The Altruists
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Arthur Alter, a middling professor at a Midwestern college, can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him. And then there's the money-- the small fortune his late wife Francine kept secret, which she bequeathed directly to his children: Ethan, an anxious recluse, and Maggie, a would-be do-gooder. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation-- and unwittingly unleashes age-old resentments and long-buried memories. -- adapted from jacket
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I really enjoyed this entertaining tale of woe about a dysfunctional family coping with the loss of the mother. Arthur, a failing professor of engineering has realised he can't afford the family home anymore and the only solution to his problems is to tap his two children for the inheritance his wife only left for his children. Unfortunately, he's not on good terms with them. Ethan has spent all his inheritance after quitting his job and buying an overpriced apartment, and he is stuck in a kind of extended state of inertia, whereas Maggie has decided not to spend anything at all and steals things to give the money to charity. The themes running through the novel are that their attempts to help other people backfire continually because of their self-interest (there are similarities in that respect to Franzen's Crossroads) and how money and the attitude to money can affect family relationships. The characters are very well drawn and this is a funny, sometimes quite touching novel which I recommend.
