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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I found this book so difficult to get through. It was really slow in the beginning, not enough to grab my attention and keep me reading (hence the 6 month reading time). Overall it wasn’t a bad book but very slow.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
emotional
sad
medium-paced
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A very intriguing, well-written story that expertly weaves the various characters voices to convey their family dynamic. A perfect reflection of how our life becomes entangled with the people in our community and those who come in and out of our lives. Highly, highly recommend.
Best book of 2025 so far. Loved the characters, esp Baylor.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, MERCURY. Where do I begin? This layered, beautiful novel broke my heart and somehow stitched it together again. I had not read any of Amy Jo Burns' previous work, which includes a memoir that I gather may have influenced part of this book. I had no expectations, and I certainly did not expect to be so immersed in this fictional family that I read until two o'clock in the morning. Readers who feel connected to plots driven by characters and to books that center a single family - MERCURY is for you.
We meet the Joseph family, a family of all men with a lonely but fierce matriarch, at the very same time that tenacious young Marley meets them. She is invited to join them for dinner as a new arrival in their small rust belt town, and suddenly we're there alongside her. As she settles into her chair at their kitchen table, we are at that very same table with her. We come to know this family as Marley does, with all of their secrets, their glory, and their grief. The book follows along this path, and the reader just may find themselves asking very profound questions about what holds us together and what pulls us apart as family.
There is tragedy here but there is also joy, and Amy Jo Burns beautiful characters are a testament to her ability as a writer to create something beyond tropes of dysfunctional families. MERCURY felt very much like Tracey Lange's two novels and if you connected with those, I think this would feel just right for you too. I enthusiastically suggest that this book find its way to your stack on the nightstand. Five well deserved stars for MERCURY and to these characters that I will carry alongside me for a while.
Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
We meet the Joseph family, a family of all men with a lonely but fierce matriarch, at the very same time that tenacious young Marley meets them. She is invited to join them for dinner as a new arrival in their small rust belt town, and suddenly we're there alongside her. As she settles into her chair at their kitchen table, we are at that very same table with her. We come to know this family as Marley does, with all of their secrets, their glory, and their grief. The book follows along this path, and the reader just may find themselves asking very profound questions about what holds us together and what pulls us apart as family.
There is tragedy here but there is also joy, and Amy Jo Burns beautiful characters are a testament to her ability as a writer to create something beyond tropes of dysfunctional families. MERCURY felt very much like Tracey Lange's two novels and if you connected with those, I think this would feel just right for you too. I enthusiastically suggest that this book find its way to your stack on the nightstand. Five well deserved stars for MERCURY and to these characters that I will carry alongside me for a while.
Thank you to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.