A Friend of the Family
by Lauren Grodstein
List Price:
Our Price: $0.98
You Save: $22.97 (96%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Lauren GrodsteinEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-10
ISBN: 1565129164
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Summary of A Friend of the Family
Pete Dizinoff has spent years working toward a life that would be, by all measures, deemed successful. A skilled internist, he?s built a thriving practice in suburban New Jersey. He has a devoted wife, a network of close friends, and an impressive house, and most important, he has a son, Alec, on whom he?s pinned all his hopes. Pete has afforded Alec every opportunity, bailed him out of close calls with the law, and even ensured his acceptance into a good college.But Pete never counted on the wild card: Laura, his best friend's daughter?ten years older than Alec, irresistibly beautiful, with a past so shocking that it?s never spoken of. When Laura sets her sights on Alec, Pete sees his plans for his son not just unraveling but being destroyed completely. Believing he has only the best of intentions, he sets out to derail this romance and rescue his son. He could never have foreseen how his whole world would shatter in the process.
Lauren Grodstein delivers a riveting story in the tradition of The Ice Storm, American Beauty, and Little Children, charting a father's fall from grace as he struggles to save his family, his reputation, and himself.
Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2009: In A Friend of the Family, Lauren Grodstein, author of the breakout debut novel, Reproduction Is the Flaw of Love, goes to even greater literary heights with a contemporary suburban drama brewing with an undercurrent of violence that, with each turn of the page, takes on the weight of an American tragedy. As the book opens, Peter Dizinoff, a successful New Jersey doctor, is struggling to adjust to the aftermath of his actions as the foundation of his personal and professional life crack beneath his feet. At the center of his troubles is his beloved son Alec, who deflates his father's high expectations when he drops out of college after just three semesters and moves into the apartment above their garage. And when his son begins seeing Laura, the troubled daughter of Peter's best friend who is ten years older than Alec and lives in the tainted shadow of being acquitted for an unspeakable crime when she was 17, Alec's ambivalence to his father's hopes in living a good life turn into a simmering rage. Dizinoff, a man with a clear definition of right and wrong, flips back and forth in time as he narrates the history of events that build their way to a layered, emotionally wrenching climax. --Brad Thomas Parsons
Domestic Life Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Domestic Life Books
Love Objectby Sally Cooper
Dundurn; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.92
Price in other shops:
The Shadow Brideby Roy A. K. Heath
Persea Books; Published: 1996-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Magnificent Ambersonsby Booth Tarkington
Peter Smith Pub Inc; Published: 1967-06; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Sailing (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)by Susan Kenney
G K Hall & Co; Published: 1989-12; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
A woman of substanceby Barbara Taylor Bradford
Doubleday; Published: 1999; Unknown Binding; Book
Best price: $18.95
Stygoby Laura Hendrie
Scribner; Published: 1995-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
Christopher Parkby Rosemary Clement
Delphinium Books; Published: 1993-01; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Absolute Heroby Emyr Humphreys
Littlehampton Book Services Ltd; Published: 1986-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.99
Herman Had Two Daughtersby Zelda Popkin
Lippincott; Published: 1968-06; Textbook Binding; Book
Delta WeddingHarcourt; Published: 1979-03; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
The Executorby Jesse Kellerman
Putnam Adult; Published: 2010-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.48
Price in other shops:
Generosity: An Enhancementby Richard Powers
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2009-09-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops:
At the City's Edgeby Marcus Sakey
Minotaur Books; Published: 2008-01-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.73
Price in other shops:
The Renegades: A Charlie Hood Novelby T. Jefferson Parker
Dutton Adult; Published: 2009-02-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.63
Price in other shops:
City of Dreamsby William Martin
Forge Books; Published: 2010-05-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.84
Price in other shops:
Unraveling Anneby Laurel Saville
AmazonEncore; Published: 2011-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.45
Price in other shops:
A Heartbeat Awayby Michael Palmer
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2011-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
Carry Yourself Back to Meby Deborah Reed
AmazonEncore; Published: 2011-09-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops:
Kindred in Deathby J.D. Robb
Putnam Adult; Published: 2009-11-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.86
Price in other shops:
The Law of Ninesby Terry Goodkind
Putnam Adult; Published: 2009-08-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.49
Price in other shops: