Hard laughter

Jennifer is twenty three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by the course of Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self contained Ben and Feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and dead on accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes among the other estimable things: good music, good hard…