Friday, April 4, 2008

The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi


The Wentworth family of Los Angeles is the perfect picture of wealthy dysfunctionality. Patriarch August "Gus" drinks too much and has a mistress named Honey. Wife Judith obsesses about her weight and treats her servants horribly. Oldest son Conrad is a lawyer who goes through women like kleenex. Daughter Becky has her hands full with husband Paul and her two children, Joey and Monica (who steal and do drugs, respectively). Finally, youngest son, Norman, is a gay libertine, lives in his parents pool house and loves to party. When Conrad's girlfriend, Angela, and Gus's girlfriend, Honey are added to the mix, the family's fragility is exposed in tragic-comic fashion. The novel is a funny page-turning ride told through the points of view of all the characters. It reminds me of the books of Tom Perrotta and Augusten Burroughs.

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