Marrying the Ketchups

November 1, 2021

In this latest from the author of the best-selling Girls in White Dresses, a Chicago restaurant family is thrown by three unexpected events--the Cubs (thankfully) win the World Series, Donald Trump (not so thankfully) is elected president, and grandfather Bud, founder of the burger-famous JP Sullivan's, suddenly dies. Now everything is up for grabs. Gretchen suspects her longtime 1990s cover band is going nowhere, older sister Jane wonders if her husband is cheating on her, and rock-steady cousin Teddy is dumped by a boyfriend who, alarmingly, keeps showing up at PJ's, where Teddy is manager.

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February 28, 2022
The death of a patriarch throws an Irish Chicago family into a tailspin in Close’s humdrum dramedy (after The Hopefuls). When the Sullivan clan suddenly loses patriarch Bud, family members begin systematically unraveling. The outcome of the 2016 presidential election makes things worse, and the Cubs’ World Series victory isn’t quite enough consolation. The story primarily revolves around two sisters, Bud’s grandchildren. There’s Gretchen, the singer for a New York City cover band, and her older, more domesticated sister, Jane, who increasingly suspects her husband of cheating. More engaging is the plight of the sisters’ good-natured cousin Teddy, the general manager of the burger joint Bud owned. Teddy yearns for his ex-boyfriend, who keeps showing up to have dinner at the restaurant, and the kind of romance that seems just out of reach. There’s also newly widowed Rose, in an assisted living facility, who must now face life without Bud. In the place of plot are the characters’ tribulations, played out in placid, heavily detailed chapters, as when Gretchen abandons hope of rock stardom and comes home, Teddy assesses his love life, and Jane reevaluates her marriage. It’s rough going, but Close manages to evoke the durable power of family.

March 1, 2022
A Chicago-area restaurant family navigates life-changing events and modern romantic problems. The Sullivans, the family at the center of Close's amusing, engaging novel about life, death, and the restorative power of a grilled cheese sandwich, worry about their matriarch, Rose. They fear the loss of her husband might push Rose into depression. After all, the circumstances seem especially tragic: Bud died just before his beloved Cubs finally won the World Series. But other events of fall 2016 are proving enough to depress everyone, including Rose's adult grandchildren. Jane, a stay-at-home mom who left the family's diverse Oak Park neighborhood for tony Lake Forest, is starting to rebel against her privileged existence and is sure her husband is cheating on her. Her younger sister, Gretchen, is in her 30s but acting like a college kid, drinking too much and singing with a '90s cover band in New York until a breakup sends her scurrying home. Their cousin Teddy wants to take over the family restaurant, but no one will listen to his ideas, nor can he rekindle his relationship with the boyfriend who dumped him, although they're hooking up on the sly. Add to that the divisiveness of the presidential election, and the Sullivans find that they're not equipped to handle change. Their conflicts are familiar, ordinary, the crises of everyday life, but the well-drawn characters always keep you interested in what happens next. Close navigates their entanglements and dissolutions with wry humor: She understands the difficulties and distractions of modern romance. As Jane, Gretchen, and Teddy struggle to find their footing, the close-knit Oak Park neighborhood is changing, too. But is that so terrible? Like marrying the ketchups, a long-standing kitchen task now deemed unsanitary, traditions can adapt to a new world order. Just like the Sullivans. An entertaining family story with realistic, interesting characters.

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Starred review from March 1, 2022
Within two weeks, Donald Trump was elected president, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, and Bud Sullivan died. The Sullivan family felt like the world itself had tipped on its axis, but JP Sullivan's, the family restaurant, served as their emotional and physical anchor. The restaurant was Bud's legacy, and the next generation of Sullivans had learned everything they knew about restaurant life from him. Four Sullivan cousins, Teddy, Jane, Gretchen, and Riley, find themselves increasingly unsure about their individual futures but confident that walking into JP Sullivan's will always feel like home. Close (The Hopefuls, 2016) drops readers smack into Oak Park, a leafy Chicago suburb, and lets them hear the hiss of fryers hitting hot oil and catch an ice-cold Old Style sliding across the bar. The Sullivans are a close-knit Catholic family full of guilt and love and long-standing grudges, but Close lets each character's unique personality shine. Fans of Tracey Lange's We Are the Brennans (2021) and Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising (2021) will fall in love with these maddening, loving, stubborn relatives. Setting nostalgia against progress, tradition against rebirth, Close outlines the cousins' grief and personal growth as they work with, and against, one another.

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