MEDIA: Book Review –

Jan 30, 2020 – Zimmerman begins “Smacked” with her dramatic discovery of Peter’s corpse in his “architectural trophy” of a house, “all sharp angles and sunlight.” Though divorced, they are bonded by their personal history and their two children, and she still worries about him. Unable to reach him, she resolves to check on him “to make sure he’s okay and take care of him if he isn’t.” By the time she finds him, it is too late.

The narrative then flashes back to their first meeting, in April 1987. He’s a personnel recruiter; she’s in search of a writing job. He’s immediately smitten; she is not. But they become friends, staying in touch long-distance while he pursues graduate studies in chemistry in upstate New York. When she finally visits, to see his band play, he is already drinking heavily and doing lines of coke. Still, they have sex, and she falls in love. Before long, they are living together in Philadelphia. Despite vague feelings of discontent and a distinctly unromantic proposal, she marries him.

@BostonGlobe