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teg_unn's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book but it wasn't the best. It wasn't one of my favorites. The book was good from the very beginning, but the thing is, there was nothing in the book to really captivate me. I felt like nothing really happened in the book, because the characters perspectives and narrators were switched so often that not one particular character was exceptionally described nor their personality flushed out. I won't read this book again, and it wasn't really that memorable. I wouldn't recommend it to friends, but I didn't hate it. Sad to say, I was expecting more of it. I don't even care enough about the book to write a synopsis on it. I just didn't hate it which is why it's 3 stars. I feel, blah.
simsarah79's review against another edition
5.0
Just a character driven story of a family. The parents dislike each other- and the book told through the 4 children's point of view, but each child has a section. Amy is the youngest and she talks about the first part of the story. Then there's her older brother George and how he falls in love with the father of one of his students. Then there's Kate who is the oldest and had to take care of her younger siblings as a kid so when she went away for school she was just gone. Then there's the wicked alcoholic Finn who struggles to the point of almost no return. I loved the writing and felt the book got better as it went along. I love a good dysfunctional family and this was that to a T.
mamey328's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. I felt it was "real". Meaning; not everything in life is perfect and happy. I think every family has it's ups and downs and this book told a great story of this.
lulubella's review against another edition
4.0
Most books that employ multiple narrators don't do it successfully, but here it is at its best. Excellent novel!
liloud0626's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 rounded down. I love me a good sibling saga, but I'm not sure what to make of this. The premise was interesting: the story of a family told from the points of view of the four siblings, but after Amy told her story, the POV went omniscient. Antalek didn't stick to her plan. I wonder if the book would have felt less disjointed if she had.
pattydsf's review
3.0
I have read a lot of novels about dysfunctional families over the years. I have always assumed that there are so many books about unhappy families because as Tolstoy said, “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And that unique unhappiness makes for a good story.
However, this is the first time I remember reading two stories one right after the other where the father causes so much of the family misery. In The Precious One, the dad seems to be trying hard to protect his second family from ordinariness and sadness so he causes problems for his older children. I believe that his protectiveness is very well intended, although painful for all involved.
In The Summer We Fell Apart, the father appears almost malevolent. Both the mother and the father seem terribly unsuited to parenting, but the dad seems to play the four children off against one another. I found this particularly troubling and reading these novels so close together makes me want to find an antidote very quickly.
Not that I disliked this novel. Antelek knows how to tell a good story and I like the fact that she has all four children and the mother contribute to the tale. I found that I had more sympathy for the four kids because I got to hear how each of them saw their life. As each section of the book began, I was looking forward to how each sibling would tell their tale and relate the family history. Although the Haas were not happy and their story was sometimes painful, I am very glad to have met them. Throughout the book, I was rooting for the happiness of all the kids.
I would not necessarily recommend this book to readers of Marisa de los Santos who wrote The Precious One. She seems to want her families to live happily ever after. NoveList Plus suggests Jeanette Walls and Jonathan Franzen as read-alikes for Antelek. They both seem reasonable to me, especially Wall. Her parents in The Glass Castle were also neglectful parents.
If you are interested in tales told by several people or you like contemporary fiction about families or you just want to remember that your family is not the worse, I recommend this novel. I hope that you would find one character in the bunch that you will root for.
However, this is the first time I remember reading two stories one right after the other where the father causes so much of the family misery. In The Precious One, the dad seems to be trying hard to protect his second family from ordinariness and sadness so he causes problems for his older children. I believe that his protectiveness is very well intended, although painful for all involved.
In The Summer We Fell Apart, the father appears almost malevolent. Both the mother and the father seem terribly unsuited to parenting, but the dad seems to play the four children off against one another. I found this particularly troubling and reading these novels so close together makes me want to find an antidote very quickly.
Not that I disliked this novel. Antelek knows how to tell a good story and I like the fact that she has all four children and the mother contribute to the tale. I found that I had more sympathy for the four kids because I got to hear how each of them saw their life. As each section of the book began, I was looking forward to how each sibling would tell their tale and relate the family history. Although the Haas were not happy and their story was sometimes painful, I am very glad to have met them. Throughout the book, I was rooting for the happiness of all the kids.
I would not necessarily recommend this book to readers of Marisa de los Santos who wrote The Precious One. She seems to want her families to live happily ever after. NoveList Plus suggests Jeanette Walls and Jonathan Franzen as read-alikes for Antelek. They both seem reasonable to me, especially Wall. Her parents in The Glass Castle were also neglectful parents.
If you are interested in tales told by several people or you like contemporary fiction about families or you just want to remember that your family is not the worse, I recommend this novel. I hope that you would find one character in the bunch that you will root for.
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