Outside Reading - post #1

I am reading a novel called Halfway House by Katharine Noel. The book is about a family who is struggling to stay together and look normal under the public's eye. The first page of the book jumps into the action with the straight-A highschool senior, Angie Voorster, diving into a swimming pool to drown herself during her brother's swim meet. After the "pool incident", Angie is put in a halfway house in hopes of recovery. Back home, the family tries to hold on and deal with their manic daughter. After running away, Angie is found by her brother but rebells against him when she discovered he wasn't taking her to the ocean, "She turned on him, going for his face with her nails. Her face was so distorted-teeth bared, eyes glazed with pain and fury-he thought for a second it wasn't her, that he'd picked up a stranger after all" (210). The wife, Jordana, finds comfort through an affair with an artist. The husband, Pieter, can't sleep at night and the dull routine of his life submerges him completly with his celloist carreer. While Angie's younger brother Luke escapes his life at home by excessive partying.

Each family member struggles to deal with what's been thrown at them. Angie's jump to the bottom of the pool was only the beginnig of the unraveling of the Voorster's affairs. So far the book is really good! I like the fact that the Voorsters seem like the typical family, but in reality they are dysfuntional and on the verge of shattering into a million tiny pieces. Jordana has difficulty coping with every-day life when she realizes, " As soon as she felt coziness, though, it turned lonely. The most companionable moment of her day was with her barely-speaking-to-her son" (204). The plot and the characters seem real, which is why this book makes such an impact on its readers, including me!