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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
- a woman going through a title ix investigation, her free-spirited mother, and their uncle/brother who's pretty much willing to drop his life for them cope with some Big Life Changes
- this was a really sweet, heartfelt book about a family and their perhaps less than ideal dynamic
- each of the three main characters is deeply flawed but we wind up loving them anyway
- i loved the sense of humor- very subtle, not afraid to poke fun at the characters but in a loving way, the way you'd gently rib an eccentric aunt
- the ending was great -
nobody got exactly what they wanted, but all have hope for the future - i think if there's a problem with this it's that the middle is a bit slow and i thought the characters of molly and fiona were somewhat odd additions to the cast
also i was waiting for there to be a big reveal about molly having some ulterior motives but no, she just kind of deus-ex-machinas into the book to help cecily
**review of an arc i received via goodreads giveaway**
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Goodreads, the author, and the publisher for this giveaway.
I started this book with high hopes and was drawn in quickly to the immediate chaos of family and personal drama. It gave me “A Streetcar Named Desire” vibes during the first half; a sort of train wreck you don’t want to see, but also can’t look away from, and a curiosity to see who survives.
The story is centralized around Tom, his sister Dorothy, and her daughter Cecily. The plot itself is a good idea, it just lacked the thoroughness needed for so many main characters to be fully realized and the supportive characters given any finality. At the end there were a few major holes in how each of the characters ended up, and one of the secondary characters just straight disappears.
My biggest issue with the story overall was Cecily’s relationship with Santosh. I genuinely couldn’t see any solid reason they were together in the first place, and their actual moments in their relationship felt cringy.
Left with questions and some plot holes, it’s just not my cup of tea.
I started this book with high hopes and was drawn in quickly to the immediate chaos of family and personal drama. It gave me “A Streetcar Named Desire” vibes during the first half; a sort of train wreck you don’t want to see, but also can’t look away from, and a curiosity to see who survives.
The story is centralized around Tom, his sister Dorothy, and her daughter Cecily. The plot itself is a good idea, it just lacked the thoroughness needed for so many main characters to be fully realized and the supportive characters given any finality. At the end there were a few major holes in how each of the characters ended up, and one of the secondary characters just straight disappears.
My biggest issue with the story overall was Cecily’s relationship with Santosh. I genuinely couldn’t see any solid reason they were together in the first place, and their actual moments in their relationship felt cringy.
Left with questions and some plot holes, it’s just not my cup of tea.
If you love unconventional family dynamics and upper-class drama, this one’s for you!
You Only Call When You’re in Trouble is essentially the story of three family members: Cecily, a floundering professor at a liberal arts college; her mother Dorothy, a lifelong free spirit and unintentional troublemaker for her family; and Dorothy’s brother Tom, the steadfast but neurotic presence trying to hold them all together.
This one is character-heavy, so “plot lovers” beware! There’s a key plot point or two, but much of the story revolves around these family members (and their circle of colorful friends) working through a period of introspection and reevaluation in terms of their priorities.
I am a big time sucker for this category of book - Pineapple Street, French Braid, A Likely Story, The Dutch House - and so maybe I’m a little bit harsher when it comes to rating them. But I found this read to be just “fine.” It was brisk enough and had some interesting elements, but it just didn’t really do much for me.
The characters are a little quirky, a little purposefully unlikeable, but ultimately most of them felt a bit one-dimensional to me. The relationships have a lot of potential and some good moments, but it didn’t feel like any of them developed much or went anywhere until the very end, and then it came off a bit sudden and stilted in my view. And unfortunately the writing itself wasn’t my favorite either - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many similes in one book! - so there just wasn’t much for me to grab onto here.
I seem to be heavily in the minority for this one though so please don’t let me discourage you from giving it a read, especially if you like the “unconventional family drama” genre too!
Thanks to Henry Holt for my advance copy - this one is out Jan. 9!
Thanks to Henry Holt for my advance copy - this one is out Jan. 9!