Been Too Long

Not long after beginning "Standard Deviation" (2017) it dawned on me: It had been way too long since I laughed continuously while reading. What book most recently had this effect on you?

Katherine Heiny's riotous novel follows a NYC family of three - Graham Cavanaugh, his wife Audra Daltry, and their ten year old son Matthew - over the course of about a year. Graham is deeply in love as well as utterly baffled by Audra, for whom the word boundaries is an alien concept. And though Matthew's special needs demand constant attention - and provide rich comic possibilities - his parents are completely devoted to him.

Heiny adds a just-the-right-size cast of supporting characters - errant houseguests, origami devotees, Graham's first wife Elspeth - to round out her just-the-right-length book. Although each chapter had several laugh out passages - often featuring world class non sequiturs delivered by the irrepressible Audra - the standout for me was the Thanksgiving dinner gone awry in chapter four. Note to self: Resist any future temptation to eat deviled eggs prepared by a semi-senile neighbor.

The last really humorous novel I recall reading that had as much on its mind as this one, combining wisdom with quality prose, was Maria Semple's "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" I read that in 2013; been too long.