Patricia Dunn is the author of the young adult novel “Rebels By Accident.” (Sourcebooks Fire, 2014). Her writing has appeared on Salon, in The Village Voice, The Nation, LA Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, in the anthology Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, and more. Patricia holds an MFA in creating writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She has been Senior Director of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is co-founder of The Joe Papaleo Writers Workshop in Cetera, Italy. Her new book “Last Stop on the 6” is the return of the prodigal daughter to a world of long-buried hurts, political complexities, and female resiliency.
“Last Stop on the 6” begins as Theresa Angela Campanosi, or Angela, is sprung from jail after getting arrested at an anti-Gulf War protest in Los Angeles. It is set in 1991 against the backdrop of the Gulf War and the people who were against it. She left her Italian-American neighborhood of Pelham Bay, the Bronx, after an accident that left her brother, Jimmy, an up-and-coming actor, paralyzed. It is now ten years later and she receives a letter from her mother that includes a one-way ticket back to attend Jimmy’s wedding. Against her better judgement and because she blames herself for the accident, she returns to New York to deal with the guilt and secrets that make up her family. But now the groom has disappeared, leaving behind only a cryptic note and his collection of plastic patron saints on his nightstand. Angela’s asthmatic mother insists on keeping Jimmy’s fiancée in the dark; her father, three years sober, goes on a bender; Angela’s ex-boyfriend has taken over running the family exterminating business; and her stepfather just wants to feed everyone. She goes looking for Jimmy through the old neighborhood and discovers that our opinions about people—even ourselves—can be wrong, and that family is far more than blood.
Patricia Dunn presents an extraordinary picture of an Italian American family from the Bronx. Narrated in the first person point of view, readers get an insight into Angela’s conflicted personality: “In LA, I was the Bronx Girl – stubborn and tough- an activist with only three days to stop the war from happening. In the Bronx, in Pelham Bay, I was the sister who ruined her brother’s life.” Once she gets to New York, the first sign that she is not ready to return is her lack of a coat, which she had long ago donated to a homeless shelter. While she does not have a good view of her mom “Dad was the dreamer and Mommy was the sledgehammer who smashed those dreams into smithereens,” she still refers to her as ‘Mommy.’ The characters are complex, relatable, and well developed and the action flows easily from chapter to chapter. Using a combination of humor and drama, the author keeps it from being an overly depressing and dramatic tale of family bonds and obligations. Angela’s family is no doubt dysfunctional but they are also loving, supportive, and most of all, forgiving. In focusing on the life of one anti-war activist, “Last Stop on the 6” brings a Bronx neighborhood to life with all its complexities and humorous mis-adventures. It is recommended for readers who appreciate stories centered around strong families and the joys and pitfalls of growing up and growing wise.
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
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