In her review of Commonwealth in The New York Times in 2016, author Curtis Sittenfeld writes that “this novel, much of which unfolds in American suburbs, recognizes that the passage of time is actually the ultimate plot.”

And that’s exactly what you get with Commonwealth, Ann Patchett’s critically-acclaimed novel. The book begins with a christening, an unexpected guest, and a bottle of gin, and goes on to follow the fortunes of the Keatings and Cousins families over the course of five decades.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the novel is that it’s entirely unexpected. You might think you know what’s coming next for this uneasily-integrated family, joined by divorce and re-marriage, but then in the next chapter, or on the next page, Patchett swerves the story in another direction - sometimes into another decade - leaving you to ponder on what she leaves out of this family story as much as what she leaves in it. (But that’s as much as I’ll say on plot, because giving away the details would take away all the enjoyment of the swerves!)

In her review, Curtis adds that “Patchett also skillfully illustrates the way that seemingly minor, even arbitrary deci­sions can have long-lasting conse­quences and the way that we often fear the wrong things.” Perhaps that’s what struck me the most as I read, that we could all probably relate to this book in one way or another, because it is really about how we live our lives, the days and small decisions and relationships that build a life, on purpose and by accident. “This was the pleasure of a long life: the way some things worked themselves out.”

An unexpected guest gate-crashes a christening party, setting in train a series of events which change the lives of two families forever. Over the next five decades we follow the lives of the Keating and Cousins families, concentrating on the 6 siblings and step-siblings, The novel jumps about in time and place, and although the children are clearly individualised the adults are somewhat harder to identify, and I found it a novel that need concentration at times to remember who was who and how they were related. There’s a large cast of characters and I found myself occasionally asking “just who are all these people?” It’s more a series of vignettes than a sustained narrative, and it took me a while to become fully invested in the main protagonists. But once I did I became totally hooked and enjoyed the book very much indeed. As a family drama, a portrait of America, and an often moving and empathetic portrayal of how families evolve and accommodate to changing circumstances I found it a compelling and absorbing read.

Thanks so much to Bloomsbury Publishing for the opportunity to read this brilliant book.

I’ve enjoyed all Ann Patchett’s novels and this has to be my favourite - a really engrossing story and cast of characters, and the classy writing I would expect from this author. I was delighted to find no meaningless padding - after the opening chapter when Bert claps eyes on the vision of beauty that is to become his second wife, Beverly, how many writers could resist giving us details of their subsequent affair? Well, Ann Patchett can, and does, and it serves the story well as its omission brings its aftermath and the reconfiguration of the families into sharper focus.

Six children come together for long summer holidays, neglected by parents/stepparents reluctant to take responsibility for such a large tribe. The dynamics of the group is fascinating, none gets on particularly well with the others but they are united in escaping parental control. The one who suffers (almost) the most is Albie, the youngest, with four girls between him and the other boy, the eldest and way out of his league. If he’d been another girl, perhaps he wouldn’t have been regarded as such an encumbrance, but he is a boisterous, pesky boy and day after day they knock him out with prescription drugs and leave him behind. No adult notices, nor does Albie himself until years in the future he realises why he kept waking up in strange places.

And here comes the second strand to the story and the one I found most affecting. The question is whether one has emotional ownership of one’s own history. Albie finds out what had happened to him in the worst possible way and his experience has become public, even though none of the family is named. His outrage raises interesting questions about the nature of fiction writing - not every storyline springs wholly and intact from an author’s imagination and does anyone have ‘copyright’ over their own experience?

All very interesting and one to recommend.

Commonwealth, Ann Patchett

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  General Fiction (adult), Literary fiction

Well, lots of rave reviews, an author who I've never read and a book that sounded interesting. 
So loads of people love this book but for me? It just didn't work. 

I found the constant time changing choppy and confusing. One moment I felt the kids were small then we were reminiscing and they were adults. Then back to them as kids again...
I didn't like the characters, didn't understand what they did, why the did things and just felt I was reading day to day appalling parenting, reading about neglectful, selfish adults, bad decisions and after getting to 60% with a struggle I finally gave up. 

I can see others love it, really adore it and that's great. Its just isn't one for me. That's how reading is, what one likes another hates so make your own judgment, you could be among those who love this kind of read, or like me who don't.
Its not a reflection of how good or bad a story is, just on how the reader enjoys it. I've loved books others have rated one and two stars, what they didn't like is what made them perfect for me. this could be that book for you. Or not ;-) 
 
Stars: Two, I didn't hate it so no one star from me but there wasn't enough interest to keep me reading.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

This is a moving novel about the blended modern family inspired by Ann Patchett's own personal family history. In the early 1960s, the married Bert Cousins is a deputy DA, out of sorts with his lot in life and family, and looking for something more. He rolls up uninvited to Franny Keating's christening party, and oiled by alcohol, falls in love with and kisses the beautiful Beverly Keating. This leads to the disintegration of the two respective families and a catalogue of repercussions down the years. In a narrative that shifts from person to person over 50 years in a non linear manner, with multiple threads, the greatest focus is on Franny. The story resonates strongly as so few of us today have experience of a family without divorce, separations, remarriages, and step relations.

Bert and Beverly move to Virginia where, during the summer months, the six children from their marriages run wild in a way that would be less common today. The six are subject to all the strife that afflict a group of children but form strong bonds over their disappointments with and hatred of their parents. Patchett lets us get to know her characters well through detailed descriptions and vignettes of events, incidents and secrets. There is much comic humour, sorrows and tragedy in the highs and lows of a blended family. Franny is a law school dropout and becomes a waitress. She becomes involved with a writer, Leon Posen, to whom she confides her family history. Like a parasite, Posen, appropriates this history to pen a bestseller that spawns a movie. This triggers the revisiting of a hidden past as the truth emerges. Fix Keating, LAPD cop, has cancer and it is Franny that comes to care for her father.

Patchett gives us a a human and insightful look at the complexities of the dysfunctional modern family through the Cousins and the Keatings. Her character development is impressive, particularly with regard to Albie. There are perhaps an over abundance of characters but Patchett handles them adroitly. I was touched by her positivity with regard to the challenges of a blended family and of how time eventually is likely to iron out the wrinkles. A brilliant novel that I highly recommend. Thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC.

I'm afraid that I agree with several other reviewers: this is a novel by a very fine writer, but it didn't really engage me or add up to all that much in the end.

Commonwealth is story, spread over decades, of two families which splinter and unite in different ways with divorce, marriage, leaving home and so on. It is told in a fractured timescale – which is one of my problems with the book. It's a very common structure nowadays which sometimes works very well, but it's not always appropriate and is sometimes positively confusing and damaging to the narrative. I thought that was the case here. It is a very long time before the real nub of the book is revealed, and the structure just added to the sense - pretty well throughout the book – that this was a lot of excellent prose with some decent characters, but not much else.

I'm afraid I was disappointed in this. We all know that Ann Patchett is a great writer, but I need more than just lovely prose and I'm afraid I got a bit bored by Commonwealth because I wasn't engaged by what was actually going on. After Elizabeth Strout's recent, brilliant Anything Is Possible (not to mention My Name Is Lucy Barton), for example, this was a let-down, I'm afraid. Only a very lukewarm recommendation.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)