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aduchene's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't particularly care for this book. It was hard to get into and it didn't hold my attention. I felt like it took me forever to read (situationally I didn't have the same energy to sit and read either). I think it did a great job approaching difficult real life topics (single mothers, adultery, abandonment, LGBT, mental disorders) and the way stories are told and perceived based on the POV. It was a good read even if it didn't captivate me.
Side note: 3 redhead women as rotating main characters =
Side note: 3 redhead women as rotating main characters =
kba76's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of those frustrating books that I wanted to like more than I did.
We have three different women, all related, and see their stories.
Mary, a young unmarried mother in the 1950s was forced to give up her daughter. Caroline, the daughter, is now a mother herself-trying to come to terms with the anger she feels at being abandoned. Lastly, there is seventeen year old Katie who is undergoing her own major life experience.
All three women need to explore their feelings and experiences. When Mary -who suffers with dementia - is left widowed, it falls to her estranged daughter to look after her.
Split narratives and jumping time frames allow for a slow reveal of the key plot details. It also means it takes a long time to get close to answers.
Sadly, not what I expected.
We have three different women, all related, and see their stories.
Mary, a young unmarried mother in the 1950s was forced to give up her daughter. Caroline, the daughter, is now a mother herself-trying to come to terms with the anger she feels at being abandoned. Lastly, there is seventeen year old Katie who is undergoing her own major life experience.
All three women need to explore their feelings and experiences. When Mary -who suffers with dementia - is left widowed, it falls to her estranged daughter to look after her.
Split narratives and jumping time frames allow for a slow reveal of the key plot details. It also means it takes a long time to get close to answers.
Sadly, not what I expected.
jennus's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to the audiobook and it was phenomenal. Very long but so lovely.
abigailsmathews's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rcaivano's review against another edition
I didn't want to read this book, but then found it hard to put down. Three generations of women living in the same house, all with a secret. Katie's mother is a scared control freak. She thinks anything and everything can go wrong and holds Katie to very high standards. Katie's grandmother has been literally dropped on their doorstep after years of no contact. She's in the beginning stages of Alzheimers and the family is trying to cope. Katie is confused and tired of trying to be perfect. They all learn and they all grow, this is a very good book.
annabi's review against another edition
3.0
i feel so bad because all I could think when I got to the last page of this book was "finally!!! done!!!!"
I wish I could say I enjoyed this book more. the writing was beautiful, and the characters were honest and real. normally that's all I need to like a book! there were even LGBT themes! the story was intricate and we'll crafted and deep! but for the entire book, all I wanted to do was finish it. i couldnt relate to the characters at all. like I FELT them as though they were real people, but they're just so different from me. Mary's adventures and life was interesting, mums struggle was real, and Katie is a complicated girl. but I just couldn't bring myself to care! it's almost like there was Too much substance that I had to spread myself thin to absorb all of it.
I want to say that I didn't hate this book and I can see why people would like it. I just didn't and I feel Guilty about that! but it's how it is.
I wish I could say I enjoyed this book more. the writing was beautiful, and the characters were honest and real. normally that's all I need to like a book! there were even LGBT themes! the story was intricate and we'll crafted and deep! but for the entire book, all I wanted to do was finish it. i couldnt relate to the characters at all. like I FELT them as though they were real people, but they're just so different from me. Mary's adventures and life was interesting, mums struggle was real, and Katie is a complicated girl. but I just couldn't bring myself to care! it's almost like there was Too much substance that I had to spread myself thin to absorb all of it.
I want to say that I didn't hate this book and I can see why people would like it. I just didn't and I feel Guilty about that! but it's how it is.
stenaros's review against another edition
3.0
Read for Librarian Book Group
I shall begin by discussing the thing that distracted me throughout the entire novel: the timeline. The grandmother gave birth to the mother in 1954. And the mother's daughter is a contemporary teenager. Wait. What? Really? And there is also a younger brother? How old was she when she gave birth?
I can't tell you how many times I counted forward from 1954 trying to make the timeline sensible. A sixteen-year-old today would have to have been born in 1999 or 2000 which would make her mother forty five? And forty seven when she had the younger brother? You could maybe subtract five years and have the story set in 2011--but probably not many more than that due to phone technology--but even being a forty-two-year-old first-time mother might bring up some commentary very early on during the book. For instance, would her daughter attribute the mother's insistence on safety and sensible choices to the fact that she was so old* when she became a mother? If there had been just one sentence early on--"my mother was so much older than all the other mothers"--I could have stopped my endless counting. The age thing is finally addressed near the end of the book, but by then I'd exhausted myself with different decade permutations.
Setting aside the (rather large) issue of timeline, I loved the stories of these three women. The grandmother's memory loss was terrifying to read about, but such a good way to tell her story. And the mother and the daughter's stories were also compelling.
*Note that I realize there are women who are first-time mothers in their forties (though forty-five and forty-seven is unusual) and I don't think forty itself is old.
I shall begin by discussing the thing that distracted me throughout the entire novel: the timeline. The grandmother gave birth to the mother in 1954. And the mother's daughter is a contemporary teenager. Wait. What? Really? And there is also a younger brother? How old was she when she gave birth?
I can't tell you how many times I counted forward from 1954 trying to make the timeline sensible. A sixteen-year-old today would have to have been born in 1999 or 2000 which would make her mother forty five? And forty seven when she had the younger brother? You could maybe subtract five years and have the story set in 2011--but probably not many more than that due to phone technology--but even being a forty-two-year-old first-time mother might bring up some commentary very early on during the book. For instance, would her daughter attribute the mother's insistence on safety and sensible choices to the fact that she was so old* when she became a mother? If there had been just one sentence early on--"my mother was so much older than all the other mothers"--I could have stopped my endless counting. The age thing is finally addressed near the end of the book, but by then I'd exhausted myself with different decade permutations.
Setting aside the (rather large) issue of timeline, I loved the stories of these three women. The grandmother's memory loss was terrifying to read about, but such a good way to tell her story. And the mother and the daughter's stories were also compelling.
*Note that I realize there are women who are first-time mothers in their forties (though forty-five and forty-seven is unusual) and I don't think forty itself is old.
yeoroll's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars <3
something i liked but also didnt like about this book was that it was depicted characters/life so normal and average, just like an average, everyday person?? something like that, not that much happened and katie was pretty simple. marys influence, though, turned her into a better and bolder version of herself. i enjoyed seeing her accept her sexuality and come out. one thing, though, was that the secret at the end didn’t seemed too big to me. i expected something more?? it shocked me that that was what seemed to hold mary and caroline back and then they finally talked about that moment and everything was fine. caroline pissed me off for the majority of the book with how she seemed to hold back katie from so much and wouldnt listen to mary about her life and why she did all that stuff to caroline. she was also blinded by her connections to pat and such and held resentment towards mary for things that weren’t her fault at all?? like what happened with pat, for example. it was frustrating to watch.. because this book was so normal and kind of mundane/bleak, it bored me at times but then also interested me. i also expected for there to be at least one chapter with caroline’s pov but that happened nowhere in the story… i also wish there was more added onto the whole thing with esme and more follow up, closure, and stuff that occurred after the “confrontation”. i just yearned for more development on that and with jamie and closure for them because jamie and katie were so cute even just as friends :/// he was so sweet and it wouldve been nice to see them become just as friends and remain that way. simona was so swoon-worthy, and i loved her and katie together. part of me wishes there was more to that as well <3 it wouldve been nice to see mary, caroline, and katie’s pov’s split more evenly especially since its about all three of them - the three generations of women with secrets. -like one of the cover versions of this book !! even before reading i expected that - if there were different povs - for there to be three different povs for all of the girls !!! i enjoyed this book, though, but part of me thinks that maybe it was too long with not enough depth on a few things i previously mentioned in this review/rant and that couldve made it a whole better (at least for me and my experience!).
i loved how real and normal this book seems, its not super crazy even though it has its twists and family secrets. it actually really realistic, i guess. like it would actually happen,, like it follows an average person (katie in this aspect) living their life.
final “verdict”: overall, i think i would give this 3.5 stars. it lacked in some things for me, and i really wanted a pov for caroline or further depth into her mind/character (she got on my nerves for most of the book!! - and i was surprised at the big reveal holding her and mary back). i enjoyed how normal/realistic it seemed, like an average person’s life. but i wished there was more time spent on esme and katie’s kiss and closure to that and esme questioning herself (?), simona and katie maybe, and possibly if anything happens with jamie and katie after them splitting.
something i liked but also didnt like about this book was that it was depicted characters/life so normal and average, just like an average, everyday person?? something like that, not that much happened and katie was pretty simple. marys influence, though, turned her into a better and bolder version of herself. i enjoyed seeing her accept her sexuality and come out. one thing, though, was that the secret at the end didn’t seemed too big to me. i expected something more?? it shocked me that that was what seemed to hold mary and caroline back and then they finally talked about that moment and everything was fine. caroline pissed me off for the majority of the book with how she seemed to hold back katie from so much and wouldnt listen to mary about her life and why she did all that stuff to caroline. she was also blinded by her connections to pat and such and held resentment towards mary for things that weren’t her fault at all?? like what happened with pat, for example. it was frustrating to watch.. because this book was so normal and kind of mundane/bleak, it bored me at times but then also interested me. i also expected for there to be at least one chapter with caroline’s pov but that happened nowhere in the story… i also wish there was more added onto the whole thing with esme and more follow up, closure, and stuff that occurred after the “confrontation”. i just yearned for more development on that and with jamie and closure for them because jamie and katie were so cute even just as friends :/// he was so sweet and it wouldve been nice to see them become just as friends and remain that way. simona was so swoon-worthy, and i loved her and katie together. part of me wishes there was more to that as well <3 it wouldve been nice to see mary, caroline, and katie’s pov’s split more evenly especially since its about all three of them - the three generations of women with secrets. -like one of the cover versions of this book !! even before reading i expected that - if there were different povs - for there to be three different povs for all of the girls !!! i enjoyed this book, though, but part of me thinks that maybe it was too long with not enough depth on a few things i previously mentioned in this review/rant and that couldve made it a whole better (at least for me and my experience!).
i loved how real and normal this book seems, its not super crazy even though it has its twists and family secrets. it actually really realistic, i guess. like it would actually happen,, like it follows an average person (katie in this aspect) living their life.
final “verdict”: overall, i think i would give this 3.5 stars. it lacked in some things for me, and i really wanted a pov for caroline or further depth into her mind/character (she got on my nerves for most of the book!! - and i was surprised at the big reveal holding her and mary back). i enjoyed how normal/realistic it seemed, like an average person’s life. but i wished there was more time spent on esme and katie’s kiss and closure to that and esme questioning herself (?), simona and katie maybe, and possibly if anything happens with jamie and katie after them splitting.
lacey1020's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. This was a really slow read, it took me almost 2 weeks to get through. I really liked how more and more of the past got revealed through memories and flashbacks throughout the book. But there was a lot I didn’t like. I didn’t like how Katie’s sexuality was handled. I didn’t like Esme or any of her friends. I felt like not giving Chris a diagnosis was a cop out. At first I didn’t like Mary, but I grew to feel for her as more of her past was revealed. I did not like Caroline though. She was very controlling and had a big victim complex. She acted as if her mother/aunt committing suicide meant she could treat people however she wanted. She was also a huge hypocrite. I like that they all got along in the end, but I also felt it was kind of unrealistic.