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'Apologize, Apologize!': A Rollicking Family Affair

On the surface, Elizabeth Kelly's debut novel, Apologize, Apologize!, is the story of a boy who becomes a man. But beneath that still narrative is a roiling tale of eccentric egos, comedy and tragedy — featuring a menagerie of animals that seem smarter than humans.

The narrator, Collie Flanagan, shares his name with a breed of dog, thanks to his mother, a cantankerous woman who is obsessed with canines and not particularly fond of human beings. Rounding out the Flanagan clan are Collie's philandering, drunken father, his newspaper-magnate grandfather, his down-to-earth Uncle Tom and his glamorous brother Bing.

Although Collie's family seems extreme, Kelly tells Liane Hansen she doesn't consider them dysfunctional: "If anything, I would say they're hyper-functional. Everything works the way that they want it to work."

In addition to its cast of human characters, Apologize, Apologize! includes a host of sometimes preternaturally intelligent animals, including a pigeon that manages to find its way home by walking on railroad tracks. Kelly jokes that she included the pigeon in the book because she "wanted to do something to elevate the modest pigeon. ... I think I've always somewhat identified with the pigeon."

Behind the colorful characters — human and animal — are themes of courage, redemption and growing up. Kelly emphasizes, however, that she didn't want redemption to be portrayed as a permanent resolution in the book.

"What I wanted to do in writing the book was to replicate the ebb and flow of natural life," Kelly says. "Life has a way of piling it on, and to me redemption is a very temporary thing. It's like a little glimmering moment of insight, and then it's on to the next challenge."

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Liane Hansen
Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.