Sequel to the WIllouhby's ( )

The Willoughbys are back, specifically the terrible parents, who have been frozen in a Swiss "alp" for thirty years (12 years in publication years) and miraculously thaw and make their way home. Their four kids are grown but might turn out to be forgiving of their past rottenness. This sequel is witty and cute but is lacking the wry Lemony-Snicketesque dark humor and charm of the first book. The introduction of a pathetic poor family with children next to the mansion where we left the Willoughby children in "The Willougbys," who are called the Poores, does not reclaim the magic, although it is funny that the when the mother is too perfectly righteous, like Marmee in little women, her daughter Winnifred invents the word "Marming" to describe her behavior.

The solution to everyone's woes is nothing like as adorable as Nanny sashaying over to the neighbor billionaire's house to invite herself and four children to move in. Nanny is dead, regrettably. She was by far the best character in the original book.

Much is made of the Willoughbys attempting to adjust to the digital age all of a sudden, which is sometimes funny and sometimes rather flat. Lowry tries to make the book educational like "The Willougbys," in footnotes instead of a glossary.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and was encouraged to submit a review. ( )