Most of Cathie Pelletier's “Beaming Sonny Home” (1996) takes place where so many people live most of their lives — in front of the television. So stationary is the novel that one is surprised by how much movement there is in the story, how much happens, how much changes in 284 pages.

Mattie Gifford's three grown daughters invade her home in Mattagash, Maine, and flip on the TV because their brother, Sonny, has taken two female hostages, supposedly at gunpoint, and is holding them in a mobile home in Bangor that belongs to his estranged wife. Why he does this is a mystery — something to do do with his wife, something to do with his dog, something to do with starving children, something to do with John Lennon. Sonny just seems to be having a good time.

For three days the standoff is at the top of each newscast, and these four women, plus various neighbors, friends and other relatives watch to see what happens next. The supposed hostages seem happy to be where they are, Sonny being a charismatic young man whom every woman loves. That is, except for his three sisters, who have always resented that their mother loves him best. Mattie doesn't deny this, and even now during this crisis she wishes her daughters would just go to their own homes and leave her alone.

Her love for Sonny seems surprising. for he is so much like her late husband — handsome, always smiling, unambitious, irresistible to women and faithful to none. Sonny may be the same kind of man as his father, yet Mattie loves him more than anyone else, certainly more than she ever loved Lester.

Pelletier is so gifted with imagery that she almost overdoes it, tossing out a new metaphor before a reader can digest the last one. Among these images is a jigsaw puzzle Mattie is working on in which the eye of Jesus is missing. Only when she finds the missing eye and places it in the puzzle does this story come together — or fall apart, as the case may be. ( )

This isn't my favorite style. She tells about family tragedy with a sarcastic wit. I've seen families like this so I'm not saying she is exaggerating, it just isn't what I like the best. Mattie lives alone and we meet her & her daughters, who live nearby & come to support her when her son gets in trouble. There are some characters who try hard & bring a human touch to the story, and I did care about Mattie and her family.

Gag. Someone cut down a forest for this?