A review by inkandoak
The Names by Florence Knapp

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

In theory the premise of this book is really cool and unique. But in execution, it made it hard to connect to the characters with the three different story lines. I loved a character in one of the storylines and disliked them very much in another, for example. I also don’t know how much the naming of a boy could change the course of their life so drastically, I think that had more to do with the trauma and abuse in the family, as well as choices made by family members. This book explores abuse and generational trauma, which while hard to read can be important and interesting to read about. I appreciated the authors care in these tough subject areas. But I just couldn’t get into it, I often felt bored and disconnected to the characters and this was in part because of the three different story lines. I liked one of them very much but the other two I couldn’t get into. I also got confused at times- I did the audio so maybe that didn’t help but I had to keep going back to check how old they were at different points and remind myself of what was going on in each different storyline. It’s split up into 7 year intervals over 30 something years across three different storylines- so this got confusing at times. This book has had a lot of hype this year and I was just let down. I much preferred The Bright Years and Broken Country which also dealt with generational trauma and tough family dynamics written in literary fiction styles. 
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