SomeoneSomeone

One life: its pains and joys; its bursts of clarity and moments of confusion. Scattered recollections -- of childhood, of sexual awakenings, of motherhood, and of old age -- come together in this story of an unremarkable woman's unforgettable life. We first meet Marie Commeford as a child, observing her pre-Depression world from a Brooklyn stoop. An innocuous encounter with a young neighbor named Pegeen Chehab establishes the novel's bittersweet refrain. Pegeen calls herself an "amadan," a fool. The events that follow reveal us all to be fools and dreamers, blinded in one way or another by hope or loss or the exigencies of life and love.