Skip to main content

Infinite Home

Review

Infinite Home

There’s something very satisfying about a novel like Kathleen Alcott’s INFINITE HOME, which so intimately invites readers into the homes and lives of its unique and memorable characters. As Alcott gradually introduces the tenuous presents and complicated pasts of her protagonists, the reader may begin to feel like another tenant in the Brooklyn brownstone they inhabit, getting to know and like the neighbors.

The landlady is Edith, an elderly widow who is estranged from both of her children. In many ways, the tenants are her substitute children, selected not only because of their ability to pay the rent (in fact, sometimes they can’t) but because she senses that they need a place to belong and feel taken care of. Alcott writes of Edith, “[S]he began widening the scope of her generosity, drawing leases to those she found unusual, or hurt, or in visible need of asylum.”

"Structured in short chapters from many of the characters’ points of view, INFINITE HOME reads like a true montage of their lives... INFINITE HOME is a thoroughly satisfying examination of the meaning of home and of unconventional families."

There’s Edward, a washed-up comic still nursing a broken heart; Adeleine, an agoraphobic; Thomas, a talented artist whose recent stroke has robbed him of his livelihood; and, most memorably, Paulie, who has Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that has bestowed him with unusual verbal aptitude, social affection and musical enthusiasm but is otherwise impaired in taking care of himself.

But when Edith’s occasional forgetfulness escalates into fully fledged dementia and paranoia, her businessman son Owen swoops in to institutionalize her and evict the tenants. Desperate to save the only real home most of them have ever known, Thomas sets off on what may be a fool’s errand to the other side of the country, while Edward, Paulie and Paulie’s sister, Claudia, embark on a road trip to a seemingly magical destination.

Structured in short chapters from many of the characters’ points of view, INFINITE HOME reads like a true montage of their lives, illustrating their complicated individual stories and showing how they have come to rely on one another. There are several heartbreaking scenes, such as one where all the tenants circle around an increasingly disoriented Edith to comfort and ground her: “Thomas made circles on Edith’s back with the palm of his hand, and Adeleine began to braid the scant fluff of white hair behind her ears.” And there’s a lot of humor, too, especially in the friendship between Paulie and Edward, who often ostensibly views Paulie’s affection as a nuisance but secretly gives Paulie’s sister the most profound and special gift she would ever want.

Certainly not all the narrative strands that Alcott unfurls here are tied up equally elegantly. All in all, though, INFINITE HOME is a thoroughly satisfying examination of the meaning of home and of unconventional families.

Reviewed by Norah Piehl on August 28, 2015

Infinite Home
by Kathleen Alcott

  • Publication Date: July 26, 2016
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Riverhead Books
  • ISBN-10: 0399576029
  • ISBN-13: 9780399576027