Description
Book Synopsis''Quietly devastating writing'' The Observer
''Commitment is a majestic novel'' Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose
A masterful and engrossing novel about a single mother''s collapse and the fate of her family after she enters a California state hospital in the 1970s.
When Diane Aziz drives her oldest son, Walter, from LA to college, it will be her last parental act before falling into a deep depression. A single mother who believes that her children can attain all the things she hasn''t, she''s worked hard to secure their future. But when she enters hospital, her closest friend must keep the children safe and their mother''s dreams for them alive.
At Berkeley College, Walter discovers a passion for architecture just as he realises his life as a student may end for lack of funds. Back home in LA, his sister Lina works in an ice-cream parlour while her wealthy classmates prepare for Ivy league schools, as she wag
Trade Review
Quietly devastating writing . . . [Simpson] carves out distinctive and memorable multigenerational characters, each with their own compelling stories, motivations and locations * The Observer *
Few novelists write about America as Mona Simpson does, with her acute understanding of the tension between external forces-economy, technology, society-and individual dreams, between nostalgia and the future, between yearning and deception. Commitment is a majestic novel about an American family and an American century, its vision and scope bringing to mind the work of Tolstoy, Stendahl, and Balzac -- Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose
Moving . . . [Simpson] is up there with Anne Tyler and Barbara Kingsolver when it comes to great chroniclers of American families * The Spectator *
A sweeping family epic that took me from one American coast to another, through a difficult but unforgettable time period, and through the growing pains of three remarkable siblings. I was immersed in their world and in Simpson's masterful vision for them. Simpson is so attuned to the family heart and oh dear Walter, Lina, and Donnie, have you forever moved mine -- Weike Wang, author of Joan Is Okay
Moving . . . [Simpson] is up there with Anne Tyler and Barbara Kingsolver when it comes to great chroniclers of American families * The Spectator *
Quietly devastating writing . . . [Simpson] carves out distinctive and memorable multigenerational characters, each with their own compelling stories, motivations and locations * The Observer *
