Description

Aleksandar and Isobel are siblings and former classical music prodigies once destined for greatness As the only Eastern European family growing up on their block on the far southside of Chicago the pair were inseparable until each was forced to confront the absurdity of tragedy at an early age and abandon their musical ambitionsNow in their twenties they find themselves encountering ridiculous jobs unfulfilling romantic relationships and the outrageousness of ordinary life Doomed by fate a family history of failure an odd mother an absent father and a younger brother with a peculiar fondness for catastrophes the two siblings have all but given upBut when an illness forces Isobel and her threeyearold daughter to move back into the family home Aleks becomes deeply involved in the endless challenges that surround his relatives Once Isobel begins playing cello again Aleks comes to see a world of possibility and wonder in the lives of his extraordinarily complicated familyTold in Alekss exuberant voice and full of as much comedy as tragedy this entertaining novel asks Is it ever truly possible to separate our fates from those weve come to love