Someone was published in 2013 and was also a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award. Someone is a novel written by Alice McDermott and details the life of an Irish American family, specifically following the growth of the girl in the family whose name is Marie. Even though Marie can’t see very well, she recounts narratives from her life in Brooklyn with her interesting neighbors and family with universally understood imagery that creates a delicately but beautifully told story.
Alice McDermott’s unique of writing in a quiet and unassuming manner creates a deep and exquisite reading experience. The events in Someone are narrated in a way that creates meaning in even the most mundane everyday items, such as the laundry. The novel explores the themes of joy, maturity, and life and death through the short anecdotes Marie retell of her family and neighbors’ lives changing dramatically and ironically throughout her lifetime.
