Family History

Shapiro delivers a real page turner chock full of book club discussion material with her portrait of a “perfect” family destroyed by mental illness. Rachel and Ned Jensen are leading a charmed, artsy, liberal New England existence until their daughter becomes a teen and falls apart, taking the entire family with her. The reader must decide who, if anyone, is the villain, the victim, if Rachel is a reliable narrator, etc. You will be thinking about it long after the last page is turned.

Reminded me of another book which made me want to get myself neutered: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, with a bit of Little Children by Tom Perrotta thrown in for good measure.

I don’t usually like very sad books, and this is a terribly, terribly sad book. Rachel nearly drowns with the consciousness of her inability to fix her family, with the knowledge that everything went wrong; she is tormented by the thought of her own, emotionally vampiric mother, afraid she may have given Kate bad genes. I think what made this work for me—while other books or stories that are less pressingly sad throughout completely turn me off—is that this is not a book which denies the power of human beings to reach and comfort one another. Even Kate is not entirely unreachable, and Rachel and Ned are able to at least try. There is progress; there is understanding. At the beginning of the book, Rachel has lost hope and is barely show more keeping herself alive, and we are invited into her worst moments, but we are also invited into the moments at which hope begins to return. When Rachel and Ned spend their first night together after separating, Rachel asks him if there has been somebody else, and he has to admit that he did sleep with a woman he met at a bar. In some stories, Rachel’s question and Ned’s answer would have led them to miss each other entirely, but in this book, it is merely a roadblock. There are no easy solutions—as the book ends, they still do not know what is wrong with Kate, and to what extent she will get better, nor if Josh will be totally normal again—but neither is there a sense of hopeless, of complete isolation. show less

This is one of those stories that can really unsettle you if you have anything in common with characters. In this case, Rachel and Ned and their teenage daughter Kate.

Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. With this novel Shapiro takes on a particular kind of disaster that few people have the courage to deal with directly. There are many novels out there about how families cope (or don't) when kids get cancer, or drive drunk and cause unending misery, or get involved with drugs. These are things things parents hear about every day. These are the things we prepare ourselves for, if only in the vaguest way. We imagine the police at the door, the phone call in the middle of the night. What we'd do. Who to call.

There's no big mystery about show more what will happen next if your kid is diagnosed with lymphoma. The details, sure. But you know there will be doctors and hospitals and tests and agony. A kid arrested for shoplifting or drunk driving, same thing: you have an idea of what will happen, who to turn to, that lawyers and courts will be involved. The impact it will all have on your child's future.

Shapiro tells a disaster story of another kind.

Your teenager goes off to camp one summer and comes back a different person. Somebody you don't recognize. Somebody who frightens you. And not in the usual acting-out teenager way. We all recognize that out of our own pasts. It's painful and hard to deal with, but it's familiar.

Ned and Rachel pick Kate up when she comes home from camp and they know immediately that there's something seriously wrong. It's a long time before they can put words to what they're observing. These are words to be avoided at all costs, when you're thinking about your own kid. I would venture that for most parents, psychosis is far more frightening than leukemia.

Kate's condition -- which is never spelled out clearly -- works like a sledge hammer on the family. As it must. Even the strongest bond between partners is tested by a disaster of this magnitude. Add to this already difficult situation an unexpected pregnancy and new baby, and the potential for heartbreak skyrockets.

I'm not going to say anything more about the plot. If this family survives, if they find a way to stay together, if Kate gets the help she needs -- you'll have to read the book. It's worth reading, but it's possibly more than some people could bear. show less

What a brilliant read. A decent young couple raises their daughter with loving care and her emotional disturbance tears the whole family apart. I paused to write down many quotes, astounding insights from Dani S. And what can I say about Phyllis!! The archetypal narcissistic (grand)mother! Certainly my best read so far in 2012.

Very well-written novel of a family in crisis. Only four stars because it was never entirely clear to me why Kate, the 14-year-old, goes off the deep end. Loving parents, brains, and good looks are apparently not enough. Riveting narrative, even though we know (more or less) what will happen at the end. The hope of healing definitely exists as the story concludes. I couldn't put it down.

It’s a story that could happen to anyone; one day your perfect life starts to unravel. The beautiful writing style draws you in and the turbulence of a family in trouble makes for an emotionally charged compelling read. Although a sad story, the characters playing it out are well drawn and believable, and the plot is intense and more complex than the cover and title suggest. It’s layered with very real family issues highlighting what can happen when a child unexpectedly develops emotional problems. It shows a strong solid marriage fraying at the seams under the pressure of coping emotionally and searching for a solution. It also deals with other family dynamics, illustrating dysfunctional mother daughter relationships, unconditional show more love for a child and the sacrifices inherent in marriage. Once pulled in, the plot moves quickly and keeps you turning pages. One caveat however, the book takes a while to get started, I found the beginning of the book frustrating. Overall a nice light read, good for anyone who likes a good story and characters you can relate to.
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Rachel had it all, a loving husband who, granted was no longer painting, a beautiful daughter and time to restore art work in her home studio. Then change came in the form of adolescent sulleness, jealosy at being sent home from the hospital where Rachel was giving birth to baby Josh. But the bottom of Rachel's life falls out when Kate drops the baby and appears to have a psychotic breakdown, accusing her father and causing him to lose his job. With Rachel's family torn apart, she drifts from day to day. Somewhat melodramatic telling of a mother unmoored from the safety of home and family.