by John Cheever
First published 2014
Captain Leander Wapshot commands respect in the small town of St Botolphs, but his mind turns increasingly toward ending his own life. His elder son Moses pursues women with reckless abandon, while younger son Coverly worships his brother despite Moses's wandering ways. The three men struggle with their desires and disappointments as they move through a New England world that seems both familiar and strange. Moses chases pleasure wherever he finds it, Coverly searches for his place in his brother's shadow, and their father wrestles with despair beneath his weathered sea captain's exterior. Their stories weave together in a tale that swings between heartbreak and humor, revealing how families bind and wound each other in equal measure. The Wapshots face their demons with a mixture of dignity and foolishness that captures something true about how people actually live.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: New England, St Botolphs
Period: 20th Century
310 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: suicide