The Angle of Falling Light

In her fifth novel, Gologorsky returns to the setting of all her books—the American working class of Long Island and the Bronx, where the last two generations of Americans have been scarred by the domestic side of foreign wars and by drugs—from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, from heroin to oxycodone—good people seeking a good life amidst obstacles that can seem insurmountable.

In The Angle of Falling Light, the protagonist Tessa, has no model close to her for the kind of life she’d like to lead. Her sister Marla starts using drugs, following the lead of their uncle Hack, who softens his days with alcohol and weed. Her stepfather Scotty is a vet struggling with depression, and her mom Nina can’t cope. Nina takes refuge with a new lover and Tess, too, finds safety in a new relationship if not the direction she so desperately seeks.

The Angle of Falling Light is a book with a big cast of troubled innocents, everyone looking for a way forward, a lesson in how to give love while still putting yourself first, one of the most difficult of life’s challenges. As Gologorsky has it, some will lose this battle, while others will at least survive it.