It is a simple story. There are no spaceships, no explosions, no frantic action, no grandeur. Just people in a broken up families. Patchett’s own life patterns are visible; she’s from a divorced family, and she’s divorced herself (albeit without children). In Commonwealth, she writes a fictional story that is simple in structure that tells to much about the beauties and difficulties of life. At times I wanted to cry at, touched by the story — written in Patchett’s trademark gorgeous writing. I didn’t know a book could do that, until I read Commonwealth.