About:
Casebook by Mona Simpson is a coming-of-age novel that follows the story of Miles Adler Hart, a fourteen-year-old boy in Santa Monica, California, as he navigates his parents' divorce. The book is written in a somewhat novelistic style, with Miles and his best friend, Hector, documenting Miles' mother's affair with a man named Eli. As Miles uncovers the truth about the affair and its impact on his family, he grapples with newfound responsibilities, changing relationships, and the complexities of adulthood.
Simpson's writing style in Casebook is described as having excellent sections, well-drawn characters, and a light touch in storytelling. The narrative touches on themes of family dynamics, divorce, coming of age, and the emotional struggles faced by children in the midst of their parents' separation. Through Miles' perspective, the reader is taken on a journey of self-discovery, friendship, and the harsh realities of adult relationships.
From The Publisher:
From the acclaimed and award-winning author of Anywhere But Here and My Hollywood, a powerful new novel about a young boy's quest to uncover the mysteries of his unraveling family. What he discovers turns out to be what he least wants to know: the inner workings of his parents' lives. And even then he can't stop searching.
Miles Adler-Hart starts eavesdropping to find out what his mother is planning for his life. When he learns instead that his parents are separating, his investigation deepens, and he enlists his best friend, Hector, to help. Both boys are in thrall to Miles's unsuspecting mother, Irene, who is "pretty for a mathematician." They rifle through her dresser drawers, bug her telephone lines, and strip-mine her computer, only to find that all clues lead them to her bedroom, and put them on the trail of a mysterious stranger from Washington, D.C.
Their amateur detective work starts innocently but quickly takes them to the far reaches of adult privacy as they acquire knowledge that will affect the family's well-being, prosperity, and sanity. Burdened with this powerful information, the boys struggle to deal with the existence of evil and concoct modes of revenge on their villains that are both hilarious and naïve. Eventually, haltingly, they learn to offer animal comfort to those harmed and to create an imaginative path to their own salvation.
Casebook brilliantly reveals an American family both coming apart at the seams and, simultaneously, miraculously reconstituting itself to sustain its members through their ultimate trial. Mona Simpson, once again, demonstrates her stunning mastery, giving us a boy hero for our times whose story remains with us long after the novel is over.
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