Son Sam is a familiar nightmare

Contemporary fiction set in Maine. Fisherman is seriously injured which sends his son into a downward spiral having been with his friend when he died in an accident. The mother is left to try to deal with the potbuse and drunkenness. Hopeful story in the end. ( )

LANDSLIDE is written by Susan Conley.
This portrait of a family in a fishing village in Maine, is a fresh look at marriage, motherhood and the complex life of teenagers.
The book jacket tells us that “After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys - the wolves - alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn’t as stable as she once believed.”
This title is a pick of “All Books Considered”, MPR’s (Maine Public Radio’s) book discussion group/book club. (2021)
I like the writing style of Ms. Conley. She is a very popular writer. The book certainly kept my attention and the characters were minutely described. Maine and its fishing contingent is very well represented with all its glaring warts and flaws.
That being said, I did not (personally) like the characters very much and often wanted to just scream at them to “Snap out of it”. (Very much like the scene in the movie, “Moonstruck”.)
They (the characters) frustrated me greatly.
I did like ‘reading’ about the characters, however. The writing was very well-done.
Chapeau to Ms. Conley.
LANDSLIDE was an excellent choice for Maine’s state-wide Book Club and the title gave me a lot to think about; a lot to be thankful for (mostly, that I was not involved in this family drama); and so relieved that ‘my’ teenagers are independent adults and out of the house!
4 Stars **** And I will be reading more of Ms. Conley’s work. ( )

Jillian Archer is trying to raise two teenage boys when her husband is severely injured in a fishing boat explosion. He is hospitalized in Nova Scotia and she has to drive several hours to visit him. Her youngest son, Sam, has been traumatized by the death of his best friend Liam due to an accident while walking home from school. He hates school and looks for ways to stop his brain from going out of control. Her husband, Kit, was also traumatized by the death of his mother when he was 10 years old and has never really gotten over it. The older son, Charlie, has his first girlfriend, Lucy. Jillian is overwhelmed and suspicious of a woman friend of her husband's. The whole book seems to be about Jillian being overwhelmed with her situation. ( )