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A review by agchalle
You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think the premise of this book has a lot of potential. A story about how addiction can shape a family is powerful, and the parts of the book that touch on that are good and moving. Emmy's family's stress and anxiety around Joey's addiction, the way they try to cope with death and pain, and Emmy's deep love for Joey feel very raw and real.
However, the rest of the book falls flat. The characterization of Emmy's high school experience is incredibly trite. Every character seems almost like a stereotype. Emmy hating the girl that has one interaction with her, maybe two lines of dialogue all together, because she is pretty and likes the same popular boy Emmy likes? Come on. The parts about shoplifting and The Portrait of a Lady seem to be out of place/not well used as compelling parts of characterization. I found the introduction to Emmy's former best friend to be clunky - all you know is Emmy's mother ended the friendship and the reader is left to wonder if the wealthy, strict, appearance-focused mother is also racist or if something else happened. You don't find out the truth until ~100 pages later, but the way it's left wide open does not do Emmy and her family any favors for sympathy.
A lot of potential, but several times throughout the book I thought things weren't necessary or wondering how much longer the book was going to go on. If Emmy's interactions with her siblings was kept, and 70% of the other material was cut/reworked, it wouldn't have been so flat.
However, the rest of the book falls flat. The characterization of Emmy's high school experience is incredibly trite. Every character seems almost like a stereotype. Emmy hating the girl that has one interaction with her, maybe two lines of dialogue all together, because she is pretty and likes the same popular boy Emmy likes? Come on. The parts about shoplifting and The Portrait of a Lady seem to be out of place/not well used as compelling parts of characterization. I found the introduction to Emmy's former best friend to be clunky - all you know is Emmy's mother ended the friendship and the reader is left to wonder if the wealthy, strict, appearance-focused mother is also racist or if something else happened. You don't find out the truth until ~100 pages later, but the way it's left wide open does not do Emmy and her family any favors for sympathy.
A lot of potential, but several times throughout the book I thought things weren't necessary or wondering how much longer the book was going to go on. If Emmy's interactions with her siblings was kept, and 70% of the other material was cut/reworked, it wouldn't have been so flat.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Death, and Grief