The Carpenters

by Steve Tesich

Is concerned with a family living in a decaying house that is about to tumble down. The fumbling, inept father tries to "communicate" with his children, but settles for listening to tape recordings of the childish games of happier, simpler days; the mother barely thinks or feels anymore, and devotes her days to preparing food; the older son makes listless plans to kill his father; the younger son, slightly retarded, dreams of escaping to the unspoiled wilds of Oregon; and the daughter, a college drop-out, becomes, in an oddly gentle way, the sex object of both father and brother. In the end there are discoveries, and compassion, but also a sense of aching loss of the relentlessness of the fate which the Carpenters have, like betrayed innocents, ordained for themselves.

46 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1971

About the author

Stojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.

His novel Karoo was published posthumously in 1998. Arthur Miller described the novel: "Fascinating—a real satiric invention full of wise outrage.” The novel was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. Summer Crossing (1982), was also published in a German translation as Ein letzter Sommer and in a French translation as Rencontre d'été.