Absolution

Absolution ~ Alice McDermott

Tricia and Charlotte are military wives in Saigon in 1963. Tricia is shy and has just arrived there. Charlotte is a ‘queen bee’ type, and bullies others to do her will. Charlotte’s will is to improve the lives of the Vietnamese people. She enlists a local seamstress to help her make costumes for Barbie dolls, which she sells in order to raise money to buy candies and toys to cheer children in local hospitals.

This book is told in the form of letters from Tricia to Charlotte’s daughter many years later. Tricia is telling Charlotte’s daughter about this and other charitable endeavors, some of which are lovely and others are horrible.

Much like Charming Billy, the other Alice McDermott book that I have read, I didn’t love this book. I wanted to, the writing was mostly lovely, Charlotte was a compelling (and very flawed) character. But Tricia was kind of boring, and the letters from Charlotte’s daughter sounded so similar to Tricia’s letters, it was a little confusing. Recommended? Nah, but I didn’t hate it.