Family History by Dani Shapiro

A friend recommended that I add Dani Shapiro’s new book Inheritance to my reading list. The publication date is January of 2019. Since I had not read any of Shapiro’s prior works, I picked up her 2003 novel Family History and finished it in two days. This sad story took hold of me and didn’t let me go until the very last page. It is clear that Shapiro understands both the strength and vulnerability of family dynamics and knows how to convey that complexity in her writing.

From the first paragraph, we know something is not right. Rachel Jensen is in her bed watching old family videos in the middle of the day with the shades drawn. Her husband, Ned, has moved out, her teenage daughter Kate boards at a therapeutic school and her 2-year-old son, Josh, has some unspecified issue.

Rachel and Ned fell in love in their 20’s when they were both struggling artists in Greenwich Village. When Rachel becomes pregnant with Kate, they marry and move to the fictional town of Hawthorne, Massachusetts to live in a “fixer upper” near Ned’s parents. Using her art history degree, Rachel feels fulfilled restoring art for wealthy patrons and an occasional museum. Her family is her first commitment and the routines of their life make her feel peaceful and content. Ned enjoys teaching at the local private school and pursues his art when time allows. The family videos and memories show Kate as a happy young girl embraced by the love of her parents. It seems the Jensens have been enthusiastic and engaged parents delighting in Kate’s school activities and developmental milestones.

At 13, Kate goes to sleep away camp for the first time. She returns home with a tattoo, a belly piercing and an angry attitude. “We had missed her so much after all, and how here she was a strange sullen creature.” Rachel and Ned attribute this radical change in her personality to teenage angst. But Kate’s surly behavior escalates. She skips school and is caught shoplifting. As is often the case, she finds a new riskier friend group eager to push the boundaries. Compounding this tough time for Kate, Rachel becomes pregnant and Kate’s mood swings increase. When her baby brother Josh is born, Kate keeps her distance and becomes more sullen.

Soon Kate and Josh are involved in an accident that injures infant Josh. The family spirals out of control. Each family member feels fear, anger and sadness: a malignant dynamic emerges. Kate is scared and confused about her role in the accident and cuts herself. Rachel says, “She was a robot, systematically destroying herself and everyone around her.” The cascading series of events traumatizes everyone in the family and the solidity of the family structure crumbles.

If you’re interested in psychology and family dynamics "Family History" is a page-turner. Shapiro offers no conclusions as to what happened to Kate at camp, the night of the accident or what the trajectory of the Jensen family will be. It is up to the reader to discern. I wish there had been more clues of Kate’s impending implosion. But sometimes mental illness can just appear after dormancy in a child’s youth. It is hard to know when an adolescent rebellion has shifted into a mental health concern. Life can be heartbreaking and tragic. One can only hope that the Jensens’ receive the help they need to repair the damage and heal their emotional wounds.