May 19 - "Relations"

“Relations”
by Deb Olin Unferth
Minor Robberies (2007)

* * * (Good) Realistic

The narrator’s determined aunt tracks down the family’s long-lost relations. The entire clan meets in a restaurant in an attempt to get to know one another.

There are moments when the story is just strange enough to give it charm. I particularly enjoyed the beginning – the grandmother’s, and later grandfather’s, insistence about being an orphan, much to the aunt’s chagrin – and the ending – the conversation about the merits of purchasing only 2 gallons of gas at a time. Meeting the lost relations was nothing special; I’m used to huge family gatherings. I will give Olin Unferth credit for accurately describing how large families act, react, and gather.