The Antiques

October 24, 2016
In his second novel, D’Agostino (The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac) paints a darkly humorous portrait of the American family under duress. In the path of a hurricane sweeping toward Hudson, N.Y., the Westfall family gathers to support patriarch George, who’s been given months to live after a bout with cancer. He dies unexpectedly as the storm intensifies. Ana, George’s grieving wife and his partner in an antiques business, and their three children, all with problems of their own, are left to settle the estate by selling off a painting by René Magritte called Conversation in the Sky, which has hung over the mantle for decades. The Westfall children are Charlie, the caretaker of a cheating husband, a developmentally challenged son, and A-list Hollywood actress Melody Montrose; Josef, a sex-addicted tech entrepreneur working halfheartedly to win back the love of his children and his estranged wife; and Armie, a talented woodworker who lives in his parents’ basement and pines for his high school crush. The antique store and her children’s personal lives in shambles, and Ana experiences a crisis of confidence, wondering how the family will survive. D’Agostino balances scathing and humorous commentary on the foibles of family with keen insight into his characters who, despite their myriad flaws, deserve a satisfactory ending to the worst week ever.

September 15, 2016
Screwed-up siblings rush home to upstate New York to say goodbye to their father during a hurricane.All members of the Westfall family are in terrible shape, including the dog. Patriarch George has inoperable cancer and is going down fast, spending his last days in his living room contemplating the Magritte he's owned since 1965, planning to leave his family instructions to sell it and split the profits. "Let them find whatever it is they were looking for in this life. Let them be happy." No matter what that painting is worth, happiness is going to be a tall order for this crew. Oldest son Josef is a sleazy corporate wheeler-dealer and sexaholic whose wife has left him for a poet; even his kids are beginning to have some doubts about him. Daughter Charlie lives on the West Coast, where she's personal assistant to a demented A-list actress and has an awful French husband and a seriously disturbed son who has just broken another child's arm and been kicked out of preschool. Poor Armie, the youngest, has boomeranged home to his parents' basement, where he messes around with woodworking and moons over the girl he's loved since high school. Mother Ana is not only losing her husband--her antiques store is devastated by the storm, and the dog is on his last legs. Having just slid across the kitchen floor after stepping in a puddle of half-digested salmon chunks, she reports to Armie, "There's blood in his vomit." "The dog?" "Yes, the dog." "Not Dad?" "Your father is asleep, I think." D'Agostino (The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac, 2012) specializes in snappy repartee, with most scenes centered on conversational free-for-alls among the Westfalls and their entourage.A family in a thoroughly modern mess, played for laughs.

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October 15, 2016

The Westfall family is facing a crisis of hurricane proportions--literally. A hurricane is bearing down on their Hudson, NY, home while George Westfall, father and husband, is dying from cancer. Ana, the matriarch, struggles to rescue their storm-ravaged antique shop as she copes with her husband's illness. Eldest son Josef's marriage and career is in shambles owing to his sex addiction and extravagant spending habits. The youngest son, Armie, is living as a recluse in his parents' basement. And glamorous daughter Charlie's own whirlwind marriage is dissolving in the wake of her son's dismissal from yet another school. In the disaster's aftermath, the Westfalls will come together and discover that they have amassed habits and behaviors that are nothing more than old relics that are not worth keeping. They also find that there are antiques that remain valuable--one another. VERDICT Family dynamics and relationships are the center of D'Agostino's second novel after The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac. A perfect drama for readers who liked Herman Koch's The Dinner and Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings.--Melissa Lockaby, Univ. of North Georgia Libs., Dahlonega

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