The Punch

April 14, 2008
In his third novel, Hawley (Other People’s Weddings
) traces the path of Scott and David Henry as they prepare for their father’s memorial service. Younger brother Scott—stuck in a dead-end job, failing in love and a frequenter of San Francisco strip clubs—is saddled with his alcoholic, self-destructing mother, Doris, on their trip to New York. Scott’s successful sales executive and closeted bigamist brother, David, shares Doris duty while navigating memorial service preparations and secretly juggling marriages on both coasts. Along the way, a family secret is revealed, two hotels are nearly blown up and the trio explores what it means to be a family. Unfortunately, Hawley’s asides on physics, religion and the nature of time distract from the plot without adding to it, and the occasional dud sentence pops up (“Now they circle their wagons and eye each other warily from the high towers of their castles”). However, the characters—especially Doris—and humorously handled uncomfortable situations (as when David’s two wives meet) somewhat mitigate these shortcomings, and the memorial service at the legendary White Horse Tavern provides a rollicking climax.

This audiobook about the responsibilities of family, the fickleness of fate, and the meaning of time is expertly narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. THE PUNCH will leave some astounded by Hawley's skill as an author and others questioning whether this is just the work of an author showing off his literary gifts. The story concerns two brothers and their polar-opposite takes on family life and responsibilities. Thrown into the mix is the brothers' bitter mother, her late husband (the boys' father), bigamy, and a theme of interconnectedness through time. Regardless of how this audiobook strikes listeners, they will come away appreciating Hawley's abundant literary talent and Ballerini's perfect delivery. J.P.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2019

The Henry brothers, David and Scott, are traveling with their bitter mother, Doris, to scatter their father's ashes. But the trip is hardly smooth sailing as Doris has decided the time is ripe to reveal a 60-year-old secret. All three of them are hiding something--bigamy, paranoia, or addiction--that's bound to come out. Hawley (Before the Fall) here provides a clever tale of grief and family conflicts with a dose of dark comedy. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini provides a smooth and solid reading of this quirky tale of brotherly love, redemption, and forgiveness. VERDICT Of interest to fans of the author as well as those of well-written, clever, and offbeat familial stories.--Denise Garofalo, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY

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