Our Short History

Karen Neulander has a rotten deal. Diagnosed with stage-IV ovarian cancer, she tries to manage her health—surgeries and treatments to prolong her life—as well as her career—political consultant to a philandering New York City councilman running for reelection. Most important is her six-year-old son, Jake. While Jake knows she has a terminal illness, Karen fiercely protects his world and pens a book for him—the very book we are reading, in fact—so that she can leave him something tangible as a guide for his life without her. Knowing she won’t be around forever, Jake suddenly wants to find his father, Dave, the love of Karen’s life, who ditched her when he learned she was pregnant. Grodstein (A Friend of the Family) deftly explores family relationships, but the device of Karen writing a book for her son is cumbersome and artificial. The power of the book is also undermined by the sentimental circumstances and predictable ending: will Karen let Dave, who has changed and is eager to have a meaningful relationship with the son he never knew he had, be a part of her son’s future without her? (Mar.)