by Delia Ephron
First published 2000
Eve Mozell lives her life through phone calls. Her teenage son crashes his car and wants his girlfriend to move in. Her younger sister is pregnant and acts in soap operas. Her older sister edits a magazine and dispenses beauty advice while offering no real help. Meanwhile, their elderly father Lou calls Eve constantly from his sickbed. He can't remember his pants but remembers phone numbers perfectly. His calls come day and night, often cruel, always demanding. Lou has been a source of shame since Eve's teenage years, an alcoholic who damaged his daughters deeply. Now he's dying of what a cheerful doctor calls "the dwindles." Eve finds herself caught between hoping for his quick death and fearing her own mortality. Once parents die, nothing stands between you and death, a friend warns her. As she plans a reception for hundreds of ear doctors at the Nixon Library and manages her family's endless needs, Eve must find a way to guide her father through his final journey and somehow forgive him.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, found-family
Setting: Nixon Library
Period: 20th-century
Library Binding · Bt Bound
Content warnings: addiction, alcohol-abuse, death