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Family Family
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
17 posts | 18 read | 16 to read
From New York Times bestselling author, Laurie Frankel, comes a propulsive, sharply funny, and strikingly tender novel about how families are sometimes formed in the most unexpected ways. India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actress. Armed with a stack of index cards (which, torn into pieces, also function as make-shift confetti) and a hell of a lot of talent, she goes from awkward 16-year-old to Broadway ingenue to tv star. But while promoting her most recent project, a film about adoption, India does what you should never do -- she tells a journalist the truth: it's a bad movie. Like so many movies about adoption, it tells only one story, a tragic one. But India's an adoptive mom herself and knows there's so much more to her family than tragedy. Soon she's at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her daughter Fig knows they need help - and who better to call for help than family? Because India's not just an adoptive mom. She also had a baby she gave up for adoption her senior year of high school. That baby is now sixteen, excited to meet her birth mother and eager to help, but she also has an agenda and secrets of her own. It turns out what makes a family isn't blood and it isn't love because no matter how they're formed, the hallmark of true family is this: it's complicated.
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Beesly
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
Pickpick

As an adoptive parent, I felt incredibly seen by this book. As Frankel herself points out, it‘s vanishingly rare to see adoption portrayed in the media as a source of a (complicated, human) joy.

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LiteraryinPA
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

As a big fan of Laurie Frankel, my verdict for this one is: good but not great. Frankel always writes about family in a compelling way, but I found her to be more didactic than usual (especially the end). And while I loved the witty writing style, it felt like everyone- adults, kids, etc- had the same voice. It was sort of like Aaron Sorkin (💗) dialogue: clever and snappy but a little too perfect to feel believable.

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Hooked_on_books
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

Alongside This is How it Always Is, this is my second slam dunk read from Frankel. Here, she explodes the concept too many people have of what family “should” be and shows how families can look quite different. It veers dangerously close to sentimentality at the end, but I just loved it and didn‘t want to stop listening.

Cathythoughts Sounds good. I have it stacked 👍🏻❤️ 6mo
50 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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Sara_Planz
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

I loved every character in this book! I felt like I not only had a wonderful reading experience, but that I learned so much about the world of adoption, through the eyes of the birth parents, adoptive parents and the children. By giving the reader multiple timelines as well as allowing us to understand each character, Laurie Frankel really knocks this novel out of the park! Family is truly the center of this story.

marleed I loved all the characters in this book, too!! 7mo
44 likes1 comment
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marleed
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

My favorite part of this book was the building of this family family because they are all just good people.
Although I respect the track this story took, I found it a bit heavy handed as it made its way to the end. (Also, the input of right-ring extremists frustrate me in my fiction as much as in real life.)

Cathythoughts Nice review 👍🏻❤️ I have it stacked already. 7mo
marleed @Cathythoughts Oh I hope you like it. She creates great characters! 7mo
81 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Lesliereadsalot
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

If you liked Elizabeth Zott in Lessons in Chemistry, you‘ll like India Allwood. Everything about her is interesting…her past, her mother, her boyfriends, her kids, her acting career, even her agent! Really liked this book about making the hard decisions for oneself, and living with the consequences. At heart, it‘s a book about all the unique families that are out there. Don‘t miss the author‘s note at the end.

Cathythoughts Great review 👍🏻❤️ looking back I wasn‘t that mad about the writing in Lessons in Chemistry, but I loved the story. I have this one stacked. (edited) 7mo
Lesliereadsalot Didn‘t love the writing in either book myself, but the stories are good! @Cathythoughts 7mo
14 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Zbayardo
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

This offers a refreshing take on adoption narratives, challenging the stereotype of pain and regret. I loved it!
I loved the children characters and their quirkiness. I loved the back and forth, very frank, hilarious conversations. Her twin ten-year-olds, with their witty banter and unexpected insights, provide comic relief amidst the chaos. I was laughing out loud one moment and contemplating different perspectives and profound truths the next.

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angieinwonderland
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
Pickpick

This storyline was a tad inconceivable, but it was told well and had me laughing out loud a few times. It talked about the nastier side of representation and how the best intentions can be misconstrued and how scary it is to have and express opinions when you are famous because it all goes awry fast. Then you get canceled. I really enjoyed it and read it on a rainy weekend.

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Erinreadsthebooks
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Bailedbailed

Going to be in the car all day, and this one isn‘t working for me. Moving on to something else. Good things I take too many books on every trip I go on 🤪📚🤓

mcctrish Good planning 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤣 8mo
Aims42 Backup books are always necessary 😁 8mo
dabbe #hailthebail! 🤩🤩🤩 8mo
30 likes3 comments
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BennettBookworm
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

You know when writing is so beautiful and clever that it takes your breath away, and you want to savor it but also read it all in one sitting? THAT. I loved this book from start to finish. I especially loved the chapters told in the 10-year-old daughter‘s voice.
Frankel shines a light on the diversity of adoption stories and the need for positive representation, and I really feel like this book should be required reading for… every human.

Hooked_on_books I was aware of this book but it just now clicked who the author is. Putting my library hold in immediately! 9mo
LiteraryinPA I‘m so excited to hear you loved it!! I want to read it soon! 9mo
67 likes2 stack adds2 comments
blurb
SilversReviews
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Thank you to @carolkathrynfitzgerald of bookreporter.com and Word of Mouth for the win.

@henryholtbooks
@laurie.frankel

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mamareading
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Everything‘s fine.Everything‘s great. But you‘re always aware that at any moment, with no warning at all & no way to head it off, you might have to throw clothes over your pajamas & head out into the night, scared out of your mind, to battle whatever demons have come. It‘s always this serrated edge of scared for them & because of them, angry at them for getting into trouble & angry at whatever trouble had the audacity to get into it with your kids

mamareading I‘m parenting 10 kids ages 13 to 24 right now and this says everything. 9mo
14 likes1 stack add1 comment
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merelybookish
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

Gawd I love snow days! I managed to finish 2 books! India Allwood is a successful actress, single mother of 2 adopted children when she causes a stir by criticizing the representation of adoption in a movie she's starring in. Things escalate, especially when it's discovered young India placed two children with adoptive homes. Family is complicated y'all! I ended up liking this but the structure felt constrictive & the book is too long. Frankl 👇

merelybookish Is working to expand upon traditional narratives about adoption as always ones of sadness, loss or desperation. It is compelling, just could have been 50 pages shorter. 9mo
64 likes1 comment
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JoyBlue
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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Pickpick

Frankel‘s new family dramedy lived up to my high expectations for it. Read my full review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#family-family

Publication is expected January 23.

#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #FamilyFamily

AmyG I was hoping to hear good things. 9mo
LiteraryinPA I‘m so glad you liked it! I‘ve been really looking forward to this one. 9mo
marleed This was added mid-month as a BOTM add-on so I‘m hoping to pick it up in my February box! 9mo
See All 6 Comments
JoyBlue @AmyG 💙 9mo
JoyBlue @LiteraryinLawrence I hope your expectations are met (or exceeded), too! 😍 9mo
JoyBlue @marleed Keep me posted! 🌞 9mo
51 likes2 stack adds6 comments
blurb
Mccall0113
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel

I enjoy a story that follows a person throughout time. At first I felt that the premise of a woman choosing to place two babies for adoption after unplanned pregnancies. All the missing pieces of India's life come together. Getting a backstage pass to the theater was a treat. A running theme through out is that the more people who love us the better. The premise of the story idea won out. Thank you NetGalley for a copy.

Octoberwoman I work for an adoption agency and I‘m here to tell you that we‘ve worked with a lot of women who place more than once! 10mo
40 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Mccall0113
Family Family: A Novel | Laurie Frankel
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My second NetGalley book! So far so good. 😊