Red Hook Road, by Ayelet Waldman

Red Hook Road
By Ayelet Waldman
Doubleday
Four stars
Reviewed by Jessica Gribble

Short of a child dying, the most unfair situation most of us can imagine is the death of a happy young couple just an hour after their wedding. Red Hook Road begins with this death and lets readers participate in the subsequent grief and growth of Becca and John’s families.

The blurb from Khaled Hosseini for Red Hook Road calls the book “thoroughly gripping and elegantly written.” I had my doubts. The writing felt serviceable but not inspired. In fact, despite the heavy subject matter, the book reads like a better-than-average romance novel. But that turns out to be a good thing. When we read about Becca and John’s death in a car crash early in the novel, we expect to be dragged into a maudlin story of unbearable grief and lives ruined. But Waldman has instead written a savvy exploration of class and the ways that people cope with disaster.

John’s mom, Jane, works for Becca’s mom, Iris, as a cleaning lady. Jane, John, and his younger brother Matt are natives of Red Hook, a small town on the east coast. John and Becca were childhood sweethearts and have been looking forward to marriage since they were sixteen. Becca’s family—Iris, Daniel, and their younger daughter Ruthie—are “from-aways” who summer in Red Hook. Despite their deep connection to the place—Iris owns a family home there and loves it more than their regular home in New York—they will never truly belong. Jane, in particular, will never welcome them despite her son’s marriage to their daughter.

After the accident, each character is both connected to and alienated from the others in grief. The young lovers are buried together, but in a part of the town graveyard that Jane could never afford on her own. Iris insists and pays for it, but the difference in the monuments chosen by the two families only emphasizes their class differences. The younger siblings, bruised by the death, become close, but both their lives change course. Matt takes over his brother John’s boat-building project despite his previous lack of interest in boats. And Ruthie, who is well on her way to a professorship in literature, drops out to work in the Red Hook library. Becca’s dad, Daniel, distances himself from the family by going back to the boxing he’d loved as a young man.

By far the most interesting storyline is that of Jane and Iris, who become bound together almost against their will. Jane has a young niece, Samantha, who is a musical prodigy. Her family could never afford professional training, so the gift has been left undeveloped. However, Iris happens to have the money to help out. And her elderly father, Mr. Kimmelbrod, is a retired professional violinist. Iris has a way of inserting herself into situations, and although she is not welcomed by Jane, she insists on making sure that Samantha gets the proper training.

Is Iris using Samantha to replace the hole Becca’s death has left? Will Daniel’s grief continue to be expressed in physical form through his boxing? Will their marriage survive? Will Matt develop his own identity or continue to take on John’s projects and desires? Has Ruthie been blindly following in her mom’s footsteps? Will Jane learn to accept help despite her desire to be always self-sufficient? The novel wraps up neatly, as so few scenarios in real life do, but it’s not a pat ending. The characters are realistic, and the writing is light enough to keep readers engaged despite the deep subject matter. Waldman has written a deft exploration of grief, identity, and class.