Family History

by Dani Shapiro

This is a novel about one family’s harrowing recovery from devastation. Rachel Jensen is perfectly happy: in love with her husband, devoted to their daughter Kate, gratified by her work restoring art. And finally, she’s pregnant again. But as Rachel discovers, perfection can unravel in an instant. The summer she is thirteen, Kate returns from camp sullen, angry, and withdrawn. Everyone assures Rachel it’s typical adolescent angst. But then Kate has a terrifying accident with her infant brother, and the ensuing guilt brings forth a dreadful lie—one that ruptures their family, perhaps irrevocably.

Genres: Fiction, Family, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Chick Lit, Relationships

269 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 2003

About the author

Dani Shapiro is the bestselling author of the memoirs Hourglass, Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black & White and Family History. She lives with her family in LItchfield County, Connecticut. Her latest memoir, Inheritance, will be published by Knopf in January, 2019.

Reviews

[Crumb · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT! Five stars. This story was heartbreaking, shocking, alarming and yet I couldn't stop turning the pages. The author had me pulled in right from the start - and the allure of the narrative drew me in deeper.

This book is about a family in crisis and they are changed by their tragic circumstances. Ned and Rachel have always loved each other and have been married for a long time. They were that couple that was able to get through anything and come out on the other side..until the unthinkable happens..

Kate is the daughter of Ned and Rachel and is the apple of their eye. She is a scholarly student, an athlete, and a member of the student council. Every summer she goes to sleepaway camp and this summer was no different..until it was. Ned and Rachel picked up Kate and she was..different. Unresponsive. Angry. Not their Kate.

Ned and Rachel's marriage is tested as they seek help for Kate. They try to support each other the best they can. Then, in the middle of all this, Rachel finds out she is pregnant with another child! They have mixed emotions about this, considering Kate's situation is far from resolved.

This novel was unlike anything I had ever read. There were shocking moments in this book, where I thought "What the...?!?" It really made me think. I don't give a book 5 stars very easily..but this book deserved it. I flew though this novel at breakneck speed. I loved the character development of Rachel and Ned. I also liked the descriptive language the author used. This book made my heartache, which only the best of the best can do. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. This novel is about heartache, love, resentment, and ultimately redemption and forgiveness.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mothers….step forward…
“Family History”, a contemporary novel - first published in 2003 — explores the fragility of family life….
with penetrating compassion….and it’s frightening real!!

I haven’t read ‘every’ book yet by Dani Shapiro…but I’ve read most. I absolutely love her!!
….a gorgeous writer who makes every word matter….
Dani Shapiro is one of my favorite American woman authors: a phenomenal memoirist and novelist.

Review soon! Going back to sleep -

I’m back:
I debated how much to share …

I went in blind. I knew I liked Dani Shapiro enough, that even ‘if’ this earlier book wasn’t as good as her others - it was worth a risk.
My expectations were lower going in - thinking it wasn’t possible this novel - from earlier days - would be a match to her more recent books (both fiction and non-fiction) ….
But …I was totally and completely surprised. It was!!
It’s a timeless story!!
The storytelling ease unfolds with intense complexities, so much so, that to grasp just how masterfully it’s written (emotionally & psychologically) is something I almost forgot about —
until I sat with my thoughts longer … (after finishing it).

So….if you’re a reader who enjoys family stories and are willing to go in blind — that’s ultimately what I’d suggest most. Personally… I’m glad I avoided reviews before reading this.
But …..if you’re a reader who must know more ‘about’ the details - there are enough (wonderful) reviews that have already been written.
No need for me to re-invent the wheel.

I’ll leave some sample excerpts…..
but first ….
if you choose to read this — pay close attention to the beginning…
I thought the story was directed down a ‘one-dimensional’ path—which could have been an interesting story itself …
but the path that it ‘actually’ takes further into the book makes it much more compelling — devastating—and complicated….
but the ‘beginning’ is subtly pointing at red flags.

A few samples—[teasers] without being spoilers to the plot itself:

“Katie. I sighed. I just want you to be happy”.
“Kate was looking at a group of teenagers, slightly older than she was. They had just gotten off the crosstown bus and we’re standing in a huddle, lighting their cigarettes. The boys’ pants were so baggy they were almost falling off, and the girls looked older, more sophisticated, then Kate’s friends back home. Their lipstick was dark, their hair, sleek and shiny, pulled tightly back ballerina style”.
“I hate my life, she said”
“I’m sorry, baby”.

“I didn’t want to call it an emergency, even though, as the minutes marched on, it was becoming clear to me that life was never going to be the same again. Somehow, I knew it. Whatever had happened, it was all going to be different now. Even if everything turned out to be fine, something had been shattered. We weren’t safe—nothing was safe”.

“You can live a good life, be the best mother and wife you know how to be, and still, it can explode all around you. God isn’t up there in the sky, doling out equal amounts of pain and confusion and despair, and it’s possible that we’ve gotten more than we can handle”.

“Family History” might frustrate some readers — as there is much unsolved…but in my opinion its purposeful…leaving the reader room to insert their own interpretations about the choice’s the characters made,
marriage values, parenting styles and limits of protection, in-laws and the heavy weight that they can be on a marriage, and how to heal from trauma and mistrust.

Dani Shapiro’s instincts - and prose of emotional depth are
superb!

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading Dani Shapiro’s books in a great binge. She knows how to write novels. As with the other books of hers I’ve read, I am left moved, admiring, and just wanting to keep it all to myself.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was touched by the beauty of this plot. The book was well written and close to reality. It captures the problems of a family that can't communicate with a troubled and guilt-ridden teenager. I was reminded of the movie, Ordinary People.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Shapiro is a decent enough writer to keep my attention, but falls short in terms of characterization (no one had personality unless it was extreme and highly unrealistic) as well as certain basic plot devices.
This novel seemed to be a weak attempt at mimicking We Need to Talk About Kevin. Once again a couple struggles with a problem child, once again the parents differ over how to deal with it, once again a story is told and revealed in pieces throughout.
Thing is, though, is that this story really bombed in all the ways that WNTTAK prevailed. The problem girl, Katie, leaves home to go to camp a straight A overachiever and returns sullen, pierced, and obnoxious. Her potty mouth declarations to her parents don't seem to trigger the sort of reaction one would think they would, and the parents are worried but don't actually interact with Katie in any sort of realistic way. Katie's change is never explained, and her progress is not at all explored, until one day she trips down the stairs holding her baby brother, who then has some sort of concussion and later shows delays in development. Somehow this leads Katie to accuse her dad of molesting her (never explored) though he clearly did not and boom, marriage falls apart as does his employment at the local high school and Katie's life as she is sent to some sort of boarding school prison for wealthy girls who can't behave.
What exactly was the point of this story? What did anyone learn? Why did Katie become what she did? Why were these parents so dirt poor yet both came from very wealthy homes? Why was Rachel (K's mom)'s mom such a freaking jerk, the other extreme character, of course unexplored and her presence there important ... how?
Readable but pretty poorly done.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for the way the author tried to build suspense by alternating chapters between the past and present, and not letting the reader know what the big family crisis was until more than halfway through the book. Because when you finally find out what it is, it's not even that interesting. And I thought the end left things too unresolved and unexplained.

[Martie Nees Record · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Domestic Fiction
Publisher: Knopf
Pub. Date: 2003

The story reads as a women’s fiction novel (which I don't usually care for) with a literary vibe, which I do enjoy. The author explores a family in crisis. “Family History” is a page-turner with flaws, but still worth reading. A young teenage daughter, Kate, returns home from summer camp as a different person shocking her parents, Ned and Rachel. Kate had always been the apple of her parent’s eyes. Before camp, she excelled academically and in sports with a friendly disposition that made her popular in
. Every summer, she had gone to sleep-away camp. However, this is the first time Kate returns angry, depressed, and destructive. Her negativity and insolence become even more pronounced as the LG school year progresses. Her teachers, parents, or even her old friends no longer have any influence on her. Kate is unrecognizable to all that know her. The author nails the parents’ agony in trying to help their child while desperately attempting to understand what is causing her detrimental behaviors. Shapiro can even make you feel sorry for the highly unlikeable girl since she, too, seems clueless about why she is so out of control. This is the point where the flaws come in. The reader never finds out why Kate is so dramatically changed. Is the problem teenage angst on steroids, is she jealous of the new baby, did something happen at camp, or does she have an undiagnosed personality disorder? Since schizophrenia symptoms often show up when someone is in their teens, I went with the last guess. But then again, something horrible could have happened while she was at camp. I was frustrated not having a conclusion. Maybe the author didn’t give her readers an answer because we are often left guessing without an outcome in real life. This is a sad and challenging tale to read. However, as long as you know what you are getting into, I can still recommend this book because of how well the author writes and captures her character's intensity.

Find all my book reviews at:

https://books6259.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com
https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
https://www.amazon.com
https://www.facebook.com/martie.neesr...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/c...

[Heather Fineisen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books you hate to love or love to hate. I related immediately and completely to the main character, Rachel, a mother who battles having a new baby with a fourteen year-old daughter in the midst of mental health issues. This is Shapiro' s strength, in writing a story that could be your story or anyone else's. I am a mother and wife and I have never encountered the dread if knowing something was going terribly wrong with my child. But I could. Everyone has their "Family History" and Shapiro is masterful at reminding the reader that we are all too human. She builds empathy and suspense through flashbacks and leaves you thinking.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down -

It's every parent's nightmare: you do your best, yet your child goes bad. With candor and tenderness, Shapiro explores how a beloved, well-brought-up child can destroy a family. Rachel and Ned Jensen moved from a bohemian life in Greenwich Village to the Massachusetts town where Ned grew up when Rachel found herself pregnant with Kate. She hoped for a stellar career in art restoration; Ned was sure he'd find inspiration for his paintings in tiny Hawthorne. By the time Kate is a teenager, neither has occurred, but they're a happy family: Ned teaches at the Hawthorne Academy, Rachel works part-time; Kate is a beautiful, cheerful, popular 13-year-old. Then Rachel has another baby, Joshua, at age 39. Jealousy of her new brother, or some darker disturbance, turns Kate's ordinary teenage mood swings and shoplifting escapades into more venomous rebellion. After an accident occurs when Josh is in Kate's care, she spirals out of control, and makes wild accusations that do terrible damage to the Jensens' lives. The gripping narrative has the deeply felt emotional fidelity of a true story; it's a book some readers will finish in one sitting. The physicality of Rachel's maternal love-the need of a mother to touch her child, to feel it breathe-is almost palpable. Shapiro writes luminously about marital love and contented domestic routines, and with brutal insight about the corrosive misery of guilt and shame. Crafted with assurance, this novel holds a mirror to contemporary life. (from publisher's weekly).

[Ellenjsmellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I should've been a dentist because it was like pulling teeth to get to the bottom of this novel. Shapiro really knows how to unfinish sentences and drag things out! Overall, interesting how a family can be torn apart by a teenage child.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it's kind of the poor man's version of We Need to Talk About Kevin, with the premise of a problem child whose parents did everything right, but something still went wrong.

With both books, we don't get the answer to our questions of "why?" and "how?" (can you ever, in debates over nature versus nurture?), but in Family History, we don't even get characters that go beyond the two dimensional. Katie is apparently this perfect pre-teen until she goes to camp, then she comes back tattooed, sullen and hateful. Umm, sure. Maybe. Didn't seem terribly realistic to me. It's just a total switch of personality, and it's never explored by the parents or the author. Other characters, such as Rachel's mother and Rachel and Ned's friends Tommy and Liza are equally flat. They are clearly important in some way to the main character, Rachel, but we never really get to see why or how.

The author's attempt at creating suspense with alternating chapters in the past and present is also disappointing. This can be done quite skillfully in other books but the pay-off has to be worth it. In this case, when we finally figure out what the horrible things are that Katie did to her family, it seems anti-climactic and disappointing because the narrator has been dodging around the question for half the book.

The ending was very abrupt, and although I appreciated the lack of a happy ending (if it had been a "yay, everything's fixed up, it was just a phase Katie was going through!" wrap-up, I would have thrown the book across the room - slightly overexaggerating, I don't condone violence against books!), the ending still seemed jarring and unsatisfying. I think the author could have extended the story a little longer.

I did like the overall message that a person can make really poor decisions that wreak havoc on a family (in Katie's case, dropping her infant brother down the stairs - accident or not? We never really know - and accusing her father of molestation), but that in some cases, those decisions are precipitated by mental illness, and that person can be just as confused and lost and scared by her own self as the people around her are scared of her. That was the overall message I took from the book. Katie has flashes of self-perception when she realizes the extent of what she's done to her family, and it terrifies and saddens her, but the mental illness she's struggling with makes her a prisoner of herself. Is there anything more terrifying than being your own worst enemy?

[Tricia Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A page turner, I'll say that. Overall all I enjoyed this book but not without a few nitpicks. The first half the book was full of unfinished dialogue, done to keep the reader in the dark about "what happened". After a while I became annoyed by it, wishing to be in the know so I could feel the grief of the main character. By the time I'm privy to the information it's lost its power. I pictured the book re-structered in chronological order and felt it would have been a much better read. I was also left wondering what happened to Kate at summer camp, why she was a sweet little girl going in and an obnoxious, sullen, pierced and tattooed teen coming out. My daughter is this age and I would have been in shock if she came back from camp that way. Camp hosts would have a lot of explaining to do. These parents barely react. Then after daughter accuses dad of molest, Dad still lives at home. He moves out later, but no one made him. I'm not up on all the laws but I thought children of abuse were not let back in the home of the abuser. There was no mention of any kind of CPS or police interest in this accusation. Though it was serious enough to get him fired. Still confused.

These annoyances did not outweigh the positives, which I mean to say, I'll be reading more by Dani Shapiro.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family History was in my to-read queue for a long time before I got to it. I may have added it because of the similarity to We Need to Talk About Kevin (which I admired). But the underlying reason for interest in all such stories is the crisis my own family endured. The particulars in my experience were different but the emotions are all too familiar.

It's hard to read about painful subjects, and still harder to write about them. One key element has to be honesty. Sugar-coating an experience like this is–at best–a waste of time. On the other hand, there has to be some kind of payoff for all the angst. We all need that. And yet in fiction and in personal narrative alike, that payoff still has to be honest, plausible, not obviously contrived.

This story opens with a woman who's lying in bed in the middle of the day, watching old home movies and grieving for a family that has somehow come all to pieces. The specifics of what went wrong are doled out over the course of the book, through continual switches back and forth in time. For starters, it's obvious that she feels judged: by an absent (former?) husband who sounds angry with her, by administrators at a school where her daughter seems to be in trouble, by teachers at the preschool from which she cannot seem to pick up her son on time, as well as by other moms there. Her in-laws don't seem to be cutting her much slack, either. The complete sequence of events leading up to this situation doesn't come together for the reader until near the end. As it does, that understanding might contribute to the sense of closure the author is trying to establish. The intended effect seems to be that of retrospection. She's looking back at critical moments along the way. The memories that come up tend not to be in chronological order, but she never fixates on any one event; she moves briskly ahead with telling her story, disjointed though it is,

Meanwhile, her present situation continues to unfold. All Rachel wants is to see everything miraculously restored. Realistically, she knows that's impossible, but can anything be salvaged? Can her much-loved family be repaired? Can they regain their place in the community?

Although there's no shortage of the gritty flavor of life (amplified in the audio version by the quavering voice of a narrator who seems on the edge of meltdown), there are also welcome artistic touches. Art, as a means of capturing truth about life, is one of the themes. Before her marriage, Rachel had been in a specialized graduate program at NYU, learning how to restore paintings (significant, no?). She still does that kind of work when she can. Right now, however, she's facing a real-life restoration project.

The question is whether real life works out this way. I'm not sure I can accept the conclusion as being entirely plausible. But it is a story, after all, and this is what readers need to see happening. It's art, not life.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family History. Dani Shapiro. 2003. Anchor Books. 269 pages. ISBN 1400032113.

Dani Shapiro is another hidden gem I am thrilled to have discovered -- but if only I had known about her sooner! Family History is a must-read for fans of contemporary literature, especially if you enjoy authors such as Jodi Picoult or Elizabeth Berg.

Family History is an insightful, behind-the-scenes look into your seemingly normal, average family. Rachel Jensen leads an incredibly happy life; she's got her loving husband, a beautiful teenage daughter, a fulfilling career and adorable infant son. When her daughter Kate comes home from camp one summer with a dramatic change in mood and personality, Rachel chalks it up to normal teenager blues until a terrible accident occurs. The events that follow put Rachel's happiness and family relationships to the test in the most realistic sense -- as this can happen to anyone.

The realistic accuracy of Family History is what makes the novel a work of art. Dani Shapiro's writing is poetic, intimate, and alarmingly truthful, and because of these factors, we find ourselves right in Rachel's shoes living the horror of the situation as well. Family History is extraordinarily intense, so much that your eyes will tear up multiple times throughout your reading. I could feel Rachel's pain so severely that I genuinely wanted a happy ending for her and her family.

From a personal standpoint and as a mother myself, I had to ponder whether author Dani Shapiro really is a mother too; if so, does she, like me, also feel as if motherhood does not come naturally to her a lot of the time? Perhaps Rachel's intermittent detachment from her children is due to Shapiro feeling similarly, if she even has any children herself? Shapiro writes the role incredibly well either way, which is part of the reason I am so impacted by Rachel's sorrow.

My one and only disappointment with Family History is with the ending, which I feel is too abrupt. The ending may have been more satisfying with an epilogue and update status on the family weeks, months, or even years down the road. Family History is particularly difficult to put down and it's another one of those novels you never want to end; it simply reads way too fast.

The rest of Dani Shapiro's novels have found their place on my wish list. Her latest novel is Black and White (2007), with previous novels entitled Picturing the Wreck (1996) and Fugitive Blue (1993).

Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, good one, but have to warn the readers - VERY DEPRESSING! And too many questions left unanswered:
1. What caused Kate's condition? Was it genetic? Was it just teenage angst gone haywire? Did something happen at camp that caused her behavior to change so dramatically?
2. no conclusion - the story ends, and although I liked the ending, it seemed incomplete. Did the author just give up? Or was there no way there would be a proper ending?
and the mother, Rachel - she was a bit annoying. Yes, she was an overzealous mother, and I can forgive that. But she seemed way too whiny and was always complaining. She was also not very practical. Her family is drowning in debt due to daughter Kate, and yet she wants her husband to give up his real estate job (one he doesn't particularly like but he realizes he needs it because they need money and he is earning good money) and start painting. Yeah, that's gonna work!

[Sue Emanuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have kept track of the books I've read ever since 2001 (well before I found Goodreads!). I have my own rating system and I have recently decided to go back and reread my absolute favorite books. Would they still be my favorites? I read Family History in 2005. It's been 18 years, and I've read a few hundred books since then, so I guess it's not surprising that I didn't remember the story. In fact, I recently read Inheritance by Dani Shapiro and didn't remember ever reading anything by her before. At any rate, the answer is a definite yes--this is still a great book. I loved it this time around, too. It's the story of a family that seemed to have it all, and then lost it all, and how the mom, Rachel, struggles to make something out of what's left. I loved the characters and I especially loved the somewhat ambiguous ending. The character of the troubled daughter, Kate, was especially well-written. I can't wait to reread some more oldies!

[Paltia · Rating 3 out of 5]

SOmewhat entertaining, albeit predictable, story of family screw ups. THe ending was so unsatisfying and left huge gaps in developing a true understanding of the adolescent girl.

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absorbing book about love, family, children, the before of happy, the after of confusion and potential serious tragedy.

[Rosina Lippi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 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.

[Priscilla Herrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, thankfully a work of fiction, presents a mother's worst nightmares all happening nearly simultaneously: a lovely daughter turned almost overnight into a sullen teenager - but one with more extreme behavior; an infant with an injury caused by an accident while in the care of the teenager and her grandmother (the mother's own very difficult mother); a horrific accusation against the father that costs him his job.....it just doesn't seem to let up. And the events are so plausible, and the various characters' actions and reactions make sense.

I listened to this one with my heart mostly in my mouth!

As I was nearing the end it seemed that the daughter's troubles had begun while she was away at summer camp, and yet we never learn what happened there. And then I realized that in real life a parent might never know what had been the trigger that brought on a child's mental illness - and the unknowing is part of the horror the parent experiences.

I have to note one thing with regard to the otherwise terrific performance: This story takes place on Boston's North Shore, the area where I live. A nearby town, Haverhill is mentioned twice - and the narrator has the character (who grew up in this area) mention it twice, calling it "have - er- hill" when anyone from Massachusetts would pronounce it "Hav'rill" - a minor detail but a misstep that takes the reader out of the story for a bit. I'm sure this happens in other readings I've heard where I am not familiar with correct pronunciations, but it's an matter I wish publishers would be more careful about. The pronunciation error was especially glaring because she captured the North Shore accent so very well, the mother-in-law's accent and tone were pitch perfect.

[Margo Littell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel and Ned have built a seemingly perfect life, if not the one they'd imagined when they first met and married. When their teenage daughter, Kate, begins acting out, however, fissures in that life widen into gaping, gasping crevices that ultimately pull the whole family under. The "bad seed" storyline is always effective for me, raising all kinds of fears about nature vs. nurture and what really causes troubled kids to lose their way. That there is often no explanation is terrifying, and so very sad.

I found this novel to be a suspenseful, harrowing, and beautifully written story of a family in crisis. I loved the switches in time and the dread that builds as a result of the mystery slowly unraveling.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a real page turner. I enjoyed the story, found it disturbing and scary in the sense of "what if this happened to my children or to my family?" It's full of the kinds of real things that can happen to change a family in a split second. I'm still confused about what exactly happened over the summer at camp, but I guess I'm not meant to know what went wrong with Kate. The story was told from the point of view of Rachel, the mother; the writing made her emotions - fear, love, anguish, pride -- palpable.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The author did a great job storytelling and making her characters (specially Racheal and Ned) very human. At times I could not believe the daugther's behavior - but I thought back to my own teenage years and friends of mine at that time - and I thought add a little bit of psychiatric disorder into the mix - and it is completely real and scary. I liked the ending too - it was not contrived or wrapped up too nicely - it was well done.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reveals the soul of a mother who exposes her own insecurity as a mother. Rachel and Ned have to make a very difficult decision with their daughter. What if life as you knew it changed course in an unknown direction? Could your family withstand the chain reaction of struggles? This was a good read but I wish the ending hadn't been so abrupt. I felt there was more the author could have detailed at the end.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book from the minute I picked it up to the second I put it down. I read it in one sitting on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The way Shapiro writes is so completely engrossing you can't wait to get to the next page. I was truly sad when it ended and ran out to buy more of her books!

[Bonbon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well written, I read it really fast. It made me cry. Parts of the story really touched me, it made me very emotional. It's the story of a family totally ripped apart by the actions of their teenage daughter. I wanted to shake her I was so angry at her.

[Good Book Fairy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dani Shapiro's great writing got me sucked right into this book but boy was a lot missing. although plot line is very familiar i anticipated better character development and a deeper connections. will continue to read her books, however, this one was a dud for me.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling and riveting story of a family in crisis. I read this book in less than 24 hours... just couldn't put it down!

[Ayelet Waldman]

I love the way Shapiro writes about families.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed

Nice easy read, like the subject matter in the story telling. Would read more by this author, and will recommend.