Family

At its thematic core, the novel argues that the family as the defining unit of relationships is inherently, even inevitably toxic. The families that are structured against the chilling vastness of the Montana range do not provide the expected sense of comfort or security or closeness. The family is an exercise in the cannibal logic of self-destruction, shaped by desperation and narcissism and sustained by emotional terrorism. Phil schemes against his parents to secure ownership of the lucrative family ranch. Phil calculates strategies to destroy his own brother’s happiness by trying to torpedo George’s marriage. Johnny Gordon, after hastily marrying a woman he saw once or twice playing piano in a movie theater, steadily destroys whatever chance that family might have had, opting rather to crawl into a bottle, his wife a disappointment, his son an awkward dilemma he cannot entirely resolve save to...