Imperfect Birds

Starred review from January 25, 2010
Rosie Ferguson, the young heroine of Lamott’s Rosie
and Crooked Little Heart
, almost succumbs to the drug culture in this unsparing look at teenagers and parents who walk the tightrope between all-encompassing love and impotent fury. The former tennis star is now a straight-A high school senior, living with her mother, Elizabeth, and stepfather, James, in Marin County. Elizabeth, still susceptible to emotional breakdowns and fighting lapses into alcoholism, is acutely aware of Rosie’s vulnerability, and she and James are vigilant in watching Rosie’s behavior, knowing, as everyone does, that drug deals go down in the town’s central square, and that the kids are drinking, sexually active, and aligned against their parents. Lamott captures this gestalt with her distinctive mixture of warmth, humor, and sensitivity to volatile emotional equilibrium, going laser-sharp into teen mindsets: the craving for secrecy and excitement, the thrill of flaunting the law and parental rules. Eventually forced to confront Rosie’s peril and its potentially marriage-destroying power, Elizabeth and James take decisive action and risk their family. Straddling a line between heartwarming and heartbreaking, this novel is Lamott at her most witty, observant, and psychologically astute.

The age-old conflict between parent and child takes a distinctly contemporary turn in Lamott's latest novel. Elizabeth, an emotionally fragile mother with a history of alcoholism, must help her daughter, Rosie, navigate similar perils. Susan Denaker's composed performance makes this family drama difficult to ignore. Rather than using overwrought tones to depict the friction between mother and daughter, Denaker devises distinct voices for each character and delivers them evenly, allowing for quieter, more likable characters--like the ironic James, Elizabeth's husband--to temper the strife. Denaker's calm adds depth to these relationships, and the manipulation and power struggles that go with them. More than anything, this audio performance asks, "What would you do?" L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine