Steps and Exes

Laura Kalpakian's writing is rollicking, her sentences exuberant, laden with fruit. Steps and Exes, her latest novel, is the story of Celia, a woman who in the face of tragedy (at 23 she woke up stoned on a sailboat to find her husband Henry had drowned) creates Henry's House, a B-and-B nonpareille at Useless Point, an obscure tip of an island in Puget Sound. In creating a haven for guests and her various male partners, Celia also creates a seemingly Edenic paradise for her children and her partners' children, in particular her three daughters, each the product of a different union. When Celia's entire cobbled-together clan descends upon Henry's House for daughter Bethie's engagement party, a full array of island eccentrics are present as well, such as mute-by-choice handyman Launch and romance writer Nona York, who "can fit a hundred adjectives on the head of a s" and who dictates her novels into a tape recorder as she walks her dogs on the beach, snapping herself with a dish towel to get them to follow, prompting one son-in-law to observe that "'Everyone on this island is as weird as owl ." Beyond its rich, often humorous characterizations and its lush descriptions, a strength of Steps and Exes is that the story is told from the point of view of different characters, characters who prior to taking their turn, so to speak, and thus ensuring their place in the family history, seem perhaps unimportant to the proceedings. Henry's House is viewed most strikingly through the eyes of Dorothy, one of the mother-in-laws. When Dorothy escapes from the engagement party to the second floor of the house, she is mesmerized by what she finds in her retreat, the perfection of every decorative touch, the lamp still lit for Henry in one window. Little treasures--a bud vase, a Christmas angel--are placed in unexpected corners and drawers, almost for the taking--and when guests take small items, which they do, Celia replaces them with some other carefully chosen object. Henry's House, particularly its gleaming wood floors, merits Dorothy's highest pinnacles of praise: it is not merely "nice" or "lovely" but "dazzling," a descriptor formerly reserved by Dorothy for the Vatican. Steps and Exes is replete with insights about life, for example that the paradise of childhood always means more to the parent than the child, and Kalpakian does not shy away from the messy or controversial. In the aftermath of the engagement party, shattering changes are set into motion for this family, which of course I will not go into here. The novel is built on classic foundations of good, solid writing; its floors gleam. But within the story, the times they are a'changin. Nona the novelist for one is shaken when her publisher informs her that women don't want to read her kind of romances any more. As we approach the twenty-first century, the "epochal equinox," one can hear in Steps and Exes the "century actually [turning

Steps and Exes did what few books do--made me stay up late and sneak time from a beach vacation to read. The writing is so smooth and well crafted that the story takes major turns without jarring the reader, indeed without the reader even realizing where you are going until you've already arrived. Most anyone should find a character or two in this book that resemble someone in their own appended family.

This is a beautifully written, heart warming novel about the perks and quirks of a steps and exes family. The story of Celia, a champion of unfettered love, and her family proves that your relatives can be relative and your family is what you make of it. This book is a true gem, Kalpakian's best since These Latter Days. Steps and Exes is a must read for anyone whose family is anything less than "nuclear."

I would love to go to Henry House and meet all these characters! Wonderful dialogue and descriptions, which is true in all of Ms. Kalpakian's books. She makes a full circle showing this family's happiness and despair. As always, the author does not disappoint. Read this!!!

steps and exes A Novel of Family by Laura KalpakianWhen reading a book as well-done as this one, turning to the last page is sad, a let-down. The reader wants more. But the ending makes up for the feeling of closure on a family one has gotten to know so well. The ending is satisfying and ties up lose ends.Interesting, clever words march across the pages, that are often brought to a halt by a one word sentence.Why does a lamp burn day and night in an upstairs window of the bed-and-breakfast operated by the main character, Celia? Will a lavish engagement party bring her clan closer together or cause problems? Will the party lead to an even more spectacular wedding?Celia's family changes constantly. Where do they all come from? These step-children and exes? Celia explains it all by way of flash-backs and also as she narrates current daily activities. Conflict after conflict erupts, leading up to the grand disruption which pits daughter against mother, sister against sister, father against step-daughter. There's a family inside this book waiting to make the reader's acquaintance. Some characters will be likable; some will arouse hatred.As the book is read, Isadora Island beckons the reader to make a reservation at the famous bed-and-breakfast, Henry's House. It's difficult to realize that this is fiction; or is it? The reader will enjoy escaping from one life into another and back again. Like to read about strong women characters? Then this is the book for you. -Lois Berning