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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
The book was okay, but I hated the ending - it was really incomplete.
Good weird stuff. At times I found Elisa hard to like, and like others I just couldn't understand why she didn't just sit down and tell her husband what she was experiencing. I understand that their relationship had serious issues, but obviously she can see that in her "new" life things are different and they've obviously been going to couples therapy and making attempts at fixing their marriage, so...
I also suppose I should avoid reading authors' own ideas about what their work is about, because in the "On Writing Familiar" at the end of the book, Lennon states that the book is about how parenthood changes you. Not at all what I took away from it, and kind of a disappointing summary of everything that goes on in this complicated novel.
To me it was more about one woman's journey, about identity, about how two different choices made in one point in time may play out drastically differently down the line, about the different people we could become, about the complications in any relationship, and even some cool metaphysical ideas about memory and reality.
The very last two pages however felt very oddly wrapped up to me, where Lennon goes from describing an intense scene in the present to just summing up for the reader everything that happens in the next few years within in a matter of paragraphs. Almost as if he couldn't figure out how to end the book (and I know endings are hard) and didn't want to leave the reader hanging, but didn't want to write out the rest of the events either.
I also suppose I should avoid reading authors' own ideas about what their work is about, because in the "On Writing Familiar" at the end of the book, Lennon states that the book is about how parenthood changes you. Not at all what I took away from it, and kind of a disappointing summary of everything that goes on in this complicated novel.
To me it was more about one woman's journey, about identity, about how two different choices made in one point in time may play out drastically differently down the line, about the different people we could become, about the complications in any relationship, and even some cool metaphysical ideas about memory and reality.
The very last two pages however felt very oddly wrapped up to me, where Lennon goes from describing an intense scene in the present to just summing up for the reader everything that happens in the next few years within in a matter of paragraphs. Almost as if he couldn't figure out how to end the book (and I know endings are hard) and didn't want to leave the reader hanging, but didn't want to write out the rest of the events either.
In the opening pages, Familiar's protagonist, Elisa, is driving from Wisconsin, where she has been visiting the grave of her dead son, Silas, back to her home in New York--back to her husband, Derek, and her living son, Sam. As she is driving down the highway, she notices that that the crack in the windshield of her Honda has mysteriously disappeared. Even more mysteriously, she then realizes she is no longer driving her Honda but is now driving a Dodge.
When she arrives home, she discovers more changes: her marriage to Derek, though never great, is now on the verge of divorce. Incredibly, Silas is no longer dead. Sam, with whom she has a fairly good but not great relationship, is now estranged from her and living in California with Silas. She now has a completely different job.
Elisa is convinced that she has somehow moved from her original life in one universe into a new life in a parallel universe. She has no idea how this has occurred, but she is fairly certain that she has been transported into a parallel universe.
This story begins as a science fiction story, and the science fiction element remains important throughout, but it is actually more a story of a family in crisis: the pending, possible end of Elisa and Derek's marriage and these parents' separation from their sons. The tensions within the family and Elisa's attempts to resolve them are the real focus of this story.
Familiar is a great character study as we watch Elisa try to adapt to the new world in which she finds herself and try to change herself in the present universe to be more like herself in former universe while struggling with herself about whether she should try to change at all.
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
As the story ends, we have no resolution to anything. What has actually happened to Elisa is not clear. Did she really move from one universe to a parallel universe? Or is, as is hinted in a few places, she suffering some sort of mental breakdown? Obviously, the latter makes more empirical sense, and there is some narrative support for thinking that Elisa is simply suffering some sort of neurological or psychological problem. Still, much in the story equally supports the hypothesis that Elisa really has moved from one universe to another. The author simply gives us no final answers.
Furthermore, the tensions within the family are not fully resolved. The final pages indicate that Elisa and Derek decide to get back together after their trial separation, but we are not told why or how this happens. And Elisa and her sons are not reunited although Elisa and Silas have a tentative online relationship.
But the novel ends on a positive, optimistic note. It seems that Elisa has, in the end, accepted living in this new universe and is even content to do so, and a hopeful note is sounded that possibly she and her sons will overcome their differences just as she and Derek have reunited.
Ultimately, though, nothing is settled. We are left with mysteries. For some, this may be unsatisfactory, and I will admit to being slightly disappointed that the story ends abruptly with the key plot points unresolved. Nevertheless, the body of the story is utterly fascinating, particularly Elisa's relationship with her sons and her attempts to make amends for what she and Derek have done to cause their estrangement from their children.
Thus, overall, I very much enjoyed this story and can definitely recommend it to most people. If you like stories with definitive answers and neatly wrapped endings, however, this novel is probably not for you.
When she arrives home, she discovers more changes: her marriage to Derek, though never great, is now on the verge of divorce. Incredibly, Silas is no longer dead. Sam, with whom she has a fairly good but not great relationship, is now estranged from her and living in California with Silas. She now has a completely different job.
Elisa is convinced that she has somehow moved from her original life in one universe into a new life in a parallel universe. She has no idea how this has occurred, but she is fairly certain that she has been transported into a parallel universe.
This story begins as a science fiction story, and the science fiction element remains important throughout, but it is actually more a story of a family in crisis: the pending, possible end of Elisa and Derek's marriage and these parents' separation from their sons. The tensions within the family and Elisa's attempts to resolve them are the real focus of this story.
Familiar is a great character study as we watch Elisa try to adapt to the new world in which she finds herself and try to change herself in the present universe to be more like herself in former universe while struggling with herself about whether she should try to change at all.
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
*********SPOILER ALERT*************
As the story ends, we have no resolution to anything. What has actually happened to Elisa is not clear. Did she really move from one universe to a parallel universe? Or is, as is hinted in a few places, she suffering some sort of mental breakdown? Obviously, the latter makes more empirical sense, and there is some narrative support for thinking that Elisa is simply suffering some sort of neurological or psychological problem. Still, much in the story equally supports the hypothesis that Elisa really has moved from one universe to another. The author simply gives us no final answers.
Furthermore, the tensions within the family are not fully resolved. The final pages indicate that Elisa and Derek decide to get back together after their trial separation, but we are not told why or how this happens. And Elisa and her sons are not reunited although Elisa and Silas have a tentative online relationship.
But the novel ends on a positive, optimistic note. It seems that Elisa has, in the end, accepted living in this new universe and is even content to do so, and a hopeful note is sounded that possibly she and her sons will overcome their differences just as she and Derek have reunited.
Ultimately, though, nothing is settled. We are left with mysteries. For some, this may be unsatisfactory, and I will admit to being slightly disappointed that the story ends abruptly with the key plot points unresolved. Nevertheless, the body of the story is utterly fascinating, particularly Elisa's relationship with her sons and her attempts to make amends for what she and Derek have done to cause their estrangement from their children.
Thus, overall, I very much enjoyed this story and can definitely recommend it to most people. If you like stories with definitive answers and neatly wrapped endings, however, this novel is probably not for you.
Elisa Brown is driving when suddenly the crack in the windshield disappears, her body is slightly different, she is wearing different clothes, she is driving a new car. She arrives home and her life is looks familiar, but it’s not. For once, his son Silas is not dead anymore.
You’ll agree with me that this is a really intriguing and promising premise and obviously, it was what draw me to this book. Has Elisa entered a parallel universe? Gone crazy and invented another reality? Elisa attempts to answer this question throughout the book but the book isn’t here to answer them. It seems like the whole premise is a macguffin to explore the life of Elisa and her family. I wouldn’t considered this a sci-fi book but a middle-life-crisis-book or whatever.
I kept waiting for the book to get to the good part, to hook me, but it didn’t happen. The exposition of Elisa’s new life feel pointless. If she was supposed to learn anything in this alternate universe or whatever, I didn’t catch it. And the whole ending was a bit weird. That Patrice character seemed to out of place and this is not precisely a conventional story.
I mean, now that I think about it, the book left me indifferent and that’s not a god thing.
P.S.: I just thought of a book with a "similar" premise that also examined our choices in life and how we have become and I unlike this, I found extremely engaging: Replay, by Ken Grimwood.
Edit: this is definitely the dissapointment of the year so I'm downgrading to one star.
You’ll agree with me that this is a really intriguing and promising premise and obviously, it was what draw me to this book. Has Elisa entered a parallel universe? Gone crazy and invented another reality? Elisa attempts to answer this question throughout the book but the book isn’t here to answer them. It seems like the whole premise is a macguffin to explore the life of Elisa and her family. I wouldn’t considered this a sci-fi book but a middle-life-crisis-book or whatever.
I kept waiting for the book to get to the good part, to hook me, but it didn’t happen. The exposition of Elisa’s new life feel pointless. If she was supposed to learn anything in this alternate universe or whatever, I didn’t catch it. And the whole ending was a bit weird. That Patrice character seemed to out of place and this is not precisely a conventional story.
I mean, now that I think about it, the book left me indifferent and that’s not a god thing.
P.S.: I just thought of a book with a "similar" premise that also examined our choices in life and how we have become and I unlike this, I found extremely engaging: Replay, by Ken Grimwood.
Edit: this is definitely the dissapointment of the year so I'm downgrading to one star.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2024/04/familiar.html
Absolutely fascinating character study, the only flaw, and its a big one, is the ending.
This book is very thought-provoking and that is why I gave it 4 stars. However, the ending was very abrupt and I had to re-read the last several pages a couple of times before I could wrap my head around what happened. I think each reader will have to devise their own thoughts about how Elisa ended up in her second life, which life she will choose, and why.