On the way they take a quick 10-day tour of the country. The idea is that being together will help father and daughter cope with their loss and reconcile their differences. In the simplest words, as hard as stones, Carolyn Coman connects a white American family's anguish with a nation's struggle to come to terms with its savage past. Berry tells the story in her own voice, in the present tense. The strain with Dad is always there.
Every conversation is a skirmish.
She can't bear the way he enjoys all the embarrassing fuss made over tourists. But Coman, the author of ''What Jamie Saw'' and other novels, does not demonize Dad. She can say very little to him. Coman captures the continuing crude apartness between the whites' luxury and the blacks' lack of shelter. It doesn't help that Dad flirts with Suzanne.