State of the Union

Domestic ennui, sociopolitical commentary, and infidelity are at the center of this nicely paced if sometimes overheated family drama from Kennedy (A Special Relationship). In 1969, 18-year-old Hannah Latham's rebellion against her parents—famous radical activist father, mentally unwell painter mother—is to shoot for the simple life by marrying medical student Dan Buchan, getting pregnant, and moving to rural Maine. Before she knows it, she's carved out an unexciting life as a part-time librarian and part-time housewife—until Tobias Judson, an acquaintance of her father with Weather Underground ties, comes knocking on her door. Fast forward to 2003: Hannah is a schoolteacher; her grown daughter flips out and disappears; her college best friend and sole confidante is dying of cancer; and decisions she made 30 years earlier come hurtling forward to again put into question what kind of life she really wants for herself. While the characters are stock and the points of conflict routinely overblown, Kennedy's emotionally charged, reader-friendly tale of a woman on the verge will please his fans. (Mar.)