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elnelson's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, and Death of parent
ukponge's review
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Miscarriage
javafenn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I did not want to like this book at first. I’m not really sure why either. It was hard to follow at first because there are lot of people with two not being a part of the core family which consists of two brothers, a sister, their spouses, and all their kids who converge at a family holiday vacation home for their first Christmas without their mother. The other two characters are a mother and daughter who are involved with one of the spouses via a child protection type situation (no spoilers or hints here because it would give it away). The thing that kept me listening is the fact that the narrator, Andi Arndt, is fantastic! She did great at changing voices for each character which made following easier as the chapters went on. After just 2 days I finished listening because I couldn’t stop!!! The three women, the sister, Kate, and the sisters-in-laws, have wildly complicated relationships but they ultimately do love each other after the climax. All of the people in this family are insanely privileged and they don’t really seem to recognize it but do come to somewhat of that realization towards the end. The ending was satisfying to the point where I wanted more but was perfectly happy to leave it where it was as. I say give this a try. If you can, try to make it through chapter 1 after the introduction of the players in the book because after that it makes more sense and gets really good!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Racism
melissafirman's review
DNFed because the writing style was extremely clunky. There were way too many commas and semicolons (don't get me wrong, I love a good, well-placed semicolon) and sentences that I had to read several times in order to understand what the author meant to convey. This is mostly a character-based novel, which I usually enjoy, but with three siblings, three spouses, five (I think?) kids, a dead matriarch, plus a single mom and her daughter, it was too much for the length of the novel. I think it would have been better if the structure was different somehow - maybe if we saw more from the family's earlier years, I don't know.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Infertility, and Miscarriage