspans live comfortably in Brookline Massachusetts. Scott is a physician, Deb, a former dancer, is now active in her synagogue resettling refugees, son Gideon is on the path to medical school, and daughter Maya works for a publishing company. But then Scott, needing extra money, is found to have falsified blood samples in a research study. Deb leaves him for her female lover, Gideon drops out of school and ends up in the Middle East, and Maya gets involved with a former teacher with whom she had a crush and loses her job.

This is well written, told from various POVs. There is humor and the author does capture the times and the lifestyles of people of a certain socioeconomic strata. While the book held my attention, I just didn’t engage with any of the characters.

Thanks to #netgalley and #penguingroup #viking for the ARC. ( )