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srivalli's review
dark
slow-paced
2.75
2.7 Stars
One Liner: Started okay but got a bit too messy
What happens to the dysfunctional immigrant Armenian family in Queens (NY) when a tragedy strikes?
With the news of their father’s terminal illness, Kohar, Lucine, and Azad have to handle the mess in their personal lives, come to terms with the present, and lay rest to the past. Having a volatile and strict mother further strains their relationships. Will the family survive or break?
The story comes in the third-person POV of the main characters (Kohar, Lucine, Azad, Jonathan, Garbiel, and Takouhi).
My Thoughts:
I follow an Armenian lady on Instagram and love the pictures of her native place (the farms, plants, ancient cathedrals, etc.). This book seemed like a good way to get a glimpse into the community, even if it is from the immigrant perspective.
Soon, I noticed it had a few parallels with other immigrant books – dysfunctional families, torn between two cultures, the attempts of first-gen immigrants to keep the native culture and traditions alive however possible, etc. Another similarity was in parental control, something we often find in Asian families. I rather liked this sense of familiarity.
The writing is very good. I even forgot this was a debut work. Despite the lack of indication for time jumps, the plot was easy enough to follow. And most importantly, the characterization is good. It doesn’t matter that half of them are unlikeable and toxic. They make a strong impact. I even felt suffocated in some scenes.
I like how Gabriel and Jonathan have such unconventional roles. Even with the book being dominated by women, we cannot imagine the plot without these two men.
You may wonder why such a low rating when the book has such good elements. Well, we’ll tackle them next. There is where I should probably say, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’.
Though I knew the book would be about toxic families and relationships, this was much like watching a massive collision. Can’t say I particularly liked it. And when things could have gotten a little better, they take a turn for worse. There’s only so much I can bear before getting annoyed.
Azad was irritating. If there’s one person I couldn’t empathize with, that’s her. I don’t mind Bohemian characters, but she didn’t work for me.
The book is divided into three parts. The first was good, and the second was okay, even though we see a change in the narrative. The third was off, and since I lost interest by then, I just wanted it to end soon.
While I don’t mind the time jumps, I still had a hard time following the change in the characters. Of course, a few reveals made things clear, which I appreciate.
The multiple POVs give us an insight into each character, even if we don’t agree with their actions. But for me, only Kohar’s POV was compelling. Next was Gabriel.
Being lit fiction, I expected the narrative to be slow, but this one is super dragging. It feels as if the plot couldn’t carry its own burden, especially in the second half. And when there isn’t anything happy or light about the story, such pacing is a disadvantage (at least with readers like me who don’t equate the genre with misery and toxicity).
And what’s with the last part of the book? I know such things happen often. I also know that woman deserved what she got. I am also glad the character I liked could finally move on. Still, it felt like were pushed from one universe to another.
To summarize, All the Ways We Lied is a book about toxic people and what one person’s narcissism can do to the family. It is heavy, slow, and tough to read. Got a few triggers, too.
Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
#NetGalley #AllTheWaysWeLied
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Minor: Genocide, Physical abuse, and Drug use
roshreviews's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction focussed on a dysfunctional Armenian family. A brilliant first half and a wavering second half. If only I could recommend it just for the initial 50% or so!
Story Synopsis:
Queens, New York. The Manoukians are an Armenian family with barely anything in common with each other.
Gabriel – the patriarch – has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Takouhi – the matriarch – has an obsessive need to dominate everyone in her life.
Eldest daughter Kohar, 38, is blessed in her marriage to American Jonathan, but try as they may, they don’t have a child. This affects Kohar’s sense of self-worth.
Middle daughter Lucine is stuck in a loveless marriage and is just a few dollars away from losing all.
Youngest daughter Azad is a free spirit who seeks escape from the pressure of finding a good Armenian boy.
The story focusses on the internal and interpersonal dealings of all the above characters, with the narration coming from all their perspectives in third person.
Bookish Yays:
😍 Some really great descriptive writing and quotable quotes. The writing doesn’t make it seem like a debut.
😍 Well-defined characters, each having their own flaws and quirks and strengths. Even the minor characters have distinct and realistic personalities. The characterisations seemed authentic in the first half.
😍 Kohar’s situation as the elder daughter resonated much with me. Her husband Jonathan was also an excellent character, breaking the mould of a typical “son-in-law from another country” stereotype. Their complicated family dynamics with each other and the rest of the family are the highlight of the book.
😍 The depiction of Armenian culture and beliefs – detailed and genuine. Perfect for an OwnVoices work.
😍 Though primarily a narrative of mothers and daughters, the fathers in the story also have an important role to play, whether in a major or a minor capacity. Gabriel is a trend-breaker in terms of his depiction. He was one of the best characters in the book for me, though he was not at all perfect.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 Despite the slow pace, I was hooked on to the plot for the first thirteen chapters that comprise Part 1. (The book has twenty-four chapters overall.) Part 1 is excellent in its character detailing, writing, and plot. It easily scored well, and I even began drafting my 4.5 star review in my head. But after this came Part 2, and my rating slid steadily downwards. It would still have stopped at 3.75 were it not for the final 25%, which killed the book for me.
😐 There are too many characters at the start but as they are introduced well, the going becomes easier as we move ahead.
😐 Lucine’s arc started great but I wish we could have had more answers about her past and future. The potential of her character was never fully realised.
😐 The story spans several months (years?) but we don’t get an exact time reference. Though this doesn’t affect comprehension THAT much, I would have appreciated clearer references to the passage of time. I am still not sure which year this book is set in, though it’s definitely not too historical.
😐 The story comes to us in the shifting narrative perspectives of the five Manoukians. It takes a little time getting used to the jumps, but after a while, it is easier to go with the narrative flow. Every important character getting an equal voice also means that we get to know them all well, and can’t decide who is more important than the other.
Bookish Nays:
😣 The pacing is too slow, even for a literary fiction.
😣 The plot jump from part 1 to part 2 is too big. It took me a while to settle into the new direction of the story, because most of the characters seemed to have changed personalities in this section.
😣 I couldn't connect much with Azad’s character as she was too Bohemian for my liking, and her arc contained many lifestyle choices I don’t personally like. This isn’t a book flaw but my personal preference.
😣 The final quarter went completely haywire. I could see no logic to such a drastic plot development, a situation not even connected to what was established before about that character. If the ending had been worth the while, my rating would have been higher.
All in all, I did like a few things about the book, with my favourite being the insights about Armenian culture and the tricky parent-child dynamics. If only the latter half had as much to offer as the initial section, I would have been happier to recommend this as a must-read OwnVoices work. As it stands though, it is a mixed bag for me. Mine is somewhat an outlier review, so do read the other readers’ opinions before you take a call on this work.
Story Synopsis:
Queens, New York. The Manoukians are an Armenian family with barely anything in common with each other.
Gabriel – the patriarch – has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Takouhi – the matriarch – has an obsessive need to dominate everyone in her life.
Eldest daughter Kohar, 38, is blessed in her marriage to American Jonathan, but try as they may, they don’t have a child. This affects Kohar’s sense of self-worth.
Middle daughter Lucine is stuck in a loveless marriage and is just a few dollars away from losing all.
Youngest daughter Azad is a free spirit who seeks escape from the pressure of finding a good Armenian boy.
The story focusses on the internal and interpersonal dealings of all the above characters, with the narration coming from all their perspectives in third person.
Bookish Yays:
😍 Some really great descriptive writing and quotable quotes. The writing doesn’t make it seem like a debut.
😍 Well-defined characters, each having their own flaws and quirks and strengths. Even the minor characters have distinct and realistic personalities. The characterisations seemed authentic in the first half.
😍 Kohar’s situation as the elder daughter resonated much with me. Her husband Jonathan was also an excellent character, breaking the mould of a typical “son-in-law from another country” stereotype. Their complicated family dynamics with each other and the rest of the family are the highlight of the book.
😍 The depiction of Armenian culture and beliefs – detailed and genuine. Perfect for an OwnVoices work.
😍 Though primarily a narrative of mothers and daughters, the fathers in the story also have an important role to play, whether in a major or a minor capacity. Gabriel is a trend-breaker in terms of his depiction. He was one of the best characters in the book for me, though he was not at all perfect.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 Despite the slow pace, I was hooked on to the plot for the first thirteen chapters that comprise Part 1. (The book has twenty-four chapters overall.) Part 1 is excellent in its character detailing, writing, and plot. It easily scored well, and I even began drafting my 4.5 star review in my head. But after this came Part 2, and my rating slid steadily downwards. It would still have stopped at 3.75 were it not for the final 25%, which killed the book for me.
😐 There are too many characters at the start but as they are introduced well, the going becomes easier as we move ahead.
😐 Lucine’s arc started great but I wish we could have had more answers about her past and future. The potential of her character was never fully realised.
😐 The story spans several months (years?) but we don’t get an exact time reference. Though this doesn’t affect comprehension THAT much, I would have appreciated clearer references to the passage of time. I am still not sure which year this book is set in, though it’s definitely not too historical.
😐 The story comes to us in the shifting narrative perspectives of the five Manoukians. It takes a little time getting used to the jumps, but after a while, it is easier to go with the narrative flow. Every important character getting an equal voice also means that we get to know them all well, and can’t decide who is more important than the other.
Bookish Nays:
😣 The pacing is too slow, even for a literary fiction.
😣 The plot jump from part 1 to part 2 is too big. It took me a while to settle into the new direction of the story, because most of the characters seemed to have changed personalities in this section.
😣 I couldn't connect much with Azad’s character as she was too Bohemian for my liking, and her arc contained many lifestyle choices I don’t personally like. This isn’t a book flaw but my personal preference.
😣 The final quarter went completely haywire. I could see no logic to such a drastic plot development, a situation not even connected to what was established before about that character. If the ending had been worth the while, my rating would have been higher.
All in all, I did like a few things about the book, with my favourite being the insights about Armenian culture and the tricky parent-child dynamics. If only the latter half had as much to offer as the initial section, I would have been happier to recommend this as a must-read OwnVoices work. As it stands though, it is a mixed bag for me. Mine is somewhat an outlier review, so do read the other readers’ opinions before you take a call on this work.
2.75 stars. (First half – 4.5, next quarter – 2-3 stars, final quarter – not worth a mention.)
My thanks to Turner Publishing Company, author Aida Zilelian and NetGalley for the DRC of “All the Ways We Lied”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
jenniferforjoy's review against another edition
3.0
Recommended: sure
for a thoughtful reflective character study, for a melancholy and sad feel, for difficult characters you grow to understand but maybe not like
Expected publication date: January 9, 2024
Thoughts
It's taken me a long time to do this review since I finished it a month ago. The end of it took a sharp left that I was intrigued by, but the final resolution was a shock and honestly left me reeling and in a bit of a free fall. I was bemused, disbelieving, unsure, unsteady. Whether I "liked" it or not I can't really say, but it certainly did have an effect on me, so I overall would say that it works as an ending. Still, I find myself thinking about it.
The build of the story to that point is meandering and slow, very much a study of each character's individuality as well as the way they connect. Frequently, they don't -want- to connect with each other but they just can't escape it, for better or worse. And we do see both sides of it here -- the better and the worse. A lot of pain has seeped into this family, almost like a heritage, a very sad one. They all try to cope with it in very different ways, and I'm not sure anyone really succeeds. They certainly do try, though.
I don't know that I really liked any of the characters or could root for them as people, but at the same time I felt so much empathy for them and often understood WHY they acted and thought the way they did. I understood them but still possible would have distanced myself in real life.
Their Armenian history and heritage is a part of what makes each of them and is accounted for in some ways in their stories, but it's also not necessarily the main focus of the story. It affects them and some of their decisions, but overall the story is about their relationships with each other.
For the setup, there's sort of a part 1 and part 2 to this story with a significant shift in the middle that changes the narrative a bit. There's maybe even a shorter part 3 towards the end where this really took a left turn, but was an interesting way to re-engage with the story before it concluded.
There are a lot of narrators and perspectives, at least 4 main ones and then sometimes little bits from another character. It took me a bit to remember which character was in which situation, but after a few chapters from each it got easier. If you asked me who the "main" character was I could probably narrow it down to two, but they all interacted so much and affected each other's lives so much that it doesn't really work that way. The main story is all of their stories, together.
Overall this is a really melancholy, sad book with a reflective nature and a lot of consideration of difficult issues and relationships from all the characters.
Thank you to the author for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review!
for a thoughtful reflective character study, for a melancholy and sad feel, for difficult characters you grow to understand but maybe not like
Expected publication date: January 9, 2024
Thoughts
It's taken me a long time to do this review since I finished it a month ago. The end of it took a sharp left that I was intrigued by, but the final resolution was a shock and honestly left me reeling and in a bit of a free fall. I was bemused, disbelieving, unsure, unsteady. Whether I "liked" it or not I can't really say, but it certainly did have an effect on me, so I overall would say that it works as an ending. Still, I find myself thinking about it.
The build of the story to that point is meandering and slow, very much a study of each character's individuality as well as the way they connect. Frequently, they don't -want- to connect with each other but they just can't escape it, for better or worse. And we do see both sides of it here -- the better and the worse. A lot of pain has seeped into this family, almost like a heritage, a very sad one. They all try to cope with it in very different ways, and I'm not sure anyone really succeeds. They certainly do try, though.
I don't know that I really liked any of the characters or could root for them as people, but at the same time I felt so much empathy for them and often understood WHY they acted and thought the way they did. I understood them but still possible would have distanced myself in real life.
Their Armenian history and heritage is a part of what makes each of them and is accounted for in some ways in their stories, but it's also not necessarily the main focus of the story. It affects them and some of their decisions, but overall the story is about their relationships with each other.
For the setup, there's sort of a part 1 and part 2 to this story with a significant shift in the middle that changes the narrative a bit. There's maybe even a shorter part 3 towards the end where this really took a left turn, but was an interesting way to re-engage with the story before it concluded.
There are a lot of narrators and perspectives, at least 4 main ones and then sometimes little bits from another character. It took me a bit to remember which character was in which situation, but after a few chapters from each it got easier. If you asked me who the "main" character was I could probably narrow it down to two, but they all interacted so much and affected each other's lives so much that it doesn't really work that way. The main story is all of their stories, together.
Overall this is a really melancholy, sad book with a reflective nature and a lot of consideration of difficult issues and relationships from all the characters.
Thank you to the author for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review!
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