A multi-generational family saga that unfolds in one week, one place: Wish You Were Here

As noted yesterday, Stewart O'Nan's novel "Wish You Were Here" is a true family saga - but, unlike most such sagas published today, it doesn't encompass a great span of time - it's a family saga told within a tight, unified body of time and space: one week, in one summer house, with an extended family of 9 (plus dog), each with his or her own problems, history, baggage. It takes a bit of time to sort this out, but as the novel gets going it's impossible not to be captivated by the confluence of people and events. As it happens, most of the "events," at least so far, have occurred offstage so to speak: the death of Emily's husband (that's why they're at the summer cottage, preparing to sell it after she's been widowed), Meg's descent into alcoholism and breakup of her marriage, son (Ken?) who has lost his job and has dreams of becoming a photographer, and the kids are a bit more enigmatic - so what will happen, what is happening, in the novel itself, other than reflections and realizations about events of the past? A flash of drama has entered into the narrative, as the family stumbles on a scene of a crime, that turns out, perhaps, to be a kidnapping, and from what I know of O'Nan's work, this element will continue to develop and entwine itself into the lives of each of the characters - so we'll see what he does with this dramatic event.