Send Me

by P.E. Ryan and Patrick Ryan

Book Overview

Patrick Ryan's first work of fiction is written with such authority, grace, and wisdom, it might be the capstone of a distinguished literary career.

In the Florida of NASA launches, ranch houses, and sudden hurricanes, Teresa Kerrigan, ungrounded by two divorces, tries to hold her life together. But her ex-husbands linger in the background while her four children spin away to their own separate futures, each carrying the baggage of a complex...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385338759
• ISBN13: 9780385338752
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Compelling stories of members of unique dysfunctional family

To call this a novel is not really accurate, as it is more a collection of short stories about the members of a uniquely dysfunctional family from a suburban island in Florida. The central focus is on Teresa, the matriarch of the family who tries to hold everything together, with varying results. Her first husband, Dermot, was essentially running away from his powerful Italian-American family in upstate NY, and eventually went back to them, after the birth of Teresa's oldest children, Matt and Katherine. She then was courted and wed by Roger, who worked at the nearby NASA space center, and who became the father of Teresa's other children, Joseph and Frankie, before he leaves her for another woman. Each chapters focus primarily on one character at a time, be it one of Teresa's two husbands or one of the children, as they grew into teenagers and adulthood. Most colorful of the latter is Frankie, a dreamer obsessed with space travel and aliens as a child, who becomes a gay party boy when attending a Florida university. His older brother Joseph is an introspective, serious boy, outwardly disapproving of Frankie's antics, but secretly envying his "I Am What I Am" bravado as he copes with his own confusion about his sexual orientation. Katherine, who ditches her name earlier and insists on being called Karen, is a teenage rebel who marries at 21, looking for the love she feels she didn't get at home. Oldest son Matt was most affected by the departure of his birth father, and moves to NY at age 18 to become his caretaker. Although brilliantly conceived and written, the book is not that easy to follow, as the chapters don't follow logically from each other,but rather arranged in the order in which the author wanted to tell the story. They aren't in chronological order, aren't labeled as to what character is becoming the narrator of each chapter, which puts a burden on the reader that I found uncomfortable at times. My feeling is the author's disjointed, frustrating tone was intentional, to mimic the state of mind of the characters throughout. The final narrative, by Teresa, ties up loose ends and recaps what happened to each of the characters, and reinforces her role as the individual who did as good a job as possible for her family, despite the obstacles and lack of appreciation. We can also appreciate the author's originality and skill in presenting an admirable first work of fiction. Five stars out of five, including a bonus for originality and gritty realism.

Elegantly crafted

Ryan gets right at the heart of a painful truth: families fly apart. And by jumping back and forth in time to tell the story, the starkness of this reality is all the more clear. And what an amazing eye for detail. He's the only person other than my grandmother who would ever describe a mouthy teenage girl as "bold." When I read that, and later when I read his accurate description of a Slip n Slide, I was transported back in time. Great work.

Readers liking a tidy ending won't find it here

Sometimes you look at people lives and think to yourself "I wonder what happened to you to make you turn out that way?" By that remark I am not refering to events that would be considered highly dysfunctional, just the random happenings of a somewhat messy upbringing that outwardly seem rather insignificant but inwardly wreak their own brand of havoc. This is such a story. One woman, two husbands, four children and the odd journey that makes up their lives through the 60's to present. The author has captured the feel of the time periods perfectly, any child of the "70's will instantly be transported. This is not a tidy story, in either subject matter or style. The author jumps around alot with both time periods and narratives and occasionally this style can be confusing. Nothing is wrapped up neatly, few problems are solved and the characters are by traditional standards anything but happy. In his own unapologetic way the author has simply shown a segment of the lives of these family members; he then ends the story as abruptly as he began it. 4.5 stars.

Remarkable debut - remarkable new talent - give us more.

Last year I read Michael Cunningham's 1995 family saga "Flesh and Blood," and was blown away by it. Little did I expect to come across a book every bit its equal so soon. Author Patrick Ryan, in a brilliant debut, has thoroughly and lovingly drawn each of his characters in a style both bold and original. Not a story collection or a novel, but rather a series of interralated vignettes, "Send Me" is an engrossing and audacious portrait of an American family. Teresa is the matriarch of a family that consists of Matt and Katherine (her children by Dermot), and Joe and Frankie (her sons by Roy). Both men abandon Teresa and their children while remaining important characters within the continuing narratives. With dysfunction their unifying characteristic, the broken family scatters to various cities across America. Gay inclusive, with chapters set in and around the FSU campus, Ryan beautifully illustrates a myriad of complex family dynamics and desperate personalities. The interactions between his characters seem drawn from real life, with each scene complete with its own drama and epiphany. I especially liked the chapters dealing with Frankie and Joe. These two younger brothers share a special bond that is well communicated. Theirs is the story that takes place in Tallahassee. Frankie is a genuinely special young man, eccentric, open and extreme. The final story is a gem, the final paragraphs heartrending in their purity. The author's obvious affection for his characters, his appreciation for the absurd and his use of levity have resulted in a masterpiece of conception and execution. I can't recommend this enough.

A Family in Pieces

Patrick Ryan has made some bold stylistic choices in composing his first published book and to great effect. It's not a novel, but it is composed of multiple stories which all involve members of the same family. Most focus on a single character. Only three show the entire family together. So you come to know this family very intimately both as individuals and as a group which is something most traditional novels are unable to do when trying to balance diverse members of a single family. Send Me spans from the mid-60s to the near future, but each self-contained story is not arranged chronologically. Instead you hopscotch through time with this family joining them at different points in their lives which are often sadly disconnected from one another. This has the effect of juxtaposing the emotional peaks and valleys of their lives to provide greater insight into each of the characters than if you were to read about their lives from start to finish. Here we have the wronged mother, the straying father, the rebellious daughter, the precocious boy, and the son with AIDS. All are familiar and recognizable, but none fall into stereotypes. Their life stories are fresh, compelling and unmistakeably their own. Ryan's great ability as a writer is to show real sympathy and respect for each of his complex characters. Some make very questionable choices, but the writer shows through crucial events in their lives how they came to make these decisions. These stories show that the real tragedy is not what they do, but what they fail to do. It's in their vulnerability, their tendency to neglect the family that they should try to form a tighter bond with, that their stories acquire a universal meaning. The way in which the writer chooses to tell only fragments of their stories in a carefully structured form yields many surprises making Send Me an utterly compulsive read. This eloquent, moving, fantastic puzzle of a book is the debut of a brilliant writer.