Every Visible Thing
by Lisa Carey
Published by William Morrow
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Reviewed by Karen Morse
Five years after eldest son Hugh's disappearance, the Furey family has still not come to terms with his loss.
Parents Elizabeth and Henry ignore their other children and drown themselves in their work. After spending two years in bed, Elizabeth decides to go to medical school. While she lavishes TLC on AIDS' patient David, she manages to miss all of her own children's thinly veiled calls for help.
Always a bit of an absentminded professor, Henry becomes even more distant when he loses his job at the University and gives up on his own scholarly work.
Told alternatively from the perspectives of 15-year-old Lena and 10-year-old Owen, Every Visible Thing is a portrait of grief. Each secretly excavating the basement for fragments of the family's past, Lena and Owen follow different paths in their search for closure. As Owen struggles with problems in school and his emerging homosexuality, he becomes obsessed with Henry's erstwhile academic specialty, angels; casting Hugh in the role of his guardian angel. Lena tries to understand Hugh by reconstructing his life. She develops his photos, immerses herself in the local punk scene, and eventually leaves home herself in hopes of finding answers.
Armchair Interviews says: Raw and emotional, Every Visible Thing is an engrossing read. Carey has created a brilliant and brutally honest portrayal of adolescence and loss.