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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Very believably flawed yet sincere characters. Enjoyed this one even if some of the angles seemed a little bit of a stretch. Very satisfied with the ending.
Sunday Brennan opens up We Are the Brennans with a single-car, drunk-driving accident. Her emergency contact is her older brother Denny, who stops everything to fly from New York to California and gathers Sunday up and brings her back home. Sunday has been gone for five years — having suddenly left her family and fiancé to take a job in LA. She's battered and bruised, and she's more than a little uneasy about trying to find her way back into her life in NY.
As the novel progresses, the secrets Sunday had been keeping come to light and the once tight-knit family bands together again — remembering what it was like when they were whole. On top of her personal reclamation at the proverbial family table, the rest of the bunch has secrets and stories of their own to be revealed.
We Are the Brennans is exactly the light but engrossing family story that knows itself. It doesn't try and be all these other things and confuse the issue. It's straightforward in plot, development, and conclusion — though the ending was a little too neat for me and I felt there were a few ideas or topics left to explore.
But, for a debut novel especially, Lange has created both a wonderful collection of characters and an incredibly real setting. It's easy to tell that Lange pulled from her own life and personal experiences to enrich and enliven this novel with truth and verve.
As the novel progresses, the secrets Sunday had been keeping come to light and the once tight-knit family bands together again — remembering what it was like when they were whole. On top of her personal reclamation at the proverbial family table, the rest of the bunch has secrets and stories of their own to be revealed.
We Are the Brennans is exactly the light but engrossing family story that knows itself. It doesn't try and be all these other things and confuse the issue. It's straightforward in plot, development, and conclusion — though the ending was a little too neat for me and I felt there were a few ideas or topics left to explore.
But, for a debut novel especially, Lange has created both a wonderful collection of characters and an incredibly real setting. It's easy to tell that Lange pulled from her own life and personal experiences to enrich and enliven this novel with truth and verve.
This is a great family drama! I liked the way it was written from all of the perspectives. I really enjoy this author. There was a kind of slow part in the middle, but otherwise it was great, imo.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love stories about family dynamics. All the secrets and the mess just make you realize that that is life. Nothing is perfect but everything is meant to be the way that it is.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Full Review on the Blog - Archetypes and Anecdotes
3.5⭐️
Liked: sibling relationships, Irish family characteristics, ending each chapter with a line of dialogue that starts the next chapter and switches the point of view
Disliked: slowness (too much of a slow-burn), anticlimactic
**Thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted copy!
For more in-depth details on the positives/negatives, synopsis, and a full review, check out my blog - linked above!
3.5⭐️
Liked: sibling relationships, Irish family characteristics, ending each chapter with a line of dialogue that starts the next chapter and switches the point of view
Disliked: slowness (too much of a slow-burn), anticlimactic
**Thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted copy!
For more in-depth details on the positives/negatives, synopsis, and a full review, check out my blog - linked above!
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange is full of family drama. The book begins with Sunny Brennan being involved in a drunk driving crash. She ends up in the hospital and wakes with her brother Denny at her bedside. Sunny moves back home to the east coast with Denny to put her life back together. Her family is struggling to keep their Irish Pub out of deep financial problems. Sunny also faces her high school sweetheart Kale and works to repair that relationship since she left. This family is full of flaws but is refreshing because it represents a genuine family experience.
Overall this was an enjoyable book. I would recommend it. All the chapters flow together seamlessly, and the reader gets to observe the events of the book through different characters, which is interesting.
Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for this complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. I still am not a fan of NetGalley's audio quality for audiobooks.
Overall this was an enjoyable book. I would recommend it. All the chapters flow together seamlessly, and the reader gets to observe the events of the book through different characters, which is interesting.
Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for this complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. I still am not a fan of NetGalley's audio quality for audiobooks.
3.5 rounded up. This was a well written family drama where the characters all had personality and purpose. I guessed some of the twists and didn't others, so the story was well crafted and thought through. The only reason its not a 4 is because I felt like the ending was slightly rushed and I wanted a couple more plot points to be completely tied up.