A review by gwenswoons
Family Family by Laurie Frankel

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this! It really hit the spot in a moment when I needed some absorbing reading that was fast and fun but also still had emotional depth and meaning. I loved all the windows Laurie Frankel gives us into adoption — all the different vantage points and perspectives, but also the ways each one ripples out; it was lovely to read this as someone who doesn’t have a real personal relationship with adoption myself but has been curious about the layers and complexities of this for all the people it involves and affects. I thought the pacing was really easy and quick; I loved all the characters in this highly-populated book and all the ways each different pair and circle of people interacted. I did question the POV at times — partly, I think, because of the dual timeline, which is a thing I generally love but which sometimes felt a little overly noticeable here; but also because we were navigating so many complex moments from the vantage point of a child (an amazing, intelligent one, but still a child — and sometimes the narratorial omniscience didn’t quite fit with Fig’s age or voice totally, for me). Overall loved this and will for sure read more Laurie Frankel, perhaps on audio since it was definitely light and effusive enough (again despite having lots of beautiful depth! Not a dig!) that it might work excellently on audio.
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