Welcome to Litsy!

A family drama about Julia, whose ordered life unravels. I struggled with Julia in the first half—grating choices and hard to connect—but the second half cracked her open, revealed her past and gave me empathy. Slow burn with messy, layered characters. Glad I stuck with it. A bit of a roller coaster, but if you enjoy slow burn, messy characters and emotional depth, this one may be worth the ride. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 ❤️📚

Started slow, but I ended up liking it a lot. Life is long and family life is complicated. Same as it ever was.

2-14 Jul 25 (audiobook)
I really did not like this much. The protagonist is a narcissist, who seems hung up on how much her mother‘s behaviour impacted her life but then seems to quite consciously make terrible decisions that impact her own loved ones. I am not sure why her husband stayed. I could not stand her. The writing was still good, but the fact I listened to this whilst travelling, waking up in uncomfortable beds, probably didn‘t help.

I did not expect to fall in love with this book. I didn't expect to end up loving the mc, who was really irritating me with her bad choices and narcissistic tendencies. And I didn't expect tears. This was highly recommended by one of my favorite bookstore owners on their podcast, so I bought it from their store, more out of appreciation of the store than expectation of the book. I love being surprised by books ❤️ June #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I think if it was 200 pages shorter OR had more of a plot line in the family drama aspects of the book I would have loved it. But at 500 pages it was just too slow to keep me engaged, I ended up skimming the last 100 for dialog and major plot points.

“And the dog goes about one of her favorite reconciliatory pastimes, trying to lick the inside of Julia‘s mouth”

So many good quotes from this novel today. Photo of my personal mouth licker in the midst of attempting to lick his own butthole. Gotta be careful of yawning too close to this one.

To my complete surprise, the tagged book is my pick of the 6 FICTION books I finished in November. I wouldn‘t have guessed that based on the first 150 pages or so. But it grew on me. (And to be honest, the other 5 choices were simply ok.)

#2024ReadingBrackets

My relationship status with this book would be “complicated.” For the first 150 pages, I dragged my feet on picking it up. Then I buckled down to read it —and couldn‘t put it down. I disliked the main character, even after finding out the family dynamics that basically made her into an unlikable person. But she was real and messy and imperfect and HUMAN—so I understood her in a visceral way. It‘s a pick for me, but I can see why others bail.

A large pile of reading material, a mug of hot tea, a fleecy blanket and a spot on the couch: Ah, Sunday mornings. 😍🥰

11-13-24: My 41st finished book of 2024! Given to me by my dear friend, Dana, for my birthday, this sweeping tale of Julia and her family really moved me. Julia, Mark, Ben and Alma, a beautiful family with some issues. Julia grew up with a single mom who was not the best and it led to feelings of grief and inadequacies that took years if at all to overcome.Mark was her savior until she met Helen Russo and her life changed again.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣4️⃣1️⃣

1. Hmmm. How wide are the stripes? How big are the spots? I reserve the right to hold off on a decision without additional information. 😀
2. Just started reading the tagged library book. Only one chapter in so far so I have no opinion about it yet.

Thanks for the tag, @dabbe !
@TheSpineView
#Two4Tuesday

Parenthood was a persistent cruelty, a constant, simultaneous desire to be together and apart 🤱

…how you‘d do anything for your kids to make sure they never feel alone 💛

This is such a strange read for me. I took a big break halfway through then picked it up again and loved it. Then I skimmed much of the last fifty pages because I was over it. I think it was a bit too long. I think the writing was beautiful. I liked the character study, yet I was really ready for it to be over. So there‘s that. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Loved this family deep dive. Lots going on here but it was a quick read considering its length. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This novel that bounces in time in Julia‘s youth, middle age, young parent, single, and future is entertaining. Imperfect characters with drama and plot twists. It‘s good, but I didn‘t completely love the main character. It‘s a good book, nonetheless, with slightly overdramatized events….but it did make me keep reading:)

Did anyone else just start to hate everything about Julia?

I love when I can add to my signed book collection!! 🤓

Such a fun evening listening to the lovely Claire Lombardo!

I really want to like it, but I just don‘t…at least not right now. Taking a break from it again; maybe this will be one I finish over months and months and months between other books.

Almost halfway through, and I might have to set it down for a bit. I love a character study and the writing is superb, but geez it‘s slogging along. Seems it doesn‘t need to be such a long book. It‘s killing my reading mojo. 😣

I liked it, just thought it was a bit too long.

Oh interesting, I recently read and loved the new novel Sandwich with a very similar tone to this book but told in less than half the pages. I couldn‘t help but compare the two and critique the length as I was reading. Ultimately, I liked both stories very much as I‘m at a point in my life where I appreciate the musing of a menopausal, empty-nester MC

Parnassus haul!! Sandwich is signed, too!

So funny hearing Claire talking about being mansplained that the title is a Talking Heads lyric. Yeah buddy, that was on purpose!

I had a fantastic time at Parnassus Books watching Claire Lombardo (L) in conversation with Lyndsey Lynch. They put on such good events! Picture of my purchases tomorrow. If you are ever in Nashville, it‘s a must-see store! I‘ll catch on Camp Litsy posts tomorrow. Now, it‘s time for bed!