The Art of Mending is a story of family relationships. Told from Laura's point of view, it details the unraveling of a family that wasn't particularly tight knit to begin with. Laura is 50ish and the oldest of three children. Steven and Caroline are her younger siblings. One day Caroline, who has always been "difficult", calls up Laura right before a family reunion of sorts, and alleges terrible things about their mother, things that Laura at first doesn't believe can be true.
As the story unfolds, Laura begins to reexamine her family's past and her own childhood. She realizes that things were not as happy as she thought they were and that on some level, she had known about what was going on. Nothing was ever acknowledged by any of the members of this family, including their father, who is almost a non-entity in this story. His role is one of overlooking all things, especially when it came to his wife.
Throughout this story, which was relatively quick and easy to read, I was struck by how unlikable the characters are. Even Laura, as our main character, seems to want to hide in her quilting room (she's a professional quilter) all the time and not deal with anything that happens. This includes Caroline as the injured party. She's portrayed as whiny and difficult (although after years of emotional abuse, who wouldn't be?), and Steve, the youngest sibling, is much like Laura, just wanting to get back to his own easy life, not caring much about anything other than himself.
I enjoyed very much the author's descriptions of quilting, which is something I know nothing about. I enjoy learning about something I have no experience with, and this fit the bill. It was also an interesting metaphor for a family rent apart, then attempting to stitch itself back together, even so many years later.
I found the writing to be very good, especially since such a topic can inspire some authors to extreme wordiness. This was not the case here. The writing was judicious and inspired sympathy without being overly saccharine or emotional.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
