Wednesday, April 23, 2014

What Happened HereWHAT HAPPENED HERE

The aftershocks of the 1978 plane crash that shook San Diego’s North Park neighborhood are still, decades later, rippling through the lives of its residents. Both the new and long-term are struggling with some deep emotional trauma that is simultaneously exacerbated and deflected by the neighborhood’s macabre obsession with the tragedy.

The book opens, rather brilliantly, with a 42-page novella that serves to introduce the rag-tag group (who will later flow out into their own linked stories) and to set the tone for the overall collection, which moves from a view of doomed paradise to redemptive oasis.

The main focus of this opening novella, which appropriately lends its title to the book, is a couple whose marriage is strained by the husband’s worsening depression. As we get increasingly tender and heart-shattering glimpses into their lives, we watch another more manic neighbor plan an anniversary gathering that will mark the 30th year since the tragedy.

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