The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell Review

Title: The House We Grew Up In
Author: Lisa Jewell
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Series: N/A
Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I won this book from a Goodreads first reads giveaway, and reviewed it. Thanks, Goodreads!

The House We Grew Up In tells the story of the unusual Bird clan, led by sweet, eccentric Lorrie, her passive husband, Jack, and their children: Megan, Bethan, Rory, and Rhys. A frighteningly tender, poignant portrait of a family--in all the ways a family can be: fucked up, loving, full of dark secrets--for the most part, I enjoyed it. The pacing of this novel was breakneck--I couldn't put it down.

This book, at times, even made me a little uncomfortable. Lovable Lorrie has a bad hoarding problem, and is clearly mentally ill, but, as she doesn't believe anything's wrong, well.. Her hoarding problem has driven her entire family away: Stolid, solid Megan, unmovable even in the worst circumstances, is so averse to the way her mother lives that not one speck of trash can be found in her home, Rory, who has run off to Thailand to find himself, and Bethan, still living in her mother's house at the age of thirty three. And Rhys, well.. That's a whole other can of worms for everyone in the family. I enjoyed this novel, in that it was an honest portrayal of a normal family. But there were definitely times I wanted to shake all of them. Next on deck:Secret of a Thousand Beauties by Mingmei Yip!

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