Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

“Commonwealth” by Ann Patchett is the story of Fix Keating and his family. There is a christening party that Fix isn’t invited to but he goes and we meet all the cops and the DA and their wives from the office. Fix thinks Beverly is the most beautiful woman in the world and when she leans over to give him the baby she kisses him. Then kisses him again. When Fix’s new baby is born he names him Albin after his own name Albert. Many years later, Fix is at the hospital and a nurse takes his vital signs and blood, and temperature. The chemo room is busy and Jenny leads Franny and Fix to chairs in a quiet corner. Patsy plugs Fix into the chemicals. “You’re looking good,” she says to Fix.

The author gives the back-story of Lormer and Fix waiting in their B and W waiting for a call. The house is dark and the door is open. Franny tells Caroline this story later in the night. The man in the room had been in the closet. Lomer is shot at the gas station. Beverly stayed two years after Lomer died because Fix needed her. Lomer never got old or sick; he died young.

Bert and his second wife moved from California to Virginia. Bert suggests he and his first wife move there too. But Teresa Cousins spends the rest of her life in Los Angeles. Author Patchett is a real storyteller. Beverly picks the children up at the airport every summer because Bert is very busy. Holly answers all their questions. She’s the only one who does. The children have no luggage as Bert wanted them to get everything new. When they get to Beverly’s house the cat is missing and so is Jeanette. Both are in the closet sleeping. Albie follows Beverly chanting Boom-chicka-boom. All are dysfunctional. Caroline wants to make brownies for her father, with nuts. Beverly says he doesn’t like nuts. Cal watches tennis on the T.V. Beverly wishes she was still in California where she could breathe. Here she’s allergic to the mosquitoes. The children all hate their parents. When they go on a weekend trip they stay at a motel and Cal shares a room with Albie. The parents leave a note under the door; they’re sleeping late. They decide to go to the lake for a swim, and the waitress draws a map for them. They open the station wagon with a wire coat hanger. In the glove compartment are a gun and a bottle of Gin. Bert likes guns. They take the gun and the Gin and walk to the lake, dive into the water again and again, then return to the Pine Cone inn by the time their parents are awake. No one knew they’d been gone even though they are drunk and sunburned and bitten by mosquitoes.

Franny drops out of law school and is now a cocktail waitress, making good tips. She tells everyone how she met Leon Posen, the author, at the bar. She pours him a scotch even

though she’d not a bar girl, and she’s only supposed to wait on tables of customers. But she pours him another as Heinrich the waiter glares at her. Leo Posen and Franny go up and down in the hotel elevator until he remembers his room number. The next day he phones her at the bar and invites her to come to Iowa City by bus. He’ll send her a ticket and is waiting for her at the bus station. He must do a reading that night but first, they have a Scotch at the bar. Franny has ice water. Author Patchett reviews how Cal died, shot by Ned with the gun from the glove compartment. Albie saw it all, they called themselves “The Boys on Bikes”. That summer they stole candy and cans of Reddiwhip. Once Albie flipped his BIC lighter and it ignited the tall grass. They made match guns and shot them into the neighbors’ newspapers, then into the palm trees in Beverly Hills, and at the rats in the trees. They set everything on fire that summer. On a Saturday they hiked to the school and Albie flicked a match into a trash can. Soon the whole building is on fire and they hear the fire trucks. Albie is sent to live with Beverly and Bert. Author Patchett’s novel reads like a movie with each scene about Albie’s adventures. Someone gives Albie a book called “Commonwealth” and he sees himself as one of the characters.

At Leo’s borrowed house Franny entertains Leo’s editor Eric and his girlfriend. Leo is burdened by alimony and Franny does everything from cooking their favorites to bringing them drinks. Occasionally she returns to her job at the Palmer House. Leo’s novel is about her family, a brilliant novel. Franny is left with the clean-up after they all stay overnight. After Leo dies, years later all the friends get together to see the movie of Leo’s book. The ex-wife was the winner, as she got all the money. He’d have married Franny had he been divorced. They called it Franny’s movie and Frannie’s book. She’d loved the days with the publishers in hotel rooms with Leo, who needed her. Fix wants to see the movie to see himself portrayed by a handsome star. It’s his last birthday and this is his wish. He won’t sell his car hoping he’ll be cured of his tumor. A film of their real lives would have been better, he thinks. Fix hated the movie, their mother wasn’t like the woman in the film. Fix shows Franny the gun on his nightstand and tells her to shoot him. She refuses and puts the gun in her pants pocket and the bullets some other place. Author Patchett jumps ahead to Christmas at Beverly’s with champagne, a tree, and laughter around them all. Does the family continue on into the future generations? Patchett owns a bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee, and writes many award-winning books about Albie and Franny. Find this at your local library.