The End of the Day

This book was confusing and repetitive. Characters were not believable. I thought the plot was rambling and vague. Not a good read for me, although I trudged on until the end.

I was truly looking forward to reading this book because Did You Ever Have a Family is one of my favorites, a character driven story that loops around upon itself and allows the reader to experience a satisfying ending. The End of the Day had too many characters and too many plot lines that strayed into the territory of romantic problems instead of focusing on the core of the book: privilege outranks non-privilege in our society.

I am attracted to books set in Connecticut since I spent 40+ years of my life there. Through his characters, Bill Clegg portrayed both the charm and beauty of northwestern Connecticut as well as the enormous chasms in socioeconomic status among its residents. Main characters Dana Goss and Jackie live near each other in one of the towns served by the real Housatonic Valley Regional High School, the first public regional high school in Connecticut; it serves the sparsely populated northwestern area of Connecticut. Clegg uses the economically diverse characters to inform readers about access to private schools in that area of Connecticut. Only a few of the privileged citizens attend public school along with the farmers and children of domestic workers. In Wells, a fictional town, Dana’s family lives in an estate called Edgeweather, and Jackie’s family lives in a more modest house within walking distance. Despite warnings from her mother, Jackie is allured into a friendship that Dana engineers. To serve Dana’s wishes and interests, and for most intents and purposes, they become best friends and remain close for much of their childhoods. However, there was a horrible falling out between the two women when they were young adults and haven’t spoken to each other for more than forty years. During high school, Jackie is in love with Floyd Howland, a farmer from the area, and she traps him into marrying her with an unplanned pregnancy. It is clear that Dana disapproved of Jackie’s marriage to Floyd. Clegg uses several characters’ viewpoints to develop a story replete with misinformation and a slew of contradictory stories related to what happened so many years ago to destroy the relationship that Dana and Jackie had as youngsters. Another prominent character, Lupita Lopez, daughter of the hired help at the Edgeweather Estate, is about the same age as Jackie and Dana but indeed a member of a different social class. Lupita is abused by her father and tormented at school. The reader learns early in the story that she has moved to Hawaii and chauffeurs tourists around. Clegg creates nuanced relationships, yet much of the story is dark. Each character has secrets and regrets. Dishonesty and manipulation prevail as the characters\’ stories unfold. He uses powerful New England symbolism such as the “Great Elm” tree and brick walls swarming with ivy to represent the steadfast lives of the wealthy people who own multiple homes, usually in Connecticut, New York, AND Florida, and employ foreigners as servants. Connecticut is often called the “Land of Steady Habits,” This book forces one to wonder how much has or has not changed among the real people living in old Yankee towns like the fictional Wells.

I loved Did You Ever Have a Family, but this book never hooked me. I cared little about the characters, one way or the other. Weak plot line. Got to a point I just wanted it finished…should have stopped at 50 pages. I know what a good author he is, both in fiction and his own memoirs, but this book simply missed the mark of great literature for me.

given the year it has been, you would buy a novel, allow yourself to start reading it, and take all the time it needs to be read…when the news is what it is; when life for too many is what it has become. This is the usual criticism of fiction: it\’s fiction. But unlike nonfiction, we, as readers, are brought into the minds of characters, characters whom we might like, want to like, despise, trying to understand motivations. Trying to understand people. It\’s this ability to break through in fiction which then enables us to go past headlines, articles about, glosses over due to space limitations, and feel real life.

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