Today, I’m recommending The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino, an irresistibly funny family drama jam-packed with deeply flawed yet loveable characters.
The Westfall siblings are in terrible shape. While they are no strangers to dysfunction, never have their lives felt so out of control. Youngest brother Armie is a talented woodworker who lives in their parent’s basement and pines for his high school crush. Josef, is a philandering techie struggling to repair his broken relationship with his daughters and estranged wife. And their glamorous sister Charlie is a Hollywood publicist struggling to parent her son who was just expelled from yet another preschool.
As an epic hurricane threatens to strike the East Coast, these three screwed-up siblings rush home to upstate New York when they find out their father George is dying from inoperable cancer. Convening at their childhood home, where so far the storm has downed power lines, flooded houses, and destroyed the family’s antique store, the Westfall family becomes consumed by past memories, present day dilemmas, and the harsh realities of managing a death.
Fans of Jonathan Tropper, Emma Straub, and Karen Joy Fowler will rejoice in this book’s over-the-top scenes and funny crisp dialogue that together, paint a darkly humorous, yet heartbreaking portrait of modern family life. D’Agostino’s scathing and hilarious commentary on the idiosyncrasies of family and the keen insights he has into his flawed yet loveable characters should NOT be missed.
Check out The Antiques and other engaging family dramas like it at the Sioux City Public Library.
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Support for Check It Out comes from Avery Brothers.
