Pretty impressive story in current New Yorker from Allegra goodman, apple cake, about a 70ish woman dying and mourned w much sturm und drang by her tow older sisters and by many children nephews in laws et al. The strength of the story is how quite subtly goodman uses the death of the youngest sister to tell the story of the conflicts and antagonisms between the two elder sibs. In other words the death is just the cat's paw that opens the way to a story about other issues and other people. That said goodman also does a great job giving us access to the thoughts and feelings of the dying woman - beset upon by so many visitors each trying to help and to mourn but fee or none making her feel any better. We don't learn apt about her life but her death handled swiftly and gracefully. On the Dow side however goodman almost perversely fills this story w a nearly tolstoyan number of characters barely distinguishable at times - perhaps to intentionally comic effect but also somewhat bewildering.
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