Such Good People - Hardcover

A first novel that, beginning with its title, begs comparison to Judith Guest's Ordinary People, by an author best known for her nonfiction writing on grief (Healing After Loss, not reviewed, etc.). Hickman tells her quiet story through the eyes of Laura Randall, whose very name cries out ordinariness. She's married to a good-natured engineer, Trace, who takes comfort in facts and who isn't much for emotional expression--a common, likable sort whom Laura still loves dearly after many years. They have three children, two boys about to graduate from college and a 16-year-old daughter, Annie. As the story begins, the family is trying to cope with the death of Laura's father and with her mother's grief, and Hickman captures in near-photographic detail the likable, contrary, selfish, and generous attitudes of a nice family dealing with the grieving widow and with one another. In bed, Laura discusses with Trace Annie's sudden burst into near-adulthood--she's having sex with her boyfriend, what does he think about that? They both think some issues may get settled on the family vacation in Colorado, but once there, suddenly and meaninglessly, Annie's killed while horseback riding. Then, evenhandedly and with great assurance, Hickman charts the course of loss and recovery for each family member. And she excels in the small, telling detail: When Laura goes to the gym, for instance, where she and Annie shared a locker, she can't remember the combination and realizes that she always depended on Annie to remember. The story ends with the moving closure of its first scenes: the grandmother's death. It seems genuinely redemptive. Hickman's debut fiction will require at least one box of Kleenex per reading, but, given its almost stridently modest aims, it's extremely well done. (Regional author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Drawing from her own experience, Hickman, author of the nonfiction Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working through Grief, has written an earnest first novel about how a family copes with the accidental death of a child. The central character is Laura Randall, a full-time housewife who gave up her career as a graphic artist to raise her children. Her husband, Trace, is a kindly, if dry, philosophy professor so consumed by his work that Laura often feels he isn't listening when she recounts her admittedly mundane daily tasks. Their sons, Bart and Philip, are both nice college-age kids. Their youngest child, Annie, is a bright, beautiful and slightly rebellious 16-year-old, who may or may not be having sex with her new boyfriend, but who is definitely tired of her father being so distant and her mother being so prying. When the family goes on summer vacation, Annie is killed in a horseback-riding mishap. The rest of the novel shows Laura and Trace grieving in their different ways (unsurprisingly, she's emotional and he's not). They grow apart and even seek emotional solace?though never sinfully?in the arms of others. This is an example of the novel as a therapeutic tool. The emotions are never false, but they're rarely dramatic, either, and the rather stiff dialogue is spoken by characters who are never more than the sum of their situations.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.