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ciolaceum 's review for:
A Family Matter
by Claire Lynch
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
This turned out to be way more layered than I expected when I first picked it up. It’s just a little over 200 pages so I thought it would be a quick and fairly straightforward read but it surprised me with its depth and emotional complexity. This book really dives into love, loss, regrets and all the gray areas in between.
What stood out most to me was how Claire captured the dual perspectives of Heron and Dawn. Their voices balance each other so well, neither one overshadows the other and together they round out the whole picture of this family’s story. Heron, in particular, is written with such a tricky mix of cruelty and pity. That slow unpeeling of truth hit hard and even though he could come across as mean or villain-like, the shadow of his illness made him painfully human too. I also appreciated how Dawn’s side was given its due. The way her confusion after pregnancy was portrayed and the shame tied to that period of time, added so much honesty to her story. Having her perspective alongside Heron’s made the book feel richer and more grounded, instead of just being a one-sided narrative.
That said, I have to admit dual timelines are not usually my favorite style and it showed here. There were moments when I felt like things jumped around too quickly or that some details and subplots weren’t given enough weight. A few times I caught myself wondering what exactly I was supposed to take away from a certain scene or whether I had missed something important. It didn’t ruin the experience at all but it did leave a couple of little holes that I wish were filled in more.
Even with those small gaps, I was still really taken by Claire’s writing. The way she writes Heron’s thought process, the secrets he kept from Maggie and the way the past and present were woven together all struck me on an emotional level. And honestly? I could’ve easily read a hundred more pages of it.