The Ghost at the Table

Like the memories of real people, the memories of the characters in this book are suspect and flawed. For me, that was what made this book so interesting. The book is told from a single point of view, Cynthia's. For the most part the reader is dealing with her memories and her perceptions, but as the book progresses, those are brought into sharp contrast with the memories of her sister Frances. Frances pretty much sums it up when she says, "That's not what it was like for me." Childhoods spent in the same house with the same parents are vastly different and it depends so much, as Cynthia concludes, on what a person makes of what he or she is given. By the end of the book, Cynthia takes what she has been given and embraces it with forgiveness and love. The resolution may not be tidy, but it's there; and for me it was very powerful.

In my opinion this family is not all that dysfunctional. I saw elements of the characters in my own family and my in-laws. When families get together at the holidays there can be tension, closeness, humor, flashes of insight, arguments, resentment. Maybe some individuals will long for their home where all is quiet and familiar. A lot of families have aging parents whose needs must be met. Often parents don't have the best marriage - fathers may be distant or autocratic, moms may be sick a lot, and as they age they kind of fade away. Some family members may want to reach out to others who might otherwise spend the holiday alone - others might bring a guest just to rile things up. There may be a quiet, tortured teenager in the mix. Sisters may fight about what really happened in the past and struggle to control the situation around them. Granted, family heirlooms do not often go up in flames, but with the combination of candles and alcoholic beverages on holidays, it's always a possibility. I liked this book a lot. I did not feel there was missing information. Yes, there were unanswered questions, just as there are in real life. I think the author's point was that we each have our own version of our history, and we view History with a capital H based on our own frame of reference. I loved the detail about Mark Twain's family life. I don't know whether it was true. There's probably no way to prove it. I'm OK with that. As the author wrote in her note at the end of the book, it all started with her own childhood visit to Twain's homestead, her fantasies about his family life, and a story involving a fictional family that evolved from that experience. Personally, I found the story riveting. The writing was clean and excellent. The characters were totally realistic. I am going to be thinking about this book for a long time.

I am always happy when reading a Berne book. She has a great narrative voice - full of irony and humor. Yes, this can be described as a psychological family drama. There are many twists and turns as this family struggles to remember the family history of a difficult childhood for two sisters. It is a great exploration of what is a family's history and who gets to decide it. But more importantly this book is well written and fun to read. There is great information on Mark Twain's family as well.

Suzanne Berne's novel, "The Ghost at the Table" is a sensitive and honest portrayal of family. She writes with humor sharp edged observation. The book is engaging and has stayed with me in the many months after I read it.

The Ghost at the Table skillfully examines the way two sisters interpret their experiences growing up in their troubled family. Each sister has such a different view of childhood events that they are almost unrecognisable in the other's eyes. Suzanne Berne is a beautiful writer, and her words are carefully chosen as well as rich and surprising. But it is her ability to convincingly convey the very different experiences of the two sisters that is remarkable. She writes about a family broken by death and betrayal and the way siblings unite to salvage the remains and then disintegrate trying to find a common understanding of what's left.