A Likely Story by Leigh Abramson

​I love books and I love books about writers. Lately more so since they’ve acquired a strongly relatable side. This debut novel fits both of those categories and for those and many others reasons it is easy to love.
This is a tale of a family whose lives revolve around writing, albeit for each of them it’s a completely different story. Some of those stories are less likely than others.
And so we have a patriarch – Ward, a preeminent writer, allegedly the voice of his generation, albeit his fame has possibly more to do with cultivation than talent. We have his almost unbelievably tolerant wife, Claire, who has nourished his talent and ego in simply stupendous ways over their long marriage. And we have their only child, a thirty-five-year-old Isabelle, who desperately wants to be a writer good enough to impress her father – at the expense of all other things in her life.
Overall, this stew of a family is somewhat toxic. There’s love there, but the balance is off, especially, once Claire passes away, leaving Ward to obsess over his dwindling career and Isabelle to obsess over her non-starting one. Throw in a catalyst and watch it all unravel.
So…is it kinda sorta reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer’s Wife? Yeah. Is the ending of it wrapped up too neatly with a bow that slightly perfumes-stinks of women’s fiction? Slightly. Does Claire come across as too much of a martyr? Yes, kind of.  But the rest is just so freaking good, it obliterates the detractors.
The writing is so strong, so finely emotionally attuned, so propulsive. And the characters…Abramson has a real knack for writing unlovable people lovingly. In all their numerous faults and foibles, they still engage you, still make you care. And her meditations of success, fame, and talent in this book are absolutely terrific. All of which makes for a first rate literary novel and a first rate reading experience. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.