Bertrand Court is a captivating novel told in story form, intertwining seventeen luminous narratives about the secrets of a cast of politicos, filmmakers, and housewives, all tied to a suburban Washington, DC, cul-de-sac. Linked through bloodlines and grocery lines, they respond to life’s bruises by grabbing power, sex, or the family silver. As they atone and forgive, they unmask the love and … the love and truth that hop white picket fences.
Michelle Brafman is the author of the novel Washing the Dead. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Slate, Tablet, the Washington Post, Lilith, the the minnesota review, and elsewhere. She teaches fiction writing at the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing Program and lives with her family in Glen Echo, Maryland.
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Loved the prose style, the humor, the evolution of the characters. So much better than most books I’ve read lately.
I liked the idea of interwoven stories that covered 3 generations of a Jewish family, but I felt the characters were poorly developed and the author committed the fatal error of “telling” rather than “showing.” Good concept, but fell short in the execution of that concept.
I probably shouldn’t review this book since I didn’t finish it, but it was dull…which is why I didn’t finish it. 🙂
Very interesting and original