Welcome to Litsy!

....she had been so busy getting divorced and managing her daughter's happiness that there had not been a day to just be. She hadn't had time to work on her friendships either; people had disappeared, or perhaps she had, too. She had actually marked that down in her calendar for the end of July: "Figure your shit out."
Although she had written it in pencil.

Victor is a bad man; a criminal real estate developer, abuser and just a lousy person. He‘s also just had a heart attack and is laying on his death bed. The book tells how his wife, adult children and granddaughters have lived their lives amidst the family drama and how they handle Victor‘s end of life. This is a well written story, but I was ready for it to be over about 2/3 in. I‘d give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Not sure this is the best book for me to be reading as I sit with my elderly dad during his chemo treatment. No sympathy for Victor, he should‘ve treated his family better. (But I am enjoying the book)

#CuriousCovers Day 11 Orange

Another one in my Kindle library.

Great fun! Imperfect people behaving imperfectly yet Attenberg somehow manages to make me care about them 😄Loved it on #audio !

New #audiobook to start the weekend!

Brought home a hand-painted bookmark from Joshua Tree. 🌵💛

I love Jami but this wasn‘t my favorite. I have a weird thing about details. I had to know what exactly he was doing that was illegal! I wanted to know the hustle! It had some beautiful and awesome sentences.

...because who doesn‘t want to be seen, even if it is just for a moment, how valuable a flicker of recognition 🎰💎🥃

Wow! What a wild ride this book was, if I thought my family was fucked up and a hot mess... They are nothing compared to the family we meet in this book. Wow. each character really holds their own in terms of toxic traits and bad behavior.

I listened to this as an audiobook and while I loved the narration, I think this book could have been improved if each character got their own narrator, it would have made each one come alive..

My last #TOB2020 Read is the mentioned book! When I am done I will have read 9 out of the 18 books on the list! It was fun and enjoyable to participate in this way.

I am a little sad that I didn't see a mystery listed or a thriller (do the three dystopian novels count?)

I am also currently reading The Invited by Jennifer McMachon it's excllent so far, and I am enjoy hiring down notes for the #LMPBC

Story of the domino effect of toxic masculinity.Attenberg weaves a compelling story around distinctly flawed and unlikeable characters, wherein the reader cannot help but empathize /sympathize with them.

TW: Domestic violence

#StayHome24in48

Pretty Meh. However, New Orleans was an interesting character in itself that had me doing some thinking about the concept of home.

Meh. Attenberg uses multiple perspectives, and these shifting perspectives usually aren‘t meant to redeem the characters, they mostly unravel more layers of dysfunction. That was pretty good, but she often diverts from the main characters to give perspectives of very tangential characters (I mean very tangential, they would be extras in a film) which was distracting, and I don‘t see what was gained. #TOB2020

⭐️⭐️ What a bunch of insufferable assholes. A family grieves the death of their pompous, violent patriarch. I‘d have been on board with this story had I enjoyed Attenberg‘s writing. The jumping timelines were great, but too many POV plus bursts of second person were distracting. The few side character stories which briefly overlapped felt like no-purpose filler. Just not a fan of the style, especially for a 300-page book. She tried too hard.

It‘s a gorgeous ☀️ day! Grabbing a few pages at the park while my boys run 🏃🏼‍♂️🏃🏼‍♂️wild.

PS. That‘s turf not grass in case you were wondering. This is an all-inclusive, wheelchair-accessible playground. All surfaces are made for wheels and there are many pieces of equipment for children who cannot walk. It‘s an absolutely beautiful sight!

The fractured family of a dying man convenes in New Orleans to deal with his emotional legacy. I‘m making it sound tragic but it was a funny, witty read with unexpected pathos. I love the way Attenberg writes family dynamics.

Next!

#BookReport 09/20

Tuning in from the Omani desert 🐫 🌵!

In between enjoying all the gorgeous nature, super friendly people and wonderful culture I have read four books. I enjoyed all of them except for the tagged one, that was disappointing for me. Into the Fire and Soviet Milk are two gems 💎, really!

This one started out strong and then I became kind of bored with the characters and the predictable plot. It all felt a bit flat to me. Underwhelming. Just like with All Grown Up. I think Jami Attenberg is just not for me. #ToB2020

She smiled a friendly, concerned smile, not a smile that said she‘d help, just one that acknowledged his struggle. Men never really wanted your help anyway, she thought. They wanted you to do things for them, but it would never be thought of as help so much as required service.

This book examines how one family grieves the death of the patriarch. None of the characters in this book were likeable. It was hard to feel sympathetic for them as everyone was selfish in their choices. This book received a lot of hype last year but I found it to be a bit underwhelming. It read like a series of short interconnected stories, each tangientially associated with the patriarch. I was glad when this one ended. ⭐⭐⭐

#LitsyAtoZ #LetterA

Vacation day! Decent book, but didnt love it. #catsoflitsy

Yesterday I posted a review on my blog! All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg was a crazy dysfunctional family novel. It was great! Go read my review, link is in my profile.
#bookreview #readharder #allthiscouldbeyours #jamiattenberg #ashsscript #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookblogger #bookblog

A beautifully written story about a dysfunctional family at a significant moment in their lives. It was a pleasure to read, and I especially enjoyed the stories of people at the margins of the characters peppered throughout, written like they were just as important as the family, but we never see them again. As much as I enjoyed reading this book, I don‘t really see the story sticking with me.

Another book from the Tournament of Books shortlist, All This Could Be Yours is the story of a patriarch who is not a good person. When he suffers a heart event and is dying in the hospital, the story unfolds through the various people coming to say goodbye.

I had bought this as a Kindle daily deal because it was on the ToB list, never looking at subject matter. Checked in for my flight to Oregon where my father in law is of deteriorating health and guess what it's about? Ha, amazing. The first book I read after my dad died also had a father death theme. I don't mean to be morbid, books are a balm. Still have about 25% left.

Funny story. Over the holiday, on my way out of the library, I spied this book in the Best Sellers section and decided to grab it. I came home and promptly forgot about it! Then, I got this email and realized I hadn‘t seen the book anywhere in the house. I did some digging around to find that it had migrated somehow to a hiding place under the bookshelf. 😬 Fortunately (or not?), I couldn‘t sleep last night and finished the book in one go. ✌️

I really enjoyed this novel, which is in the shortlist for the Tournament of Books. I posted a long review on IG—@ jen.loves.books—if you‘re interested. (Sorry not to post it here—it would take many, many comments.)

A memoir?!? Sign me up! @Cinfhen @Reviewsbylola @Mdargusch @BarbaraBB

Taken from Jami‘s Instagram stories!

While this is a series of mini well-done character studies, as a whole this did not work for me. I have felt this way with her other books. The following is from my 2014 review of The Middlesteins and applies here:

Attenberg manages to write convincingly across generations, genders, and family lines. But I couldn't help feeling like each of the individual characters got short shrift. I was left wanting more.

#tob #tob2020

Yikes, these people! I love a family drama and this one certainly had enough unhappiness and pain to go around. It was great: gritty, and evocative. However, is anyone truly as vile as Victor?! I found myself being jolted out of the story by the fact that this character was over the top bad. And Barbra felt one dimensional as well...too much like caricatures than real people.
That aside, the emotions jumped off the page at me and it's a pick.

Loved the precision of the language that gave a searing portrait of each family member, all of which bristle with toxicity, resentment & a huge dose of dysfunction but remain recognisable and relatable! New Orleans thrives as the additional character as do the men and women who work with the city to enable it to function. This novel was unsentimental - yet didn't lack heart - and I'm not sure how Atteberg has managed to do that! #newyearwhodis

Jami Attenberg is a wizard. That‘s the only way to explain how much I loved this book about a truly miserable family, all hollow and cruel, selfish and abusive and so very overwhelmed by life. The writing is exquisite, clever and precise and insightful. There are subplots that are woven together brilliantly and the city of New Orleans is a character in and of itself. Just fantastic. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

All This Could Be Yours is a slow, meandering portrait of a dysfunctional family. It took me a minute to find its rhythm when I started reading this, but as it progresses, the steady unravelling of flawed characters begins to make perfect sense. This character study asks big questions of its readers, about what makes us who we are, and the irrational nature of familial love. In the end I felt it was well done, and it captured my attention #tob2020

How kind of my vacation rental to strategically place a book stool and candle beside the bath! That‘s my evening sorted! #newyearwhodis

I‘ll either love it or hate it

Such a fab way to start the year - Reading another Littens best of 2019. Im diving into this one first @Mdargusch 😀

#newyearwhodis

Talk about dysfunctional families! Makes the rest of us seem positively delightful....

I really enjoyed this book about a family saying goodbye (or not) to a bullying patriarch, whilst trying to figure out who he had been and what that had made them into and what they might now become.

My second read for #TOB2020 is a book of saying goodbye to a narcotic patriarch of a dysfunctional family. This time of year was a great time for this read. It reminds me of how one way family can seem normal, but the closer you get to them their flaws can be revealed.

Please give a warm welcome to @aartichapati and @Lulu_bella plus a happy return to @LiteraryFeline after a fun twitter chat yesterday where I attempted to explain what I love about Litsy and how it can be used.
#welcometoLitsy
And a quick review of this book which I liked much more than most of the characters! They were extremely cruel (of course; would have been out of char to be nice to her) to poor Twyla. Team Avery, she‘s our only hope.

I spent a good bit of today #audiodiamondpainting while listening to this on #Audible. It‘s between a pick and so-so for me. While generally enjoyable and full of unique characters and bits of my favorite city, New Orleans, some parts just didn‘t work. A new character was introduced 90% in with the only link to the rest of the book being that one paragraph tells us she attended to another character in the last 5 mins of the book. Odd. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

It felt rather appropriate to read this during a week spending time with my big, boisterous family. Where siblings and cousins and nieces and nephews squirreled away in corners to gossip about this nutty aunt or uncle or parent. We‘re all dysfunctional, but we‘re the Waltons compared to this clan. 4⭐️

Getting started with the #TOB2020