Father of the Rain (2010) by Lily King

1001 Novels: A Library of America

Father of the Rain (2010)

by Lily King

Massachussets: 19/30

Boston, Massachussets

   I was prepared to trash this book, but then I went and read the favorable New York Times review from 2010 and her current review count on Amazon (her top two books have 14k and 12k reviews, which is an order of magnitude bigger than what even succesful literary fiction titles register on that site).   It looks like she traded in an earlier segment of her career, epitomized by this book, which won her some regional literary awards for a later portion of her career where she just spins out bangers.  

   What I'm trying to do here is not be unreasonably mean, even though I found Father of the Rain hard to bear, with its relatively privileged protagonist, an anthropology student who has landed a tenure track professorship at UC Berkeley.   Daley Armory is headed in the right direction when her past, in the form of her alcoholic, waspy, father has a medical emergency and summons her back to the tony Boston suburb where she grew up.  King doesn't actually tell the book in flashback format, rather we get a straight narration, taking you from Daley's mildly difficult childhood through her sub-optimal choice to chuck a potential tenured professor at UC Berkeley to teach high school and raise a couple kids with her husband- which is where she ends up- sorry for the spoiler but is that really a surprise- I felt like the resolution to this book was luminous from the very first page.   Of course she isn't going back to get that job but also of course it works out for her in a different way in the end.

  Like many parents in the pages of the 1001 Novels: A Library of America, Daley has a Mother who thinks she knows what's best for her daughter (leaving a mildly annoying, alcoholic husband who is none the less a good provider) when her daughter almost certainly disagrees with her.  The formative moment in this book comes when Daley's mom announces to Daley that they are leaving the next day, without so much as a conversation with the Dad.  I'm not hugely sympathetic to alcoholic wasps from Massachussets, but simply as a human being it seemed like Daley's mom was making a poorly reasoned choice.