"FALLING IN LOVE WITH NATASSIA," by Anna Monardo, Doubleday, 483 pages, $24.95
Only real love — and a healthy dose of therapy — can save the relationships in Anna Monardo's newest novel, "Falling in Love with Natassia."
Natassia Stein's life was unconventional from the start. She was conceived on a dare when her parents had unprotected sex on a study-abroad trip in Rome. Her mother, a brilliantly talented dancer, was too busy with work to take proper care of the baby, and her father, an equally brilliant physician who was usually using drugs, was too out of it to notice.
So Natassia was raised by her paternal grandparents.
All seems well for the parents (Ross and Mary), the grandparents (David and Lotte) and the godparents (Christopher and Nora), but when 15-year-old Natassia has a nervous breakdown after being dumped by her 30-something boyfriend, all the dirty secrets in the adults' lives come to the surface, too. Abuse of all types emerges — verbal, physical, even sexual — as the little group tries to sort through the pieces of their shattered lives and put their world back together.
Monardo's storyline is almost tragic but far from melodramatic. In a time when dysfunctional families, even abusive families, are becoming the norm, the idea of a neglected and abused teenage girl seeking relief in the arms of an older man isn't so far-fetched. Neither is the idea of her father being driven to drugs because, despite his brilliance and success, he'll never be good enough for his own verbally abusive father.
Even Natassia's godmother carries a dark secret about her husband — but she can't let it out, because in spite of it, she still loves him.
Monardo knows human nature inside and out, and that shows in more than just the characters' therapy sessions. She understands how difficult it is to love someone when trust is gone and how it's even harder to regain that trust. She knows how it feels to be a child and worry about whether your parents can take care of themselves, because you learned long ago they can't take care of you.
And she understands loss — from being unwanted by your own parents to losing a first love to facing a death in the family.
As Nora tells Mary about Natassia, "She met him early . . . the guy who turns you inside out." Anyone who's experienced a broken heart knows exactly how that feels, and Monardo found just the right words to express it.
Meet six of the most successful (and least functional) adults and the child they raised in "Falling in Love with Natassia" — and you may end up identifying with Mary, who suspects Natassia will turn out even more messed up than she is.
E-mail: jcloward@desnews.com