Siri Hustvedt, The Sorrows of an American *** 1/2

What I appreciate most about Hustvedt as a writer (of both fiction and non-fiction) is her rational approach to fundamentally emotional subjects. She and her characters gain empathy through understanding how others feel and why. As one reviewer said, "She takes unapologetic delight in intellectual characters who understand their lives through far-ranging reading and lively conversation."

The Sorrows of an American doesn't really have a story. The first page suggests that the book will be about a family uncovering secrets about the newly deceased patriarch, but the narrator shows very little urgency in pursuing the mystery of "Lisa" who sent his father an enigmatic letter, and when they track down the answer his sister says, "It was a secret, all right, kept for years and years, but it doesn't explain much about Pappa, does it?"

The theme of the book is how a person's secrets are simultaneously the part that is missing from his or her life story and the part that influences his or her motivation. The narrator is a psychoanalyst, so it's not surprising that he believes we can overcome our discontents though talking about it. The emotional stakes remain low, because the characters are not suffering from trauma but are merely discontented.