by Tara ConklinPublisher: William Morrow (February 5, 2019)
Description from the publisher:
When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time.
It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love.
I went into this one blind, as it was an unexpected advance copy that showed up at my door that I don't remember requesting! I think I might have won it in a giveaway and I didn't remember much about the description, other than it sounded intriguing and I thought The House Girl
was a solid read. This family drama swept me up and pulled on my heartstrings from the first pages to the last, and I was so glad I had no idea as to what might happen next.
The entire book is told from Fiona's perspective, which totally works and I really want to learn more about why Conklin chose the youngest Skinner sibling. Perhaps it's because it's the most probable that she is still alive in 2079, the year in which the first chapter tantalizingly opens in the distant future. Though she is also the poet, the archivist, of her and her sibling's story. It begins in their early childhood, 1981, when Fiona is just four years old and their father has died. I was personally ensnared by the narrative because my own father died in the same year, in the same manner, and I was the same age as Joe. It was so easy to place myself emotionally with each of these characters, as well identify with their time of life.
Conklin writing also easily put me in the psyche of the sisters and their mother Noni. It is the enigma that is Joe, the lone boy of the Skinner siblings, that relentlessly drives the story forward as each sister desperately tries to unravel his psyche and straighten out his life. In the process they unravel their own inner demons in profound and startling ways. If you enjoyed The Immortalists or Commonwealth, as I did, this would be a fantastic pick. It also felt reminiscent of Six Feet Under, one of the best television shows ever, which is also centered around a family that is trying to put themselves together after the loss of their father. And in the end, both are concluded from the very distant future in a tear jerking, hopeful and lovely way.
Thank you so much to the folks at William Morrow for sending a copy my way, I adored it!
was a solid read. This family drama swept me up and pulled on my heartstrings from the first pages to the last, and I was so glad I had no idea as to what might happen next. The entire book is told from Fiona's perspective, which totally works and I really want to learn more about why Conklin chose the youngest Skinner sibling. Perhaps it's because it's the most probable that she is still alive in 2079, the year in which the first chapter tantalizingly opens in the distant future. Though she is also the poet, the archivist, of her and her sibling's story. It begins in their early childhood, 1981, when Fiona is just four years old and their father has died. I was personally ensnared by the narrative because my own father died in the same year, in the same manner, and I was the same age as Joe. It was so easy to place myself emotionally with each of these characters, as well identify with their time of life.
Conklin writing also easily put me in the psyche of the sisters and their mother Noni. It is the enigma that is Joe, the lone boy of the Skinner siblings, that relentlessly drives the story forward as each sister desperately tries to unravel his psyche and straighten out his life. In the process they unravel their own inner demons in profound and startling ways. If you enjoyed The Immortalists or Commonwealth, as I did, this would be a fantastic pick. It also felt reminiscent of Six Feet Under, one of the best television shows ever, which is also centered around a family that is trying to put themselves together after the loss of their father. And in the end, both are concluded from the very distant future in a tear jerking, hopeful and lovely way.
Thank you so much to the folks at William Morrow for sending a copy my way, I adored it!
0 comments:
Post a Comment