Title: The Blessings
Author: Elise Juska
Published: May 26, 2015 by Grand Central (paperback)
Pages: 288
Source: Grand Central Publishing
Rating: 3/5
Goodreads
Elise Juska's THE BLESSINGS is an extraordinary novel about an ordinary family. The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy. College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen. Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return.
My review:
This is a well developed story about a large Irish-Catholic family in the Philadelphia area that takes place over the course of about 20 years. The chapters are told in chronological order, but each one seems like a short story exploring one of the family members. You do get information about the others along the way, but it seems written in the style of short stories. I'm not a big fan of short stories, so this was a little off putting for me, but because of the fact that the stories were interwoven, I did get used to the format. While I applaud the author for her creativity in using this type of approach, it did affect my overall rating. I also felt that maybe there was a bit too much happening to this family to make it totally believable. It made for good storylines, but it seemed like they had an awful lot of traumatic events to overcome. I thought the writing was well done, even though the chapters were about different people, they did flow well within. The characters were all people that you could relate to, and I thought the large family dynamic was well done.
Overall I thought this was a good book, but the format was not my favorite. I think anyone wanting a good family saga who doesn't mind short stories, will like this one. I will definitely be on the lookout for future books by this author, I thought she did a very good job with her characterizations.
Thanks to Tiffany at Grand Central Publishing for sending me a copy for review. As always, my opinions are my own.
