Meet the Newmans, Jennifer Niven (Review by Abigail Blake)
Rating: 3.75/5 Stars
For fans of stories adorned with all the charms of classic Hollywood through the decades and A Lesson in Chemistry, Meet the Newmans is delightful, comforting read.
The Newmans are America’s television-viewing audience’s favorite family and have been for the past 12 years. Set in Los Angeles of 1964, the beloved on screen foursome (real life husband and wife Del and Dinah, and their sons Guy and Shep) must contend with the changing times. Their happy, wholesome tv-selves are no longer as idolized as they were when the show originally aired. All cast members have begun to chafe at the constraints of the world’s expectations of them. With only two episodes left to go—one of them undoubtedly to become the series finale—they face the pressure to find a sponsor and end the show with a bang.
On top of all that, show creator, director, lead actor, and beloved husband/father Del gets into a serious accident leaving him unable to dictate the final episode. Dinah, who has slowly slipped into a life closer to her onscreen traditional housewife role, decides to take the reins by writing the final script. She partners with a young, headstrong female journalist to get the job done. Closeted eldest brother Guy also steps into himself to direct the last two episodes, while Shep, the budding rockstar, deals with additional personal crises (and does his job too).
Their story has a lot going on in a way that draws the reader in. It’s soothing, wholesome tone tackles modern issues people were forced to handle differently in the 1960s. All the Newmans are encouraged to change, and it’s a delight to watch their characters grow up throughout the novel (as well as an ensemble of fun side characters).
Dinah repeatedly calls their show a little corny, or campy, with a neat resolution at the end of every episode. The novel plays out just like one of their episodes—everything is resolved in the end, for every character. Yet there’s something so comforting about the ultimate resolution, especially the bittersweet parts, and makes meeting the Newmans well worth it.