Synopsis:
With a wry touch, Arnoldi draws a mocking portrait of a powerful Southern California family that, while not the worst family on record, is remarkably warped by wealth and power.
The Wentworths' individual faults play off the milieu of familial grotesques: mother Judith's a dieting narcissist who abuses the servants, while patriarch Gus's compulsive philandering has been inherited and surpassed by his sexually deviant son Conrad, defense lawyer to the scummy stars. Conrad's sister, Becky, is the only offspring with a family of her own, and their problems (kleptomaniac son, depressed teenage daughter) hover closer to the edge of normalcy. The final family member, gay Norman, lives in a fantasy world in the pool house and offers analyses of his kin's foibles.
The Wentworths' fortress of supposed superiority is threatened by two women: Angela, a conniving ex of Conrad's, and Honey, Gus's naïve paramour. As the family closes ranks, comedy and tragedy ensue. A page-turner both for its well-paced intrigue and for its witty, sordid description of just how awful these people can get, the book's coup isn't the skewering Arnoldi gives her overprivileged clan; it's the redemption they find after they're served twisted justice.
Katie Arnoldi lives in Southern California with her husband (Charles Arnoldi, painter) and their two children. She is currently hard at work on her next novel, Beneath the Apron .
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