Family Plots-Review by John Manhold
Book Review
by
John H. Manhold
Family Plots by Mary Patrick Kavanaugh
ISBN:978-1-4401-0466-4, Paperback, 285 pages, iUniverse $18.95
One of the more unusual books I ever have read. The story is centered in the trials and tribulations of a young woman from an almost totally dysfunctional family headed by a psychiatrist who had his own problems. Taking her turn at approaching a dysfunctional relationship, she lives with an inept musician, and has a daughter. She leaves him for a lawyer who provides a loving and caring person to whom she and her young daughter can cling. However, once more, it has been a bad decision to attempt to attain her ultimate goal of a “normal” settled family life. The lawyer also is from an “unusual” family, psychologically speaking, and is involved in attempting to set up large land/building deals with money obtained from unspecified sources that, more often than not, apparently are not totally legal. He also is attempting to stay clear of any arrangement where the government can identify him because of a previous IRS problem stemming from his first marriage. Along the way he provides lies of omission, unbelievable excuses for actions, a gross financial infidelity, and an obtuse refusal to change any part of his behavior, even when facing a death-dealing illness. The young woman accepts all of these transgressions, along with even a fake wedding, because her “need to belong” to someone literally forces her to make these deceptions.
The author has actually portrayed an extreme example of what can transpire in the life of a person growing up in an environment such as both described, and further alluded to, throughout the story. Descriptions of the progression of disease entities encountered toward the end of the book are sufficiently graphic to make the reader believe a certain amount of the material comes from actual observance.
All in all, the book is well written, and, as previously stated, nicely portrays a personality that could result from such a dysfunctional background. If, as described on the back cover of the book, it is an “autobiographical novel,” I should believe that Oprah would love to have her on her show.
