After This by Alice McDermott

Originally published in Time Out New York, September 7, 2006

Written with remarkable restraint and eloquence, Alice McDermott’s After This follows an Irish Catholic family through the middle decades of the 20th century. The novel starts with the marriage of John and Mary Keane, who settle in suburban Long Island in the late 1940s. As the moral climate shifts away from conservatism, the Keanes discover their world of faith is shakier than they suspect. Early on, they witness their beloved neighborhood church, St. Gabriel’s, being torn down to make way for a more modern facility: “Workmen carrying statues over their shoulders like dolls…the wooden pews, eased out through the front door and down the old steps like streamlined, oversized coffins.”

This is familiar territory for the Charming Billy author, who was raised Catholic on Long Island. Fused with authenticity, McDermott’s prose rewards careful reading—every glance and gesture is described with such specificity that her characters come alive off the page. As the novel weaves through the ’50s and ’60s, the Keanes suffer numerous falls from grace. They are haunted by war and mortality: A son is killed in Vietnam, a daughter becomes pregnant at 17. In the hands of a less skilled writer, this tour of a politically charged era might become melodramatic, but McDermott wisely favors understatement.

After This is also about remembrance, and its narrative structure resembles memory itself: Years pass in the span of a few pages and other episodes are more drawn out. McDermott blends profound observations with everyday moments so effortlessly that certain images remain suspended in our minds. Likewise, the impact of After This will linger with readers long after the novel ends.