Waldman, Ayelet. Red Hook Road: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2010.Reading Red Hook Road is like watching a train wreck (or in this case, a car wreck). You know something really bad is going to happen, but it's hard to look away. The novel begins with a horrible tragedy, and the remaining 333 pages describe in detail how the victims' families deal (and don't deal) with the acute pain of losing a loved one. Unless you are desperate for something to keep you occupied during an airplane trip or a long wait at the doctor's office, it's not worth buying. Red Hook Road is depressing, but it probably won't make you cry like a good tearjerker should. What it offers is more like a dull, long-lasting headache.
