I love reading McAllister’s books. Once I pick them up, I always know I will not be able to put them down. This was no exception. I was reading another story during vacation where I noticed that my attention kept wandering so I switched to this story and within seconds I was hooked and didn’t want to stop reading until I was done.
This is the story of what it means to be a family. A dysfunctional family that has become enmeshed through an early loss and now doesn’t know how to untangle themselves. Then the unthinkable happens and they show up for each other. Of course, they show up for each other.
But then. Then, they can’t let it go. They start unraveling one by one, bit by bit. Their worst enemy is coming from within. The guilt eats at them. It colors everything and everyone they look at. And then they start questioning each other.
And then it unravels even further. Until there’s no way to make it right ever again.
Great story about the narrow narrow line between being loyal and being dysfunctional.
with gratitude to netgalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This little book has so much packed in it. It’s sad and hopeful and so thought-provoking. It’s what we’ve come to love from T.J. Klune about how it feels to be different humans in the world, what struggle looks like and the different shapes and forms it can take. And how we can love endlessly and still not always be able to help in the right ways. How we can’t really help those who don’t want to be helped and how it’s tricky to be a human on this earth. This book will break your heart over and over again and then really break it before it’s over.
And it will stay with you a long time, like all Klune’s stories do.
with gratitude to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Halfway through February already. It’s like January crawls and February sprints.
Big Goal: I did everything I can until the 21st. I also did the other two tasks I needed to do and I emailed the person who helps me with taxes so they know it’s coming. Nothing more to be done here until Saturday
Progress on the big five:
Y: All done here for what I can do, signed contract, paid deposit, signed hoa form, waiting for them to submit.
G: didn’t find movers yet. will hope/plan to schedule for next week if i can pull it off.
S: Next step is blood tests and the second appointment towards the end of the month.
Sa: no progress here, i think this will have to wait a bit.
D: nothing for this one for now either.
Three Medium goals:
art: I did two more this week so making progress here.
cook: honestly not sure i have bandwidth for this one right now, got the one but who knows if any more.
peloton: still, nothing happening here. the other work is my exercise atm.
insta: honestly haven’t been tracking this one, but not doing terribly most days
Start: totally failed on this one, will see if i can do better.
Stop: yea not doing this
Continue: so so on this one, working but not as consistently.
Brave: trip coming up!
I’m proud of all the progress I’ve made. Things are moving. Slowly but consistently.
Here’s to another week. Paying attention. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.
What an unusual way to tell a story. This was a very thought-provoking story. Even though in its root I don’t think the story was really novel, the way the author told the story was really compelling and kept me interested. I did have to give up worrying about keeping track since that was really hard in the beginning. Totally worth the read and would make a great discussion.
Ethan Joella writes the exact kind of stories that I love to read. His stories are character-driven, quiet and deep. I always end up falling in love with his characters and thinking about them well after I’m done with the book because they are so real and so well developed.
This is the story of Maggie and Chip who work at the same hotel for a summer a year apart. Maggie’s brother Chip has since died from cancer and she’s trying to learn about Chip and how he spent his last summer. The chapters alternate between Maggie and Chip at the same place, a year apart.
It’s wonderful, life-affirming and exactly the type of stories I want to be reading right now. Thank you Ethan Joella for making life more beautiful with your stories.
with gratitude to netgalley and Scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
First week of February was a mixed bag. In some areas I got more done than I’d intended and in others I just gave up before I even started.
Big Goal: I did the first round on the taxes. Several of my forms don’t come out until Feb 21 so I won’t be able to finish it until then but I’ve done most of the work I can on the rest. I have one more task I can do between now and 21st so I will see if I can work on that this week.
Progress on the big five:
Y: Good news on this one. I got the sketches, asked for a small change but hoping it’s almost ready to be submitted for approval.
G: Done done done. Now to find movers and space.
S: Went through one appointment, feeling good about the plan so far. Next step is blood tests and the second appointment towards the end of the month.
Sa: no progress here, i think this will have to wait a bit.
D: nothing for this one for now either.
Three Medium goals:
art: I think 5-8 is going to be too many unless we count parts, if so I am 2 in but this will go slowly
cook: honestly not sure i have bandwidth for this one right now, got the one but who knows if any more
peloton: yea, nothing happening here. the other work is my exercise atm.
insta: honestly haven’t been tracking this one, but not doing terribly most days
Start: i am taking longer walks but not as long as i wished
Stop: yea not doing this
Continue: so so on this one, working but not as consistently.
Brave: trip coming up!
Other things I need to do this week: Our trip is coming up so I just have to prep.
I’m proud of all the progress I’ve made. Things are moving. Slowly but consistently.
Here’s to another week. Paying attention. Savoring and living in awe. And taking steps to move onward.
The thing with Matt Haig is that he knows how to weave a story that gets to the heart of the matter and knows how to remind us what actually matters. In this story of Wilbur getting to visit the major moments of his life after he passes away, he (and we) gets to see where he made the wrong choices that lead to outcome of a life he wasn’t happy with in the end. A reminder that we can say what we value but unless we actively choose what we value and make those choices intentional, what we say doesn’t matter. And next thing we know, we’ve lost the thing we value the most and end up with a life we didn’t actually want.
Alas.
For those of us who are still living, it’s not too late to change the choices we make.
with gratitude to Viking and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
