Cindy D. (sojourner) reviewed on 8/11/2005 + 47 more book reviews

Set in Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1960s, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant opens with an aged Pearl musing upon her life and giving instructions to her younger son, Ezra, to invite everyone in her address book to her funeral. And who is in that book? Beck, of course. He never divorced Pearl, but he walked away from the family when their children, Cody, Ezra, and Jenny were fourteen, eleven, and nine years of age, respectively. When Cody graduates from high school, Pearl muses about her nearly-grown children: Beck would not have known them, and they, perhaps, would not have known Beck. They never asked about him. Didnt that show how little importance a father has? The invisible man. The absent presence. Pearl felt a tinge of angry joy. Pearl continues to be proud of what she has done on her own; and certainly, all three of Pearl and Becks children, by employment and outward appearances, become successful adults. Cody is an efficiency consultant, Ezra is a restaurant owner and Jenny is a pediatrician. Pearl has every reason to be proud of them. Nonetheless, the Tulls are a seriously dysfunctional family, for Cody is consumed with anger, jealousy, and suspicion; Ezra yearns for the family that never was, and Jenny is unable to maintain a stable, loving marriage. Each of them is simultaneously driven from and drawn to the natal family.
much more at:http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5607

ps i dont remember reading this one!

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