In the time since his parents’ divorce, Stony hasn’t had much to say to his father. It’s not just the embarrassing things his father does in public, like picking fights with strangers on the golf course, needling his ex-wife about the car she drives, and asking girls whether they’re attracted to Stony. It’s also that his father hasn’t talked with him–even once–about his taste in books or girls, or about the painful stuff that has happened, like his grandmother being murdered, “inexplicably,” as Stony’s psychiatrist says. Then it’s summer, and whatever their relationship issues, Stony is headed for a New Hampshire vacation with his father, his sister, Molly, and his father’s girlfriend, Sally.
