Family Family by Laurie Frankel
Fiction
2024
Finished on June 14, 2024
Rating: 3/5 (Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero.
Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do—she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie.
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 twin ten-year-olds know they need help–and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother…
The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it's complicated.
I was so excited when I spotted a copy of Family Family, Laurie Frankel's latest novel on the new release shelf at my library. I had recently compiled my stack of books for the 20 Books of Summer Reading challenge, but decided to put that on pause so I could first read this highly anticipated book. Sadly, it wasn't the hit I had hoped for.
The story starts off well, and I quickly came to enjoy the snappy dialogue between India and the supporting cast of characters. I was taken aback by the turn of events about halfway into the book, but happy for an unpredictable plot and interesting themes about the structure of families. At that point, though, the book began to bog down, became unrealistic, and what was once entertaining dialogue, became tiresome. (If you've watched The Gilmore Girls, India's conversations and behavior reminded me of Lorelai, who is entertaining, but exhausting.) I was ready to finish the book and move on to my next read.
Family Family is the third book of Frankel's that I've read in the past few years. Prior to this recent release, I read One Two Three, which was also a challenge to finish. The first, and my favorite, is still This Is How It Always Is. I gave that novel a perfect 5-star rating, and it's one that I look forward to reading again. I'm sorry her more recent works haven't lived up to my expectations.
