The Birthdays: A Novel

by Heidi Pitlor

Overview

"Captivating, moving, painfully funny, and so very, very true."—Julia Glass

On an island off the coast of Maine, the Miller family reunites to celebrate the father's seventy-fifth birthday. Each of the adult children is expecting a first child, and at the same time each is at a major crossroads in life. The eldest, Daniel, still reeling from a car accident that has left him a paraplegic, is also grappling with the fact that his wife had to be artificially inseminated. Jake, the middle child, discovers that his wife is carrying twins after many trying years of fertility treatments. Hilary - the free-spirited youngest daughter - arrives in Maine five months pregnant with no identifiable father in sight. As the family gathers, something shattering happens from which no one will emerge the same. The Birthdays deftly explores the myriad ways of seeking sustenance after disappointment or loss. Reading group guide included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393329933
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/17/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Heidi Pitlor's fiction has been published in Ploughshares. She is a former senior editor at Houghton Mifflin and, as of 2007, will be the annual series editor for The Best American Short Stories. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

"Pitlor writes with a delicate hand to absorbing effect."

Entertainment Weekly

"Pitlor demonstrates a remarkable understanding of family relationships and transitions."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Offers sharp insights into simmering resentments and misunderstandings among relatives."

People

On a rainy summer weekend, the Miller clan gathers, for the first time in four years, at their summer house on an island off the coast of Maine to celebrate patriarch Joe's 75th birthday. Oldest son Daniel is in a wheelchair following a cycling accident; his wife, Brenda, is pregnant after having used a sperm donor, about whom Daniel is now obsessed. Younger son Jake, who spent his whole childhood feeling insecure and inferior to his siblings, is now more financially successful than either of them; his wife, Liz, is pregnant with twins following fertility treatments and has no interest in sex. The irresponsible youngest, Hilary, returns from the West Coast, also pregnant-and with no idea who the father is. As their children stand on the verge of becoming parents themselves, Ellen and Joe reflect on the daily heartbreak, tragedies and joys of parenthood, on the impossibility of ever keeping one's children safe. Rich in symbolism and a strong sense of place, Pitlor's debut novel, with its overlapping narrative perspectives, creates a multilayered portrait of family in all its fragility and its strength. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In Pitlor's absorbing debut novel, the Miller family arrives on a Maine island to celebrate patriarch Joe Miller's 75th birthday. Daniel and Jake, with pregnant spouses, and single Hilary, who's also pregnant, can't wait to share in this rare family reunion, but tension builds as pent-up feelings prevail. A recent paraplegic whose child comes from a sperm donor, Daniel fantasizes about the character of the donor and fears that wife Brenda will soon have two helpless people on her hands. Insecure middle child Jake and wife Liz, who own the lavish beach house where the reunion takes place, are having their baby by in vitro fertilization. Tattooed and pierced Hilary doesn't know who fathered her child and now feels pulled back to her traditional family. Meanwhile, mother Ellen imagines a new life of culture and refinement with a widower friend; husband Joe, solid and dependable, seems oblivious to her needs. Then tragedy opens up some unpleasant family truths. Pitlor, a senior editor at Houghton, has secured a place in literary fiction with this engrossing portrayal of ordinary people coping with life's calamities as they try not to hurt the ones they love. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal