Charming Billy (review)

objects such as a bed into a life raft, keeping the love-weary afloat for a time as they brave shark-infested waters. (KS) Charming Billy by Alice McDermott Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998, 280 pp., $22 Like Alice McDermotfs 1992 novel, Weddings and Wakes, Charming Billy explores the relationships between members of an Irish American family. The narrative begins at a small bar and grill in the Bronx, where friends and family have gathered for Billy's funeral party. It becomes immediately clear that alcoholism is responsible for his death, but it's equally apparent that "alcoholic" is not an adequate label for Billy. There's no irony in McDermott's title; Billy really was charming, and completely loyal to his wife, Maeve, even while he spent a lifetime quietly loving and mourning Eva, an Irish woman whom he nearly married in his youth. Instead of recounting a life doomed by disease, McDermott tells how Billy's life went on in spite of alcoholism , providing a touching account of how Billy brings out the best in the people around him. She relates Billy's history through the memories of those who knew him well: sisters, cousins, uncles, who recall bits and pieces of his life and argue over whether Billy could have been saved. The story is narrated by the daughter of Billy's cousin Dennis. A generation removed from most of the family's memories, she serves as an objective filter for information. She hears her father sharing stories about Billy with various relatives and then learns more details when she and her father are alone. She learns, for example, that her father feels a sense of guilt concerning Billy's alcoholism that he can reveal only to her. His regret stems from his and Billy's youth, when Billy was dating Eva, and a lie Dennis told about Eva that Billy didn't discover for years. As family secrets are gradually revealed, readers gain a sense of intimacy with Billy's clan. In the end, it is unclear what specific impact Dennis' long-ago lie has had on Billy's life, but it is very apparent what kind of an impact Billy had on everyone else. In this delicate but substantial story of one Irish American family, McDermott shows us that the stability of its relationships can be more important than the turbulent events a family may face. (MT) Mercy Road by Dalia Pagani Delacorte, 1998,340 pp., $21.95 Dalia Pagani's first novel, a story of connection, estrangement and survival, depicts the psychological journey of a family whose members cannot communicate with one another. Drawn together partly out of loneliness and desperation, Darlene and Hank attempt to find and hold on to love in their marriage. The Summer family grows, living alone in the Vermont mountains, with silence assuming an almost physical presence around them. Darlene attempts to foster a loving family— making meals, keeping house, and willing her children and husband to 214 · The Missouri Review ...