We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is a memorable, deeply moving novel about a loving family that abruptly breaks its close ties when one of the members is suddenly missing.
The story begins in 1966 when Rosemary Cooke is 22 years old and a college student in Davis, California. Ten years have passed since she last saw her beloved brother, and seventeen years since she last saw her sister, Fern. Rosemary rarely speaks to her parents, and she only goes home to Bloomington, Indiana on Thanksgiving.
Rosemary was five years old when her adopted sister suddenly disappeared, resulting in the family becoming profoundly dysfunctional. The sudden change in family dynamics affects every member. As the story develops, we learn through twists and turns what triggered the upset.
An intricate part of the story involves the concerns of animal experimentation by scientists and laboratories. The author goes into shattering, gruesome detail about the
handling of test animals.
Karen Joy Fowler’s voice in this first-person novel is superb. Her wit and depth of characterization and plot is remarkable. I highly recommend We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.
Re QuanahParker. I’ve lived in Texas the majority of my life and found my view of the Indian Question colored through the myths of the old west. Paulette Jiles made me curious about the Kiowa through her book NEWS OF THE WORLD, which led me to THE CAPTURED the stories of captured white children by the Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa and their re-adjustment (or lack of it) back into white society. Another Paulette Jiles book, THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING, forced me to look at what white society would consider “Indian deprivations” and that led me to EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON. In the end, I learned about 3 cultures and put my prejudices aside in favor of understanding. All good reads.
Thank you for your comment. I thought News of the World was a fabulous book; also The Captured. I’ve reviewed both of these books. I’ve been interested in the Quanah Parker ever since my son brought home a Weekly Reader story about him and his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker.