Kim V. reviewed on 12/8/2010 + 54 more book reviews

The novel begins on Thanksgiving Day 2007 with the extended Olson family gathering together to celebrate the day. Ginny Olson, a thirty something single professor and daughter of Gavin, an aging Vietnam Vet and Eleanor a suburban housewife, is the host of the dinner. Ginny has never cooked a big meal before, but wants to celebrate her new home and newly adopted mute, seven year old Indian daughter. Rounding out the guest list are Ginnys brother Doug along with his wife Denise and their three children. Doug is a real estate mogul who is on the brink of bankruptcy due to the real estate bubble burst. On a parallel storyline track are Kijo and Spider, troubled urban teens with a grudge against one Olson family member. By the novels end all plotlines have converged in an astonishing and unexpected way.

Strangers at the Feast is a hard to characterize novel part thriller/suspense, part domestic drama, part socio-political commentary and part satire. Vanderbes, a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop, does it all! For instance, when writing about Ginnys academia article, The Emasculation of the American Warrior, Vanderbes weaves an actual article (or at least several pages of it) into the story. Still at other points she includes a thoughtful legal analysis of eminent domain and a play by play account of the Green Bay Packers 2007 Thanksgiving Day game.

Strangers at the Feast is an exquisite and riveting story of family dysfunction ripped from recent headlines.



Advance review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.

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