Reconstructionist - Softcover

Hart, Josephine

3.34

217 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1585673226 ISBN 13: 9781585673223

Publisher: Overlook Books, 2002

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A remarkable novel of startling psychological power, The Reconstructionist, Josephine Hart's fifth novel, explores the reckless quality of exclusive love, the damage done in families, and the way we build our lives from the fragments of memory, half-truths, compromise, and desire. A brilliant and incisive fiction, this is Josephine Hart at the top of her form.

Jack Harrington is a psychiatrist, dedicated to others, to the examination of their pasts and the reconstruction of their lives. But he has so absorbed himself in the problems of others that he has not quite come to grips with his own-to the detriment of his marriage and his own unexamined past. When Jack is summoned to Ireland for the sale of his family home, however, the burdens of his family's heritage return in full force. Though he has successfully suppressed the anguish of his past, the present threatens to unravel around him. In the house in Ireland terrible truths emerge about what happened years ago in a family tragedy that left indelible marks on those who survived it. The past may have been reconstructed many times, but the appalling truth has not.

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About the Author:

Josephine Hart, born in Ireland and living in London, is the author of the bestseller Damage (filmed with Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons), and the novels Sin, Oblivion, and The Stillest Day. Her work has been translated into twenty-seven languages.

From Publishers Weekly:

Hart's clever fifth novel (after Damage; Sin; Oblivion) explores the lingering influence of parents on their children. Jack Harrington, a well-to-do London psychiatrist, immerses himself in the familial problems of his patients' pasts, while admirably repressing his own childhood trauma. His sister, Kate, a seductive writer of "fluffy things," is less able to cope with that trauma, and readers learn early on that Jack's good-natured protectiveness toward his sister belies a far more disturbing sort of sibling bond. Jack and Kate's smart-set lifestyle threatens to unravel when the family estate suddenly comes up for sale at the same time as Jack's ex-wife suffers a heart attack and Kate's impending marriage plans bring her to the brink of nervous collapse. Forced to confront his demons at last, Jack retakes possession of the family homestead and reconstructs the story of his parents' marriage and its sudden, horrifying disintegration. Hart has packed this little gem of a novel with sparkling aphoristic insights befitting Jack's profession, and her sketches of fragile, childlike characters masquerading as capable adults are deftly drawn (as is that of Rose, Jack's hysterically venomous mother-in-law). The book's title takes on a multitude of meanings as the plot unfolds, most appropriately during the surprising resolution of events in the finale. (Nov. 15)Forecast: Damage, which was made into a popular film (1992), was a bestseller, and Overlook is committing serious resources to The Reconstructionist, ordering a 30,000 first printing and budgeting $30,000 for advertising. Sales should be solid, though they won't match Damage totals.

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