The Family Markowitz

Plot

In The Family Markowitz Allegra Goodman writes with wit and compassion of three generations of Markowitzes making their way in America: Rose, the displaced matriarch, cantankerous and lonely, nostalgic for London and Vienna; Ed, Rose's son, an academic expert on terrorism with a keen but somewhat selective nose for idiocy; Henry, Ed's older brother, Anglophile, expatriate, with a taste for antiques and post-modern poetry; Sarah, Ed's wife, a practical homemaker wistful for the literary life she never led; and Ed and Sarah's daughter Miriam, a medical student who has become seriously religious, to the consternation of her parents. Through the rituals of family life, weddings, hospital vigils, holiday dinners, Goodman writes about the Markowitzes from the inside, bringing each character to life. The young and old jostle together, interrupting each other, never failing to speak their minds.