paloma_sanchezh 's review for:

The Imperfects by Amy Meyerson

3.5

mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 It was not a bad book, but not outstanding either. I feel the most historical fiction releases I’ve read tend to mix many elements that in the end, draw the reader’s attention from the historical, fascinating elements that could make the story unforgettable. The Imperfects is the story of a family who receives a diamond as part of their inheritance, but obviously, it is not as wonderful as it seems. Soon, all of them realize they did not know who the matriarch of the family truly was and how she came into the possession of such an exquisite jewel. Helen is the grandmother who passes away, and her family (daughter, two granddaughters and a grandson) come together after being stranged for some time to discover the history of the diamond and Helen’s past. Helen was an Austrian Jew who came to the United States as a girl, bringing a diamond belonging to the Habsburg dynasty. This premise sounds very interesting and could have been explored further in my opinion. However, the author chose to mix this premise with the portrait of a dysfunctional family, no other than Helen’s relatives. While I liked the realistic portrait of the complexity of families, I felt this element took away the drama of the historical fiction. Also, I felt all of the characters where kind of naïve and a bit dumb and I could not believe that out of the three grandchildren (all above 30) none was mature enough to deal with things. Another aspect that bothered me was that you have to suspend your belief in many parts of the story and there are many things that feel just too convenient to be believable. For example, how come that Becca, the eldest granddaughter, happens to have a friend who is a jewel expert? I mean, for me these professions are kind of specific, is not the type of person you easily meet. Also, Deborah was so annoying. Ok, there are parents that truly never mature but her personality was just, stupid. 65 years old and you still can be fooled by love? Sorry but no. The ending was also kind of disappointing and just confirmed my impression that Deborah was not a very intelligent women. So… while not all of the story was bad I felt it was a missed opportunity in building a stronger historical fiction that could hook the reader and the story of dysfunctional families could have been a whole different book.