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Families and Other Nonreturnable Gifts
Despite her name, Keats Sedlak is the sanest person in her large, nutty family of brilliant eccentrics. Her parents, both brainy academics, are barely capable of looking after themselves, let alone anyone else, and her two uber-intelligent siblings live on their own planets.
At least she can count on one person in her life, her devoted boyfriend Tom. Down-to-earth and loving, he's the one thing that's kept Keats grounded for the last decade. But when Keats's mother makes a surprise announcement, the entire family is sent into a tailspin. For the first time, Keats can't pick up the pieces by herself. Now she must reevaluate everything she's ever assumed about herself and her family-and make the biggest decision of her life.
At least she can count on one person in her life, her devoted boyfriend Tom. Down-to-earth and loving, he's the one thing that's kept Keats grounded for the last decade. But when Keats's mother makes a surprise announcement, the entire family is sent into a tailspin. For the first time, Keats can't pick up the pieces by herself. Now she must reevaluate everything she's ever assumed about herself and her family-and make the biggest decision of her life.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
17 people are currently reading
947 people want to read
About the author
Claire LaZebnik
21 books1,144 followersHIDDEN BRILLIANCE: UNLOCKING THE INTELLIGENCE OF AUTISM is out! We set out to write a loving, respectful, helpful and supportive book for parents and educators, one that never forgets the value and importance of diversity in our community, and I'd like to think that we succeeded. Please check it out https://hidden-brilliance.org/
The Washington Post says: "But even those outside of that audience who would also benefit from reading it, including autistic former children (present), parents of autistic adults and, for that matter, autistic adults who have thought about having children."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
The Washington Post says: "But even those outside of that audience who would also benefit from reading it, including autistic former children (present), parents of autistic adults and, for that matter, autistic adults who have thought about having children."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
October 18, 2011
Some novels will leave you with piles of dirty laundry and unwashed dishes as you ignore everything you should be doing to just keep on reading. This is that kind of novel. I'm a huge fan of this author, and this is one of her best books yet, on a par with the novel that first caught my attention "Same As it Never Was". Her dialogue is so real that you feel more like you are spying on these people rather than reading about them.
Like many, I too have a ridiculous, crazy family. Not cute TV crazy, but crazy like the people in this novel, who do selfish manipulative things, say things they regret and argue over who gets the piano. If your family is perfect, and supports you unconditionally in all you do, wow, you surely will not enjoy this book. For the rest of us, it is a must read, if only so that you can comfort yourself with the certain knowledge that most families are...just plain crazy.
Clear your weekend. Get this book. You will not regret it. If your mother calls in the middle of reading it (as mine did!) you can just call her back. Don't let her ruin the read. You may find, as I did, that when you return the call she bugs you a little less, and you can remember that in spite of it all, you do love her.
Like many, I too have a ridiculous, crazy family. Not cute TV crazy, but crazy like the people in this novel, who do selfish manipulative things, say things they regret and argue over who gets the piano. If your family is perfect, and supports you unconditionally in all you do, wow, you surely will not enjoy this book. For the rest of us, it is a must read, if only so that you can comfort yourself with the certain knowledge that most families are...just plain crazy.
Clear your weekend. Get this book. You will not regret it. If your mother calls in the middle of reading it (as mine did!) you can just call her back. Don't let her ruin the read. You may find, as I did, that when you return the call she bugs you a little less, and you can remember that in spite of it all, you do love her.
September 18, 2024
Review from January 26, 2023:
A compulsively readable, family-focused, chick-lit dramedy
Cast of Characters
Keats Sedlak - The 25-year-old heroine, whose first-person point of view is the voice narrating this story. Keats is of average height and build, with red hair and a pretty face. Keats completed a BA but, rather than continuing on for a Masters degree, as her father strongly urged her to do, she settled for a job at a local community college as the English Department secretary. Though the previous secretary struggled mightily to keep up with the work, Keats is so organized, the job is an absolute breeze for her. She enjoys not having to work hard but, sometimes, lately, she finds herself feeling rather bored at never being challenged. Since earliest childhood, Keats has compared herself unfavorably to her sister, Hopkins, and been jealous of the way her mother seems to idolize Hopkins’s astounding achievements. Even though Keats is exceedingly intelligent (very likely 145-150 IQ, given her extremely high scores on the SATs), she feels anything but smart compared to Hopkins’s world-class brain (very likely 180-200 IQ). Keats resents that she seems to be the only person in her family who has any common sense or ability to be remotely organized. Every family member but Keats lives in absolute chaos, with their personal environments constantly filthy and messy. In short, Keats simultaneously looks down on her family and feels inferior to them.
Hopkins Sedlak - Keats’s 30-year-old sister, who is, as mentioned, a genius. She entered Harvard at age 16, achieved a B.S. at 19, and by age 23 was awarded a combined PhD and MD in neurology. She currently runs a brain injury clinic in New York City doing ground-breaking research. She is an asexual workaholic who has never dated and is unlikely to ever bother with a romantic relationship.
Milton Sedlak - Keats’s 20-year-old brother. He is nearly as brilliant as Hopkins, but with none of her drive and ambition. Since graduating high school two years ago, he has not left the house and is well on his way to becoming clinically agoraphobic. He rarely leaves his room, is constantly on his laptop, either playing video games or participating in online college classes. He is as asexual as Hopkins and is clearly on the autism spectrum.
Eloise Sedlak - Keats’s 55-year-old mother, who has suffered for years with periodic bouts of clinical depression, which is currently well managed. She is also brilliant but, unlike Keats, does not compare her intelligence to anyone else’s, feeling neither inferior nor superior to her husband, Hopkins, Milton—or Keats. She graduated from Harvard with a BA and an MA by the time she was only 20 and would have gone on to complete a Ph.D. as well if she had not met and married a brilliant—and at that time quite handsome—40-year-old Harvard professor, Lawrence Sedlak. She had Hopkins at age 25, Keats at age 30, and Milton at age 35. Eleven years ago, she told Lawrence she was done with their marriage, but instead of obtaining a divorce, they continued to live in the same house, with Lawrence in the attic, and the two of them living separate, celibate lives, since neither one of them dated. At the present time, Eloise has decided she is finally ready to legally divorce Lawrence, move both of them into separate apartments, and sell the huge rambling house Keats and her siblings were raised in, which is currently worth millions. Eloise has never thought Keats’s boyfriend, Tom, is the right man for her.
Lawrence Sedlak - Keats’s 75-year-old father, who is a world-famous political science professor at Harvard. In spite of his age, he does not seem to have retired. He has never been able to carry on a normal conversation, only engage in extended, esoteric, lecture-mode monologues. He has never been cruel to his children, but he has also never been particularly interested or involved in their lives, other than to push them toward obtaining post-secondary and advanced degrees. He has never thought Keats’s boyfriend, Tom, is the right man for her.
Jacob Corwin - Lawrence Sedlak’s 25-year-old personal assistant, who has been with him for the past seven years, since his freshman year at Harvard. He is of average height, average build, and average looks, with a slightly receding hairline. He is a brilliant, sensitive intellectual who was orphaned as a child, raised by beefy, football-mad relatives in Texas, and constantly bullied in elementary, junior high and high school. His disposition is phlegmatic, compliant, and eternally helpful. He is utterly devoted to Lawrence and the whole Sedlak family. There is virtually nothing he wouldn’t do for them, and Eloise and Lawrence treat him like a member of the family.
Tom Wells - Keats’s 30-year-old boyfriend. He is 6’2”, muscular and fit, with thick, dark hair and a handsome face. He has a pleasant disposition, is affectionate toward Keats, and they never fight. She has been with Tom for 10 years, since she was 15 and he was 20, though they waited until she was of legal age to have sex. During that time period, Tom had periodic one-night stands with multiple women, which he lachrymosely confessed to Keats, and for which transgressions she freely forgave him. There is no indication he has cheated on her since they became lovers. They have been living together in Tom’s apartment for the past four years. Keats has left no personal mark on the apartment, because nothing in it is specifically hers but her clothing, toiletries and books. Tom works long hours as vice president of his father’s highly successful hospital linens laundering business and, in their free time, Keats and Tom basically do what Tom enjoys doing. That consists of watching sports on TV or going out to dinner at sports bars, with a game blaring on an overhead TV, with his best friend, Lou, and Lou’s wife, Izzy, who are their only friends. Over the years, Keats has isolated herself from everyone but Tom, his family, and Lou and Izzy—spending as little time as possible with her own family. When not with Keats, even though Tom sees his father every day at work, Tom and his father have seasons tickets for Fenway Park and play golf on the weekends. Keats is rather bored with her life, but she has convinced herself over the years that the calm, orderly world of her undemanding secretary job and her highly predictable life with Tom are an excellent buffer between her and her chaotic family.
I freely confess that I’m not personally a fan of the chick lit genre, and over the past 30 years since it was first identified as a subgenre of women’s fiction, I have probably read only a few dozen of these books. For the most part I find them exasperating because the heroines are almost always, at least at the start of the book, portrayed as clueless, superficial and, basically, narcissistic. The main reason I stumbled upon this author’s chick lit novels and have read all of them is because I love her YA romantic comedies, and I find her to be an exceptionally talented writer. She is so good, in fact, that even when I have become irritated with her chick lit heroines, such as resentful, jealous, complaining Keats in this book, I find all of LaZebnik’s books, as the saying goes, “compulsively readable.”
In heterosexual chick lit, the core message always basically amounts to this: you should cynically distrust romance, because decent, caring, heterosexual men are almost impossible to find. Instead, work on yourself, your own self-sufficiency and maturity, and look to female relationships if you want loyalty and stability (even if some of your female relationships include female relatives who are, much of the time, aggravatingly self-centered and often downright idiotic).
If there is dating or an initial romantic relationship in chick lit, those connections are doomed to failure, because they represent choices the heroine has made in her immature state. A healthy, committed, romantic relationship, with an emotionally mature, financially stable man is a reward the heroine can only achieve via a successful growth arc across the novel from clueless, narcissistic immaturity, to a state of rational, compassionate, humbled maturity. Unlike in a romance novel, the romance is not the main plot, but is a relatively very small subplot.
This is very much the pattern that Ms. LaZebnik follows in her chick lit. What sets her stories apart is the brilliant way she weaves together fascinating themes within the heroine’s various relationships that amplify each other. In this novel, each of the characters described above serves as a psychological mirror, reflecting back to Keats important information about who she is and the choices she has made over the course of the past ten years.
Writing a plot that is primarily based on internal conflict, in this case, Keats’s constantly comparing herself unfavorably—or snarkily viewing herself as superior—to others, can become tedious if not done really well. Fortunately, LaZebnik does this type of writing very well indeed.
It is almost a given that every first-person narrator in a novel will, in various degrees, be an “unreliable narrator,” and all chick lit protagonists are strongly so. In this regard, Keats is, in turn, both irritating and amusing due to how extremely unreliable a narrator she is at the start of the book. In some ways, this novel is analogous to a first-person-POV mystery novel, in that the reader is exploring a series of clues along with Keats as she slowly figures out who and what her family members, Jacob, and Tom are really like, and who she is in relation to each of them.
Currently, this is the only book that LaZebnik has written that is available in audiobook format, through Amazon and Audible. Not all novels can stand up to the slow pace involved in listening to audio narration compared to racing through a book by reading it silently to oneself. However, this particular novel is well enough written to withstand that spotlight. It is narrated by talented voice actor, Tessa Auberjonois, who does an excellent job.
I rate this novel as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Coming of Age Plot: 5 stars
Romance Subplot: 5 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Audiobook Narration: 4 stars
Overall: 4.5 rounded to 5 stars
Reread 9/16/24: I have read this book several times now, including today, and I continue to agree with my opinion in the review above, which I wrote several years ago.
A compulsively readable, family-focused, chick-lit dramedy
Cast of Characters
Keats Sedlak - The 25-year-old heroine, whose first-person point of view is the voice narrating this story. Keats is of average height and build, with red hair and a pretty face. Keats completed a BA but, rather than continuing on for a Masters degree, as her father strongly urged her to do, she settled for a job at a local community college as the English Department secretary. Though the previous secretary struggled mightily to keep up with the work, Keats is so organized, the job is an absolute breeze for her. She enjoys not having to work hard but, sometimes, lately, she finds herself feeling rather bored at never being challenged. Since earliest childhood, Keats has compared herself unfavorably to her sister, Hopkins, and been jealous of the way her mother seems to idolize Hopkins’s astounding achievements. Even though Keats is exceedingly intelligent (very likely 145-150 IQ, given her extremely high scores on the SATs), she feels anything but smart compared to Hopkins’s world-class brain (very likely 180-200 IQ). Keats resents that she seems to be the only person in her family who has any common sense or ability to be remotely organized. Every family member but Keats lives in absolute chaos, with their personal environments constantly filthy and messy. In short, Keats simultaneously looks down on her family and feels inferior to them.
Hopkins Sedlak - Keats’s 30-year-old sister, who is, as mentioned, a genius. She entered Harvard at age 16, achieved a B.S. at 19, and by age 23 was awarded a combined PhD and MD in neurology. She currently runs a brain injury clinic in New York City doing ground-breaking research. She is an asexual workaholic who has never dated and is unlikely to ever bother with a romantic relationship.
Milton Sedlak - Keats’s 20-year-old brother. He is nearly as brilliant as Hopkins, but with none of her drive and ambition. Since graduating high school two years ago, he has not left the house and is well on his way to becoming clinically agoraphobic. He rarely leaves his room, is constantly on his laptop, either playing video games or participating in online college classes. He is as asexual as Hopkins and is clearly on the autism spectrum.
Eloise Sedlak - Keats’s 55-year-old mother, who has suffered for years with periodic bouts of clinical depression, which is currently well managed. She is also brilliant but, unlike Keats, does not compare her intelligence to anyone else’s, feeling neither inferior nor superior to her husband, Hopkins, Milton—or Keats. She graduated from Harvard with a BA and an MA by the time she was only 20 and would have gone on to complete a Ph.D. as well if she had not met and married a brilliant—and at that time quite handsome—40-year-old Harvard professor, Lawrence Sedlak. She had Hopkins at age 25, Keats at age 30, and Milton at age 35. Eleven years ago, she told Lawrence she was done with their marriage, but instead of obtaining a divorce, they continued to live in the same house, with Lawrence in the attic, and the two of them living separate, celibate lives, since neither one of them dated. At the present time, Eloise has decided she is finally ready to legally divorce Lawrence, move both of them into separate apartments, and sell the huge rambling house Keats and her siblings were raised in, which is currently worth millions. Eloise has never thought Keats’s boyfriend, Tom, is the right man for her.
Lawrence Sedlak - Keats’s 75-year-old father, who is a world-famous political science professor at Harvard. In spite of his age, he does not seem to have retired. He has never been able to carry on a normal conversation, only engage in extended, esoteric, lecture-mode monologues. He has never been cruel to his children, but he has also never been particularly interested or involved in their lives, other than to push them toward obtaining post-secondary and advanced degrees. He has never thought Keats’s boyfriend, Tom, is the right man for her.
Jacob Corwin - Lawrence Sedlak’s 25-year-old personal assistant, who has been with him for the past seven years, since his freshman year at Harvard. He is of average height, average build, and average looks, with a slightly receding hairline. He is a brilliant, sensitive intellectual who was orphaned as a child, raised by beefy, football-mad relatives in Texas, and constantly bullied in elementary, junior high and high school. His disposition is phlegmatic, compliant, and eternally helpful. He is utterly devoted to Lawrence and the whole Sedlak family. There is virtually nothing he wouldn’t do for them, and Eloise and Lawrence treat him like a member of the family.
Tom Wells - Keats’s 30-year-old boyfriend. He is 6’2”, muscular and fit, with thick, dark hair and a handsome face. He has a pleasant disposition, is affectionate toward Keats, and they never fight. She has been with Tom for 10 years, since she was 15 and he was 20, though they waited until she was of legal age to have sex. During that time period, Tom had periodic one-night stands with multiple women, which he lachrymosely confessed to Keats, and for which transgressions she freely forgave him. There is no indication he has cheated on her since they became lovers. They have been living together in Tom’s apartment for the past four years. Keats has left no personal mark on the apartment, because nothing in it is specifically hers but her clothing, toiletries and books. Tom works long hours as vice president of his father’s highly successful hospital linens laundering business and, in their free time, Keats and Tom basically do what Tom enjoys doing. That consists of watching sports on TV or going out to dinner at sports bars, with a game blaring on an overhead TV, with his best friend, Lou, and Lou’s wife, Izzy, who are their only friends. Over the years, Keats has isolated herself from everyone but Tom, his family, and Lou and Izzy—spending as little time as possible with her own family. When not with Keats, even though Tom sees his father every day at work, Tom and his father have seasons tickets for Fenway Park and play golf on the weekends. Keats is rather bored with her life, but she has convinced herself over the years that the calm, orderly world of her undemanding secretary job and her highly predictable life with Tom are an excellent buffer between her and her chaotic family.
I freely confess that I’m not personally a fan of the chick lit genre, and over the past 30 years since it was first identified as a subgenre of women’s fiction, I have probably read only a few dozen of these books. For the most part I find them exasperating because the heroines are almost always, at least at the start of the book, portrayed as clueless, superficial and, basically, narcissistic. The main reason I stumbled upon this author’s chick lit novels and have read all of them is because I love her YA romantic comedies, and I find her to be an exceptionally talented writer. She is so good, in fact, that even when I have become irritated with her chick lit heroines, such as resentful, jealous, complaining Keats in this book, I find all of LaZebnik’s books, as the saying goes, “compulsively readable.”
In heterosexual chick lit, the core message always basically amounts to this: you should cynically distrust romance, because decent, caring, heterosexual men are almost impossible to find. Instead, work on yourself, your own self-sufficiency and maturity, and look to female relationships if you want loyalty and stability (even if some of your female relationships include female relatives who are, much of the time, aggravatingly self-centered and often downright idiotic).
If there is dating or an initial romantic relationship in chick lit, those connections are doomed to failure, because they represent choices the heroine has made in her immature state. A healthy, committed, romantic relationship, with an emotionally mature, financially stable man is a reward the heroine can only achieve via a successful growth arc across the novel from clueless, narcissistic immaturity, to a state of rational, compassionate, humbled maturity. Unlike in a romance novel, the romance is not the main plot, but is a relatively very small subplot.
This is very much the pattern that Ms. LaZebnik follows in her chick lit. What sets her stories apart is the brilliant way she weaves together fascinating themes within the heroine’s various relationships that amplify each other. In this novel, each of the characters described above serves as a psychological mirror, reflecting back to Keats important information about who she is and the choices she has made over the course of the past ten years.
Writing a plot that is primarily based on internal conflict, in this case, Keats’s constantly comparing herself unfavorably—or snarkily viewing herself as superior—to others, can become tedious if not done really well. Fortunately, LaZebnik does this type of writing very well indeed.
It is almost a given that every first-person narrator in a novel will, in various degrees, be an “unreliable narrator,” and all chick lit protagonists are strongly so. In this regard, Keats is, in turn, both irritating and amusing due to how extremely unreliable a narrator she is at the start of the book. In some ways, this novel is analogous to a first-person-POV mystery novel, in that the reader is exploring a series of clues along with Keats as she slowly figures out who and what her family members, Jacob, and Tom are really like, and who she is in relation to each of them.
Currently, this is the only book that LaZebnik has written that is available in audiobook format, through Amazon and Audible. Not all novels can stand up to the slow pace involved in listening to audio narration compared to racing through a book by reading it silently to oneself. However, this particular novel is well enough written to withstand that spotlight. It is narrated by talented voice actor, Tessa Auberjonois, who does an excellent job.
I rate this novel as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Coming of Age Plot: 5 stars
Romance Subplot: 5 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Audiobook Narration: 4 stars
Overall: 4.5 rounded to 5 stars
Reread 9/16/24: I have read this book several times now, including today, and I continue to agree with my opinion in the review above, which I wrote several years ago.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2011
Keats Sedlak is living a content, comfortable life. She is living in an apartment with her boyfriend of ten years and has a not so challenging job as an office manager. However, she is the oddball in her family, the normal one to say the least. Her brother, Milton, hasn't left their mother's house for two years. Her sister, Hopkins, is a genius, and she is currently saving lives as a neurologist. Her father, also a genius, is a published author and a professor at Harvard. Lastly, her mother drives her insane for many reasons, one of those is for always implying that Keats's boyfriend, Tom, isn't good enough or smart enough for her. In fact, her whole family seems to think that about Tom. They also don't like her job; none of them understand why she is working there and not getting a higher education.
While her family definitely drives her nuts, she is there for them when she is needed, like for going through items in the house she grew up in because her mother wants to sell it. In spending more time with her family, she is also spending more time with her dad's personal assistant, Jacob. Keats starts to question certain aspects in her life and witnesses all the changes taking place around her. She starts to see that change isn't always a bad thing.
My thoughts:
This was a very good read, but it made me a little depressed at the same time. Let me try to explain why without giving too much away. Keats’s parents, who have been separated for years, are finally going through a divorce, a family member suffers a medical emergency, and I think the fact that Keats has to constantly defend her boyfriend and her happiness made it a little sad for me.
Keats is a great protagonist though. Although her family is constantly on her case and questioning her happiness, Keats stands up against it and defends herself. She also clearly loves them and lends them a hand, or even a stubborn threat, to help them out. I definitely felt for Keats when she was dealing with her family, but it wasn’t always depressing. When she did interact with them there was usually some humor to be found in the struggle too. Here is Keats describing time with her dad:
“When he finally moves on from the topic of Keats’s Wasted Life, it’s to give me a lecture about the heart, both as muscle and as a literary trope. It’s clearly something he’s put a lot of thought into, but none of his observations seem all that original to me, and after a while, I can’t restrain a yawn, which sends him into a long rant about the deterioration of the American attention span—which makes me so bored I could scream, which I guess proves his point.” (p. 137)
While I wouldn’t say that this is the best book I’ve ever read, it was an enjoyable read with a melancholy sort of feel.
While her family definitely drives her nuts, she is there for them when she is needed, like for going through items in the house she grew up in because her mother wants to sell it. In spending more time with her family, she is also spending more time with her dad's personal assistant, Jacob. Keats starts to question certain aspects in her life and witnesses all the changes taking place around her. She starts to see that change isn't always a bad thing.
My thoughts:
This was a very good read, but it made me a little depressed at the same time. Let me try to explain why without giving too much away. Keats’s parents, who have been separated for years, are finally going through a divorce, a family member suffers a medical emergency, and I think the fact that Keats has to constantly defend her boyfriend and her happiness made it a little sad for me.
Keats is a great protagonist though. Although her family is constantly on her case and questioning her happiness, Keats stands up against it and defends herself. She also clearly loves them and lends them a hand, or even a stubborn threat, to help them out. I definitely felt for Keats when she was dealing with her family, but it wasn’t always depressing. When she did interact with them there was usually some humor to be found in the struggle too. Here is Keats describing time with her dad:
“When he finally moves on from the topic of Keats’s Wasted Life, it’s to give me a lecture about the heart, both as muscle and as a literary trope. It’s clearly something he’s put a lot of thought into, but none of his observations seem all that original to me, and after a while, I can’t restrain a yawn, which sends him into a long rant about the deterioration of the American attention span—which makes me so bored I could scream, which I guess proves his point.” (p. 137)
While I wouldn’t say that this is the best book I’ve ever read, it was an enjoyable read with a melancholy sort of feel.
March 7, 2016
In a way I loved this book, well written, displaying some very credible characters, showing how people with high intellectual capacities, geniuses even, often suffer, have social difficulties, and that being very intelligent doesn't mean being very happy or wealthy.
The family story is really good too, explaining how comparisons and early false convictions can obscure ones jugement and gives way to severe self-deprecation.
What I didn't like, at all, was the final moral.
As my review is hidden I'll be explicite.
At some point Jason - who seems to be a nice person but who's jealous - says that Tom doesn't deserve Keats, being so much less intelligent, funny, and charming than she is.
And it's quite the point of the story in fact : Keats is very clever but no genius, contrarily to her siblings and father, and so have gave up all pretensions to achieve anything at all, and have chosen a confortable live, in which she just survives, without using her brain, in a job in which she's head over heels over skilled and living with a nice man who doesn't have much conversation and offers her no challenge.
In a way she's shunning the world as much as her brilliant young brother who, at twenty, haven't been out of the house for two years, geeking all day in front of his computer.
And I agree with this conviction: I believe that it can't be sane and confortable to spent ones live with someone who's some much more, or less, clever than we are. Charlotte couldn't catch any better husband then Mr Collins, but nowadays, a woman or a man can choose, and should find someone feeling and living live the same way they do.
In this book, Keats, twenty-five, discovers that she's not happy with Tom, just not unhappy, and very bored, having buried her brain under trivialities, and running away from her clever and unorthodox family, considering that they are noxious for her and that Tom is her shelter.
In the end of the book she leaves Tom, who's being her boyfriend for ten years, sad to give pain, but resolved to take back her life and be proactive about it.
All that is quite fine for me.
But what disturbed me was that I was left with the idea that Tom had have too high expectations, wanted to keep for himself Keats, and is rightly punished to have dared to pretend keeping captive (even loving and cherishing) a higher intellect. And he's discarded, left devastated, crushed, castigated...
During the book Tom is exposed as a rather silly, clumsy, clueless young man, who doesn't understand jokes, blunders and is only interested by drinking beers and viewing sports. An annoying character, who dares loving Keats with all his heart, impudent as he is!
The author could (should?) have demonstrate that he wasn't so happy in fact with a girl much more brilliant than he were, that he felt inferior and not really appreciated, and ready to be eased, liberated, after the first shock of the rupture.
But no. The reader closes the book with the idea that any nice handsome average intelligent man is dying to have the chance to keep at his side, even to her disfavour, a cleverer woman, as if it was the one and only consecration, the ultime honour. As if gifted persons were another species, superior ones (elves maybe ? ^-^) and a catch for any normal person.
I resented this snobbery.
Tom deserved his happy ending, not to be tossed away as an ugly undersized sock!
The family story is really good too, explaining how comparisons and early false convictions can obscure ones jugement and gives way to severe self-deprecation.
What I didn't like, at all, was the final moral.
As my review is hidden I'll be explicite.
At some point Jason - who seems to be a nice person but who's jealous - says that Tom doesn't deserve Keats, being so much less intelligent, funny, and charming than she is.
And it's quite the point of the story in fact : Keats is very clever but no genius, contrarily to her siblings and father, and so have gave up all pretensions to achieve anything at all, and have chosen a confortable live, in which she just survives, without using her brain, in a job in which she's head over heels over skilled and living with a nice man who doesn't have much conversation and offers her no challenge.
In a way she's shunning the world as much as her brilliant young brother who, at twenty, haven't been out of the house for two years, geeking all day in front of his computer.
And I agree with this conviction: I believe that it can't be sane and confortable to spent ones live with someone who's some much more, or less, clever than we are. Charlotte couldn't catch any better husband then Mr Collins, but nowadays, a woman or a man can choose, and should find someone feeling and living live the same way they do.
In this book, Keats, twenty-five, discovers that she's not happy with Tom, just not unhappy, and very bored, having buried her brain under trivialities, and running away from her clever and unorthodox family, considering that they are noxious for her and that Tom is her shelter.
In the end of the book she leaves Tom, who's being her boyfriend for ten years, sad to give pain, but resolved to take back her life and be proactive about it.
All that is quite fine for me.
But what disturbed me was that I was left with the idea that Tom had have too high expectations, wanted to keep for himself Keats, and is rightly punished to have dared to pretend keeping captive (even loving and cherishing) a higher intellect. And he's discarded, left devastated, crushed, castigated...
During the book Tom is exposed as a rather silly, clumsy, clueless young man, who doesn't understand jokes, blunders and is only interested by drinking beers and viewing sports. An annoying character, who dares loving Keats with all his heart, impudent as he is!
The author could (should?) have demonstrate that he wasn't so happy in fact with a girl much more brilliant than he were, that he felt inferior and not really appreciated, and ready to be eased, liberated, after the first shock of the rupture.
But no. The reader closes the book with the idea that any nice handsome average intelligent man is dying to have the chance to keep at his side, even to her disfavour, a cleverer woman, as if it was the one and only consecration, the ultime honour. As if gifted persons were another species, superior ones (elves maybe ? ^-^) and a catch for any normal person.
I resented this snobbery.
Tom deserved his happy ending, not to be tossed away as an ugly undersized sock!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2016
The title of the book captured my attention due to being the youngest of 13 children. People talk about the "birth order" of their children and how parents treat them accordingly. I felt that the story captured some the various layers of a dysfunctional family. There are 3 Sedlak children, Hopkins (genius child), Keats (the sane one), and youngest brother Milton (genius child). Keats is in her mid twenties and seems to be the "go to" child for the family. She has been in the same relationship with Tom since she was 15 years old and for 10 years. She feels that she is called upon to take care of things for because she isn't the overachiever, not a genius...doesn't have a life of importance. The mother's decision to divorce their dad and sell the family's home puts everything into uncertainty. This is when you are able to understand the characters perception of their family member(s) which is sometimes sad, disruptive and funny but in the end evolves towards a positive outcome....due to Keats going with the flow because they are "family". With the exception of the oldest sister Hopkins the family falls apart, the dynamics shift and they do come together. There is a tremendous awakening and growth in their relationships. The Sedlaks do learn that just because someone is a genius doesn't mean they have common sense, or that they should be held up on a pedestal. The truth is all families have their issues, not always perfect but when you decide to communicate and work things out it can be a blessing.
I do recommend reading the book and it is a easy read. The story will definitely make you think about your own nonreturnable family...view them as a gift despite their shortcomings.
I do recommend reading the book and it is a easy read. The story will definitely make you think about your own nonreturnable family...view them as a gift despite their shortcomings.
December 8, 2014
Keats Sedlak isn't exactly living the dream. But her life is comfortable, undemanding. She has a nice apartment she shares with her boyfriend of ten years and a decent but unexciting job. She believes she has exactly what she wants and no more than she deserves. Family drama abounds and her comfortable unexciting life insulates her from some of it. The rest of it.. well.. nobody's life is perfect.
To say her family is eccentric is a kind understatement. Two siblings,an over-achieving selfish doctor/ older sister and a brilliant but severely agoraphobic and extremely selfish younger brother. Her father is a learned professor at Harvard, and her mother is a lazy complaining snob in the process of divorcing her husband of thirty odd years. Oh and she has thrown herself headlong into the dating game while simultaneously trying to sell the family home which looks like a tribe of hoarders have lived there for a half century.
Families and how one lives with and without them is the theme here.All families come with drama,quirks and foibles.For good or bad, we are shaped and at least partially defined by our family.We can run but we can't hide.The author did a great job making the Sedlak family relatable to the reader.Funny,thoughtful and poignant,the story kept the reader turning those pages. I liked it.
To say her family is eccentric is a kind understatement. Two siblings,an over-achieving selfish doctor/ older sister and a brilliant but severely agoraphobic and extremely selfish younger brother. Her father is a learned professor at Harvard, and her mother is a lazy complaining snob in the process of divorcing her husband of thirty odd years. Oh and she has thrown herself headlong into the dating game while simultaneously trying to sell the family home which looks like a tribe of hoarders have lived there for a half century.
Families and how one lives with and without them is the theme here.All families come with drama,quirks and foibles.For good or bad, we are shaped and at least partially defined by our family.We can run but we can't hide.The author did a great job making the Sedlak family relatable to the reader.Funny,thoughtful and poignant,the story kept the reader turning those pages. I liked it.
September 19, 2011
This was the first book I've ever read by Claire LaZebnik and I really enjoyed it! Keats was a really likable person and you really felt for her when she had to deal with her crazy, dysfunctional family. When I first realized that Tom and Keats had a huge age difference and they had started dating when she was 15, I was a little creeped out, but it really worked with the story. I really hated Hopkins but I loved Milton, so LaZebnik did a great job developing her characters and defining who they are. I enjoyed following Keats and watching her discover how she really wants to live her life. Her family sounds so crazy that I understood completely how Keats felt towards them. Keats really learns to understand the value of family and how you're stuck with what you have, so you should make the most of it. There were some slow parts to the book, but in the end it was a nice story.
September 11, 2012
Keats Sedlak has always felt inferior amid her brilliant family, and the only sane member. With a steady boyfriend and job, she's constantly being called back home to help the family. Now, her mother is filing for divorce and putting the house up for sale, her brother won't leave his bedroom, her genius sister refuses to come home and help, her father's health is slipping, and... she's starting to question her own life choices throughout it all.
In one night, I read this start to finish. I was that engrossed. More a women's fiction with romantic elements, this books delves into the family dynamic, our innermost fears of mediocrity, and dares us to question what we truly want. With realistic and flawed characters, hilarious secondary characters and scenarios, this is not to be missed.
In one night, I read this start to finish. I was that engrossed. More a women's fiction with romantic elements, this books delves into the family dynamic, our innermost fears of mediocrity, and dares us to question what we truly want. With realistic and flawed characters, hilarious secondary characters and scenarios, this is not to be missed.
September 15, 2012
I special requested this book from my local library. I read up to page 70 and then skimmed until the last several chapters.
I was highly disappointed in the book. I did not care for the first person narrative. I was irritated by the family in general. The author did not connect me to any of the characters in such a way that I cared about what happened to any of them. And, to me the story was too predictable.
This was a real "miss" for me.
I was highly disappointed in the book. I did not care for the first person narrative. I was irritated by the family in general. The author did not connect me to any of the characters in such a way that I cared about what happened to any of them. And, to me the story was too predictable.
This was a real "miss" for me.
September 6, 2011
i hadn't read a book in almost a month and i'm pretty sure it was because i was waiting for this one to come out. even though somehow i didn't even know it was coming out. maybe i was too excited by epic fail. or maybe my head was in the clouds. either way, i'm so happy right now. i might even shed a tear or two of joy. maybe.
oh and the book is fantastic.
oh and the book is fantastic.
March 19, 2012
Wasn't impressed with this book. The characters weren't interesting...I feel like the author wants you to dislike them. By the time I was halfway through, I didn't care what happened to the characters...I just wanted to hurry up and finish the book.
March 23, 2018
This book was not at all what I thought it would be. I thought it would be really funny, but it wasn’t at all. I found Keats’ relationships with Tom & Jacob to be extremely creepy. And watch out there is a descriptive sex scene that basically comes out of nowhere
June 21, 2021
Not sure what to make of this. Expected it to be a bit more funny. Feel sorry for the unemotional characters.
January 21, 2026
I really wanted to like this book. It's very well-written. That's why I gave it two stars instead of one.
From early on until the very end of the book, my main question was, is this an unreliable narrator book? It felt like the answer was yes, but it didn't seem to fit 100%.
It wasn't until I saw the reading guide at the back that I realized yes, it is an unreliable narrator book, but it's not the main character who's the unreliable narrator, it's the author.
Let me explain. I've ticked the 'spoilers' box for now because the review I wrote in my head is full of them, but I may try to complete this review without needing them.
The reasons why I can't like the book despite wanting to are:
1) None of the characters are remotely likeable.
2. Some of the characters have wobbly characterizations (they change temperament without motivation or explanation).
3. A lot of what the author tells us is true about the characters and situations, is different from what is objectively true about them.
4. The whole book is bulging with un-acknowledged, un-processed problematic content. I realize some of this is context-dependent. The threshold for fastidiousness over things like consent, red flags, etc., is lower for rom-coms, and lower for older books, but still...
So point 3 is the focal 'point' of my review, because it wasn't until I spotted the reading guide the author provided at the back of the book that I came to the conclusion that the author had no idea her heroine was an unreliable narrator, because she thought she was writing a story about a 'normal' girl surrounded by creepy weirdos instead of what she actually wrote, a story about a creepy weirdo surrounded by creepy weirdos.
It reminds me of the critiques of the HP books that say a kid locked in a cupboard under the stairs could easily have been (and perhaps should have been) a story about an enormously messed-up kid who tries to adapt with a fantasy world.
The author seems to think that a family with: one passive, oblivious parent and one restless, dis-satisfied one, genius, social maladaptation, major depression, several forms of neuro-spiciness, and neglect: could pop out one offspring who is perfectly 'normal' (the author's word).
No. What it popped out was a child who occupied the most comfortable (for her) position in the family system, and performed 'normal' so well that she was completely oblivious to her own feelings and desires until long after she had acted (destructively) on them. That is some 'Lolita'-level unreliable narration. Except unlike Nabokov, who carefully crafted and revealed his character's lack of self-awareness, in this case I believe it is THE AUTHOR who is not self-aware.
If there is any hint of autobiography in this book IMO the author needs to get themselves into therapy, stat.
To me, this book can be summed up with, 'Ask a fish how's the water, and the fish will reply, "Water? What's water?"'.
From early on until the very end of the book, my main question was, is this an unreliable narrator book? It felt like the answer was yes, but it didn't seem to fit 100%.
It wasn't until I saw the reading guide at the back that I realized yes, it is an unreliable narrator book, but it's not the main character who's the unreliable narrator, it's the author.
Let me explain. I've ticked the 'spoilers' box for now because the review I wrote in my head is full of them, but I may try to complete this review without needing them.
The reasons why I can't like the book despite wanting to are:
1) None of the characters are remotely likeable.
2. Some of the characters have wobbly characterizations (they change temperament without motivation or explanation).
3. A lot of what the author tells us is true about the characters and situations, is different from what is objectively true about them.
4. The whole book is bulging with un-acknowledged, un-processed problematic content. I realize some of this is context-dependent. The threshold for fastidiousness over things like consent, red flags, etc., is lower for rom-coms, and lower for older books, but still...
So point 3 is the focal 'point' of my review, because it wasn't until I spotted the reading guide the author provided at the back of the book that I came to the conclusion that the author had no idea her heroine was an unreliable narrator, because she thought she was writing a story about a 'normal' girl surrounded by creepy weirdos instead of what she actually wrote, a story about a creepy weirdo surrounded by creepy weirdos.
It reminds me of the critiques of the HP books that say a kid locked in a cupboard under the stairs could easily have been (and perhaps should have been) a story about an enormously messed-up kid who tries to adapt with a fantasy world.
The author seems to think that a family with: one passive, oblivious parent and one restless, dis-satisfied one, genius, social maladaptation, major depression, several forms of neuro-spiciness, and neglect: could pop out one offspring who is perfectly 'normal' (the author's word).
No. What it popped out was a child who occupied the most comfortable (for her) position in the family system, and performed 'normal' so well that she was completely oblivious to her own feelings and desires until long after she had acted (destructively) on them. That is some 'Lolita'-level unreliable narration. Except unlike Nabokov, who carefully crafted and revealed his character's lack of self-awareness, in this case I believe it is THE AUTHOR who is not self-aware.
If there is any hint of autobiography in this book IMO the author needs to get themselves into therapy, stat.
To me, this book can be summed up with, 'Ask a fish how's the water, and the fish will reply, "Water? What's water?"'.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2019
Having only read Epic Fail before, I kind of assumed that all of Claire's books were YA, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that this protagonist was in her twenties and that the themes were a lot more mature. I'm seeing some recurring patterns here - unconventional/academic families, coming of age moments and romantic dilemmas, but they're well told and satisfyingly crafted. Great characters and believable situations. I enjoyed how the 1st person perspective created dramatic irony. As the book went on, we become more and more aware that Keats's opinion wasn't exactly objective and the arguments she kept repeating became more and more hollow. I loved seeing her get herself out of the hole and into a new life, dragging her whole family back together with her momentum. The end revelation about Hopkins seemed slightly overdone and a tiny bit disappointing, but otherwise a nice story and looking forward to reading more by this author.
October 22, 2018
Pretty easy read, and a fast read! Keats is the middle child in an intellectual family and has never felt like she belonged.
As her parents surprisingly but unsurprisingly decide to divorce and sell the family home, we see Keats struggle with her own ten year relationship as well as her relationship with her family.
The family dynamic and character development was interesting and the writing was decent.
As her parents surprisingly but unsurprisingly decide to divorce and sell the family home, we see Keats struggle with her own ten year relationship as well as her relationship with her family.
The family dynamic and character development was interesting and the writing was decent.
July 12, 2023
I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It was a book I got in a mystery box and not one I would normally go for. I ended up actually really liking it. Keats could be annoying and dramatic but it added to her character. And the whole dynamic between Keats and Tom was weird. The fact that he was 20 and she was 15 just gave me the heebigeebies. It was a easy lighthearted book and I’m glad I read it.
June 5, 2017
I didn't really care for this book until the last several chapters where it partially redeemed itself. It was just ok. The main character didn't seem to have much of a personality until the end, when she finally started standing up for herself. The title is what intrigued me, but it didn't quite live up to expectations.
March 20, 2018
I was surprised at how much I grew to like Keats. She was devoted to believing the story she had in the beginning of the book, but it didn’t stop her from learning. The author did a graceful job of letting Keats perspective grow.
March 18, 2019
I really liked the touches of detail. You can really understand the main character's frustration with life. While you might not agree with her actions always, you still hope she will find a way to be happy and comfortable.
September 15, 2024
So, it was a tad wild to read this right after reading Where the Crawdads Sing. Two books about loneliness, but as different as night and day.
This was a funny, fast paced read. With a sweet ending. I enjoyed it!
This was a funny, fast paced read. With a sweet ending. I enjoyed it!
July 23, 2018
A quick read
July 8, 2019
Reminder that change is good
January 16, 2020
Better than i expected. It was an easy read
July 8, 2020
this wasn’t an on the edge of your seat, dramatic book. however, it was funny, a little sad, and relatable. i enjoyed it. it was a great, get your mind of things, easy read.
September 11, 2020
I couldn't quite decide what I wanted for Keats. Light, chick read.
March 1, 2022
I was surprised to see the Reading Group Guide at the end of the book.
March 10, 2022
Loved this one! Very quick read. Humerous! Almost too tidy, but left room for another book.. wonder if there is one??
July 7, 2024
Tribulations of making yourself the outcast in your family.
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