The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller

I always like Sue Miller's books and this was no exception.  It is about a woman who loses her lover on 9/11 and has written a play about a man waiting to hear if he's lost his wife in a terrorist train incident.  The book begins when the lover's sister is on her way to see the play.  Throughout the book, the characters take turns telling their part of the story.  Among the characters are the playwright, her lover's sister, one of the actors in her play, and a man the sister is trying to set her up with. 

Miller did a great job of picking an interesting set of characters to act as the narrators.  She had them tell slightly different versions of the story which built their personalities quickly and strongly.  It reminded me of Irene Dos Santos in how the author used the different points of view to tell a particular story. 

Another thing I liked about the book is that it takes place in my neighborhood - Boston's South End - and included scenes in several restaurants and theaters that I go to regularly. 

The other book this brought to mind was Dubus' Garden of Last Days, because that was also about 9/11.    Also a 9/11 book, that one was a more frantic, more direct, novel about the hijackers.  This one, in contrast, commented on the Human Condition simply and expertly.