June 2019

ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane is one of my favorite books of 2019. It’s set in a Rockland County, NY town where two New York City policemen, who are not close friends, live next door to each other. One’s wife is dealing with some serious emotional and mental illness issues, which will have an impact on both families --- including Peter, the son of one family, and Kate, the daughter of the other, who fall for one another.

The book works on so many levels. It’s a family story, a love story and a story about life’s turns.

When I see young couples, I often think that things have not gotten messy yet. Life creeps in, and suddenly dreams are shattered, life zigs instead of zags, and the best plans get reworked. I was thinking about that a lot as I was reading ASK AGAIN, YES. When the book opens, we have two young men starting their careers, and with their wives they are starting their families. They are all full of hope and dreams. The way that Mary Beth writes, you have a front-row seat inside both families’ homes as they experience the pressures of life. And you get caught up in them.

There is one night when life will take a sharp pivot for both of them, and readers may think that is where things go awry. But in reality, the lives of these characters shift and ebb so many times. Mary Beth is at her best when life gets messy; you feel for the characters and are drawn into what happens to them. The strength of her writing, though, is what makes you fully invested in them. There is a lot to absorb; their lives are nuanced.

This is a book that I want to talk about with people. I can see it being great for book group discussions!