“Ask Again, Yes” by Mary Beth Keane

NIGHTSTANDS & COFFEE TABLES

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE

“She’d learned that the beginning of one’s life mattered the most, that life was too heavy in that way.”

This family saga by Keane is the fictional story of two families, who begin as neighbors in 1973 New York. The husbands, both rookie police officers, work in the same precinct briefly, but then are reassigned and only have contact over their respective fences. Their wives struggle to communicate, instead, hearing about each other’s lives via the friendship of their children, Peter and Kate. The twosome forms an incredible bond that is abruptly ended when one of them is forced to move away in the 8th grade due to a tragic event. This story is about friendship, hardship, longing, love, and ultimately, forgiveness.

Peter’s mother struggles with mental illness, a condition rarely discussed or acknowledged at the time. Peter’s father chooses to ignore the episodes, as if not responding can will them to stop. Peter and Kate, while the children of the adults in the novel, serve more as the authority figures of the story, seeming more attuned to the realities of life than their parents. Their bond is cemented by their shared experience, and their varied reactions to the trauma of the incident speaks to the truth of how one person feels can vary greatly from another. The story follows both the parents and Peter and Kate over the next 45 years, showing us how the events in one’s childhood can shape the rest of one’s life.

Keane’s writing style is slow and methodical. It is not plot driven, but more so centered on character development. We meet these people, are intrigued by their differences and curious how they will interact. We find hope in the bond between their children. Some may call this book heavy, and that’s accurate in that there is this ominous tone throughout, as if we’re waiting for something worse to happen. As I was reading, each day I pictured in my mind was cloudy, as if the sun refused to shine on this story. Hard truths are expressed, and Keane does so without telling readers how to feel. The characters just are who they are, slowly discovering their vices and limitations, and coming to understand the beauty of love and the reality of it rarely being a fairytale.

Keane’s writing is smart, yet subtle. She touches on the harder parts of life with grace and dignity, without sugar-coating anything. This is her third novel and is listed by several publications as one of the best books of 2019. At 400 pages, it is one of the books readers can get lost in, for quite some time. It is not in search of a happy ending, but rather an appropriate one that explains the unique title of the book.