Reviews

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

eliana99's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

andreayari's review against another edition

Started off slow, perhaps as I accustomed myself to the writing style. I really started to get engaged after the plot climax. Really enjoyed the brothers throughout. Ben was my favorite.

ronniefinley's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

4.5

heidilreads's review against another edition

5.0

So so good. I loved the love, the struggle, the joy, the chaos.

shailydc's review

4.0

A really important story that I hope a lot of people will read. I didn't always love the writing style, but I do love the message.

rachel2887's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

allypolitoski's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. This was so good, what an insight into family and unconditional love and protection

jisa_10's review

emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

meimeililylil's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I was surprised at how deeply I ended up loving this book! I was captured by the prose about parenting and life in general. It’s about a boy who wants to be a girl, yes, but it’s also so much more than that. I wanted to highlight a million quotes in this book for the ability the author has to take my lived experience and put it in a beautifully-written and sometimes even comical sentence.  I was very busy with back to school this month, but every time I picked up the book, I was instantly transported back into their world.  And it was really small text! But I still loved it! And I was not bored! Thank you for writing this, Laurie Frankel!

hannahlpowell's review against another edition

5.0

"Parent time is like fairy time but real. It is magic without pixie dust and spells. It defies physics without bending the laws of time and space. It is that truism everyone offers but no one believes until after they have children: that time will actually speed, fleet enough to leave you jet-lagged and whip-lashed and racing all at once."

I love this family. I love these parents. Penn and Rosie and their boisterous clan of children feel like home. These are the modern, accepting, supportive parents I want to be for my own child. They create a safe-space for all of their children, 4 boys and 1 boy turned girl.

Penn is the father every kid deserves, but so few have. He is light, fun, and the keeper of bedtime stories.
Where Penn is dreaming, Rosie is grounded. Rosie, a fiercely protective mom who wants to shield her babies from the harsh realities of the world. But she is not defined by her role of motherhood. She is a kick-ass ER doctor and modern wife with a husband who stays home

"This is a medical issue, but mostly it's a cultural issue. It's a social issue and an emotional issue and a family dynamic issue and a community issue...maybe the world needs to learn to love a person with a beard who goes by 'she' and wears a skirt."

Roo, Ben, Rigel, and Orion all keep the family secret. The secret that Poppy used to be Claude. Poppy's older brothers are willing to carry this heavy weight to shield their baby sister, but sometimes that is too much to ask of 4 young boys.

This story reminded me how children are constantly changing and growing, and eventually change the world.