Vivid and haunting

This is the story of a large Catholic family beginning in 1951 when the oldest daughter, Myra, is thirteen and eager to get a few minutes alone to read, her family responsibilities as the oldest of six siblings take up much of her time. Each chapter follows a different family member, from the mother trying to keep her family running and God-fearing, through to the son, Alec, who seems to delight in small acts of cruelty. Each chapter jumps forward a few years, as the siblings grow up and set out to make their own ways in the world, some marrying and settling down and some floating around. Rapp focuses on two of the siblings and on one of their children, pulling in other family members here and there, each chapter almost standing on its own, but also building the story of this family.

Given away in the blurb and the marketing for this book is that one of the siblings is a serial murderer and that different members of the family know something is very wrong to differing degrees. It's well-integrated into the novel and doesn't distract from the interest I had in all the family members and their more ordinary concerns. Rapp has an eye for detail and writes well, and that one of the characters he centers is a woman who is just doing her best, without great adventures or ambitions was a good choice and made the whole novel far more interesting and true. ( )

This is a novel that spans sixty years and four generations of a large Catholic family, the Larkins. As with many large families, the offspring have a wide range of personalities and levels of success. There is also one child who has an intellectual disability, one who marries into a family with, unbeknownst to her, a history of schizophrenia, and one who was abused by local priests as a child and develops an antisocial personality disorder (commonly known as a “psychopath”). This true cross section of America is revealed through snapshots of family members at different points in time, particularly focusing on two of them who quite disparate in their temperaments.

Well written, the narrative in this character driven novel is rather objective; Rapp didn’t exploit the emotionalism of the antisocial behaviors and family difficulties. He touches on serial killers, with passages involving Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, and, of course, the Larkin sibling who is a serial killer and we see how family can be complicit or ignorant. There is an undercurrent of danger, perhaps even evil throughout the story.

I couldn’t engage with any of the characters Often I read a family saga such as this and, although it may be dark, am left with some feelings of hope. After this one, which was mesmerizing, a generalized bleak feeling remained.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #LittleBrown for the DRC. ( )

This is a novel that spans sixty years and four generations of a large Catholic family, the Larkins. As with many large families, the offspring have a wide range of personalities and levels of success. There is also one child who has an intellectual disability, one who marries into a family with, unbeknownst to her, a history of schizophrenia, and one who was abused by local priests as a child and develops an antisocial personality disorder (commonly known as a “psychopath”). This true cross section of America is revealed through snapshots of family members at different points in time, particularly focusing on two of them who quite disparate in their temperaments.

Well written, the narrative in this character driven novel is rather objective; Rapp didn’t exploit the emotionalism of the antisocial behaviors and family difficulties. He touches on serial killers, with passages involving Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, and, of course, the Larkin sibling who is a serial killer and we see how family can be complicit or ignorant. There is an undercurrent of danger, perhaps even evil throughout the story.

I couldn’t engage with any of the characters Often I read a family saga such as this and, although it may be dark, am left with some feelings of hope. After this one, which was mesmerizing, a generalized bleak feeling remained.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #LittleBrown for the DRC. ( )