Ecco (Harper), May 2004, 22.95
ISBN: 0060565519
In 1993, Lara Quade works at the Institute for Semiotics, Aesthetics, and Cultural Research in Princeton, New Jersey. At work Lara receives an anonymous ticket to a concert. Trying to figure out who sent it, she rules out her father who deserted her and her older brother Ryan over two decades ago. She knows it cannot be momma, who in Lake Shaheen, New York drunkenly drove their car into a moving train with then six year old Lorraine (as Lara was called back then) and Ryan as passengers.
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At the concert, Zedrick Dewe sits next to her. Afterward, Lara invites Zed to her home where they end up arguing. Someone beats up the institute's director. Lara thinks Zed did this; she confronts him only to learn he is her half-brother. Their mutual father killed his mother and spent his remaining life in Attica for the crime. Lara wonders whether her crazy mother did that deed and plans to confront Ryan about her theory. However, first she and Zed, though they share common blood, want to make love.
The storyline moves back and forth with ease between 1971 and 1993 as Lauren Kelly uses the past to tell a story about the present. The character driven story line focuses mostly on Lara looking back and wondering whether her mother killed her spouse's mistress and allowed her husband to take the fall. Zed is an intriguing protagonist as he knows he must avoid the incest offerings of Lara, but their tragic past has left both lonely and each other's arms feels comforting. TAKE ME, TAKE ME WITH YOU is a terse family drama.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner
