Comments from the Book Discussion Group at DeSoto Library regarding our August 2013 selection:

Red Hook Roadby Ayelet Waldman
Below is a summation of the members' reactions to this work.

While some members found the beginning of the narrative disturbing, everyone agreed they liked Red Hook Road and could relate to the two families—the Copakens and the Tetherlys—when the young couple, John and Rebecca Tetherly, are killed in an auto accident less than an hour after taking their wedding vows. Ayelet uses the storyline to reveal both the fragility and endurance within a marriage and to expose class differences between the year-round and summer residents of a coastal community where both groups have deep roots over several generations. The discussion explored the complexities of the relationships between the characters and Ayelet's skillful use of metaphor to illustrate how seemingly separate events are, in fact, interconnected in ways we cannot predict. All would recommend this book to others. It's an excellent selection for book groups.