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A review by pattydsf
The Summer We Fell Apart by Robin Antalek
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.