The Blessings

by Elise Juska

"Bursting with wise observations." -- J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Engagements and Maine

"Gleams like a jewel." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Stunning. . . Unique and unforgettable." -- Glamour

Hailed as one of the best books of 2014 by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Elise Juska's The Blessings is a moving novel about a tight-knit Irish Catholic clan over the course of twenty years.

The Blessings rally around one another in times of celebration and those of sorrow, coming together for departures and arrivals, while its members harbor private struggles and moments of personal joy. College student Abby ponders homesickness in her first semester away from her Philadelphia home, while her cousin Stephen commits a petty act of violence that takes a surprising turn, and their aunt Lauren faces a crisis in her storybook marriage she could never have foreseen. Through the lens of one unforgettable family, this beautifully moving novel explores how our families define us and how we shape them in return.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Family, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Drama, Womens Fiction

Audible Audio

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Elise Juska's new novel, Reunion, was released by HarperCollins in May 2024 and named one of People Magazine's "Best New Books." Her previous novels include If We Had Known and The Blessings, which was selected for Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers series, featured on Entertainment Weekly's "Must List," and named one of the Philadelphia Inquirer's Best Books of the Year.

Juska's short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review, Electric Literature, The Hudson Review and elsewhere. She was awarded the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction from Ploughshares and her work has been cited by the Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize anthologies. She teaches creative writing at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Clark Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much grace in this novel. I really love it all--the joy and heartbreak of the Blessing family, the scope of each chapter's shifting point of view, the precise and detailed language, the compassion Elise Juska has for her characters. Each chapter reveals deeper layers of the Blessing family--and each chapter has the precision of a short story, with the short story's focus on the unfolding decisive moments, but they all move together in a cohesive narrative arc that make it work as a longer piece. The little repetitions that happen, one character commenting on something that another story already spoke of, work really nicely too, like a series of overlapping circles that form a pattern about how real people live their lives, and how strong families return again and again to the only solution to mounting conflict--love. I've read all of Elise Juska's novels and many of her stories and this is without a doubt her most accomplished, subtle, powerful writing to date.

[Sarah Obsesses over Books & Cookies · Rating 5 out of 5]

GUSH GUSH GUSH... this is MY type of novel. Domestic Fiction at it's BEST. okay, nothing crazy, no zombies, no end of the world or crazy explosions just your average family and getting the goods of what happens behind closed doors.
So we have the Blessing family. They are big and sprawling and things happen, cancer, death, babies, divorce, marriage, growing up... and it's all so usual but it's just so gooooood. it's something anyone can relate to if you are part of a family, no matter how big or small. I didn't grow up with my mom or dad, no siblings or anything but i lived vicariously through these guys for the two days it took to blow through this book.
Each chapter is told through a different family member and the story spans over a couple decades. It was just good. Not deep, not light not pretentious, just a really good book.

From helen, the matriarch on recalling her life after being asked by her granddaughter for a school project on history: "All she remembers talking about were the little things, dinners and bus tokens, but this paints her in grande, heroic strokes. Raising a family, caring for her dying son. Great acts. Is that how they saw it? These things aren't great. It was what you did, was what family did. Dangerous to see it as something noble."

or from Patrick the husband of one of the daughters, Kate who is contemplating an affair: "Patrick's head is pounding. He feels suddenly as if he could implode- with love for his family, frustration with his wife, the two parts of his life that he's always struggled to reconcile, like having two close friends who just don't click."

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It's about these contradictions...having this identity as part of a big family but also this part of yourself that's separate, dealing with your own private stuff, that they never really know. Or dealing with the same stuff, just differently."

The Blessings are a large Irish Catholic family living in the Philadelphia area. Elise Juska's novel of linked chapters gives a glimpse of many of the members of this family as they deal with happiness, struggles, and tragedies—namely the death of the family patriarch and the untimely death of the oldest son. The book progresses in linear fashion through time and follows several generations of the family, from the matriarch, Helen, forced to confront grief after the deaths of both her husband and her son, John, to Helen's three surviving children and John's young widow, Lauren, to a number of Helen's grandchildren as they grow into adulthood.

These are stories of the bonds that tie us together and the unspoken hurts and petty thoughts that tear us apart. These are stories about the fulfillment of dreams and the realization that not all you've hoped for will come to fruition. You get the opportunity to experience the lives of these people alongside of them, with, in some cases, a little more knowledge about what's going to happen to them than they have.

"You hear how people's priorities change and eventually they go back to where they came from, like some kind of homing instinct. And you think it won't happen to you, but then something changes, and there you are."

I found The Blessings to be a compelling and well-drawn portrait of a family drawn together in times of happiness and sadness. I'll admit, however, that although each chapter had overlapping characters and situations, it didn't feel like one novel, but more like a collection of linked stories. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

Juska did a terrific job in imbuing her characters with unique personalities, so I had no problem keeping each of them straight even as some of them married and gave birth to their own children. As with any novel-in-chapters, some of the stories are more interesting than others, but on the whole, this is a tremendously interesting look at one family's ups and downs, and it definitely makes you look at your own family in a different light.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

My previous experience with Juska's writing is limited to one other book of hers and upon revisiting that review looks like my opinion of her works stands. Her writing is good, actually better in this book even, there is great humanity to it, her characters are very realistic. And yes, she still seems to be writing slice of life stories, although this one is a mini epic in its own way encompassing the goings on in the irish catholic Philadelphian family over the span of 20some years. Personally I found large families daunting and this book has done nothing to change that view. It was also fairly depressing, the way life wears one down. Not to say it didn't have it's uplifting moments, but overall it came across as a more of a depressing read. It's one of those books that tell a story so familiar, a family you might know or live right next to, that it offers no real excitement, just an exceptionally well crafted character study and a glimpse into human condition. If you like that sort of thing, you're in for a treat. If you care for more escapism in your reading...well, you can still appreciate the writing. Very quick read too.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woah. Downer! With such a name as the Blessings, this family felt like nothing close to any blessing I've ever known. Hey, I didn't come from a perfect family, and certainly won't even begin to make claims that each person in it never had any challenges or difficulties to overcome, but after reading this, and then seeing comments here, I've decided I've been pretty gall durn lucky. I found myself making mental notes in my head with each turn of the page 'How could one family have so many weak members?' 'So much unhappiness! Can't just one person be happy-go-lucky or semi-satisfied?' 'Can't just one couple have a happy, fulfilling relationship?' 'This Elise Juska must be one unhappy person' etc etc.

Yet as I read comments from other readers, I realized that maybe a lot of families really are like this: Being stuck in a boring relationship with no communication or mutual affection, each focused on his or her unhappiness....fathers that can't relate to sons...sons who can't relate to fathers....daughters who can't relate to anyone or any relationship....husbands who can't relate to wives....wives who suddenly wake up after 20 years and realize they never knew their husbands...'raised Catholics' who don't even know there is a God or not. Everywhere you turn you see person after person living unfulfilled lives with no sense of direction. Each is merely surviving (and some barely at that), waiting for something to come along so they can discover what it means to be happy. Eeeek!

So for the benefit of those in real life that I may have just described, I say: I am so sorry! This is not meant to offend or accuse. But because you are still alive, you still have a chance. Go out and fix it! Go mend what's broken. Go listen and learn something you never knew about your mom or your dad or your sister or your grandmother. Stop judging or blaming because you were slighted or mistreated. Go fix it and make it better---Especially if it wasn't even your fault! And go out and discover that there really IS a God, who really IS watching over you and really WILL help you to make your family life better. Focus on what you DO have to be grateful for, for you have more than you realize. And then, above all, decide to be happy right now. With what you have now. And even with what you don't. There's so much to be happy about! Don't waste your life dwelling in dark places where light can't be. Such a waste.

This is my review, but this isn't just MY opinion. Happy people everywhere will back me up on this: Life is Wonderful! And life's too good and too short to waste on complaining at this review because you think I'm not realistic and I'm pushing my beliefs on you. We're here to give our reviews and opinions. This simply was mine. Now, if you can excuse me, I've got a family to go hang out with.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This falls neatly into the category of books I like and most people won't. This was a fine scope of social realism, depicting a big, busy, enmeshed family as each member tackles a private drama. This was super easy to read but not without substance, and though not every character or snippet knocked it out of the ballpark, collectively I really enjoyed sinking my teeth into these people. My only two gripes were that because of how much I enjoyed reading this I might have preferred a focused read on a few characters rather than a drive by shooting of many, and that their last name made me want to vomit. I really hope Juska writes more.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blessings is a novel about a large Catholic family in Philadelphia. Told from the perspectives of different family members, the reader goes back and forth in time as they share in the rituals, joy, and pain of this extended family.

The novel begins with Abby, an eighteen year-old college student in New England. She is happy to be at school but while there, realizes that not all families are like hers. The Blessings are a tight-knit group, always there for one another as they share happiness and tragedy.

The first tragedy to befall them is the death of Pop, the Blessing grandfather and patriarch. His son, John, takes his place, only to contract kidney cancer and die. The impact of his death echoes throughout the book.

The novel is a quiet one that explores the day to day things that comprise family. There is marriage, childbirth, divorce, delinquency, accomplishment, and, ultimately, the return to one's roots.

The title of the novel, The Blessings, is telling in itself. Blessing can mean something holy, grace, to bestow, an advantage, etc. The family is indeed rich with love and compassion. They care for each other in helpful ways that are not stifling or underhanded. They represent that which is good in relationships for the most part. It is a welcome change to read a book about a family that is not dysfunctional and hateful. The Blessings are a strong and grounded lot. Reading this book will find you engaged in their rituals and sharing their joy and pain.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful book! It isn't what I normally read, but I heard good things about it and thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did.

It is a character driven story (which I love) about a large Irish Catholic family in Philadelphia. Every chapter is told by a separate family member and progresses in time through joys, sorrows and tribulations. There is so much compassion in the telling of story. I really loved it.

[Sean Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been hearing some positive things about this book around the library and so I decided to give it a read, not knowing what to really expect. It wound up being a very relatable and enjoyable book. There isn't really much by way of a plot, rather each chapter winds up being basically a short story about one member of a very close, extended Irish Catholic Philadelphia family over the course of several decades. They are all connected, and so answers that aren't necessarily provided during the course of one person's "story" wind up being provided during someone else's. Each character is both different enough from the others and fully fleshed-out enough to keep things interesting, and the choice to follow different people in each chapter makes it hard to guess where things may be heading next. There are certainly some surprises in store for members of the family throughout. Growing up with a large family that was very close makes many of the moments immediately resonate with me, and some of the problems faced throughout the course of the novel strike close to home as well. Still, the aforementioned lack of plot makes it feel somewhat uneventful when all is said and done. The Blessings do wind up being a great cast of characters though, and the family's unwavering love for and faith in each other no matter how much life throws at them is a joy to behold, and that alone makes this one of the better works of fiction you might run across this Summer.

[Helen Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A character driven story about a big Irish Catholic family from NE Philadelphia.

What I liked and did not like about this one are the same: it's very close to my own life. The descriptions of the family and the locations are all things that I can identify with in my own family or in the families of my friends and in-laws. It's all too familiar and in that way it's all too uncomfortable.

This is a simple book and enjoyable enough for me but I wonder if it would resonate with somebody who had different cultural touchstones?

[Jean Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I didn't want to say goodbye to The Blessings...I loved this book. Kindle book.

[Diana Botto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! I am picking it for my next choice at Book Club!!!

[Annika Bjerke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh this book was BEAUTIFUL! I blindly picked it up in the library while the kids were screaming and we had to go - but I’m so glad I did! It shows all the intricacies of a big family, from all perspectives. Friendships among cousins, aunts, sisters, in-laws and children. A story line starts with one person, and then continues on as a side note from a cousin/aunt/mother’s perspective. It shows how families can grow apart with distance between members, but stay close knit at the same time. Heartaches and triumphs are shared across all family members and everyone keeps coming together, despite of what life throws at them! I miss the Blessings already!

[Me · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows a large Catholic family in Philadelphia. There is sadness, typical family trauma for the period it is set in, which starts in the late 1980's and ends around 2012. It is a quick, heartfelt read. This quote from the book sums it up nicely "The subject is my family, mostly. It's about these contradictions - the dualities of family life. Having the identity as part of a big family but also the part of yourself that's separate, dealing with your own private stuff, that they never really know. Or dealing with the same stuff, just differently."

[Seawitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely told story of a closely knit Irish Catholic family from Philly.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and totally relate-able. This was a book that I had to read cover to cover to see each perspective of the next character. It's a family that you would know, or your own!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Large cast of family members. Reads like a stone skipping across the water. A glimpse here and a skip forward in time.

Hard to keep track of who I’m you are with and when you are.

Otherwise a mb okay read.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review at: http://everydayiwritethebookblog.com/...

Oh, The Blessings is My. Type. Of. Book.

The Blessings, by Elise Juska, is domestic fiction at its finest: the story of a large, Irish Catholic Philadelphia family told from many different characters' perspectives over the course of two decades. There are four siblings in the Blessing family- two girls and two boys - and each marries and has kids, so there are many people to get to know - grandparents, kids, spouses, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Over the course of the book, the extended Blessing family endures the stuff that many families do: births, deaths, illnesses, graduations and vacations, plus financial struggles, depression, infertility, aging parents, juvenile deliquency, etc.

The Blessings is a quiet novel, in that there is not a lot of drama. Juska's style is even and understated, and the book goes from year to year, event to event, without fanfare. She follows the normal patterns of life - the aging of generations from kids to young adults to parents; from adolescents to parents to children of older parents. But The Blessings is anything but boring or ordinary. I loved it. I especially appreciated how Juska told the story: each chapter was written from a different character's perspective. And often, the life event being described in that chapter was conveyed by someone unexpected, someone removed from the situation, but with a unique perspective on it. The death of the Blessing patriarch, John, was told through the eyes of his oldest granddaughter, Abby. The depression felt by the wife of one of the Blessing children, John Jr., after his premature death from cancer was told through the perspective of her sister-in-law, Kate. Stories are teased out over the course of many years, though the eyes of multiple characters.

The Blessings are flawed, everyday people. They have their highs and lows. But they are immensely real and sympathetic. And while the book deals with a lot of depressing topics, there is a lot of joy here too, in the everyday lives and relationships that the Blessings have with each other. This is a book that reminds you to appreciate the even, "in-between" times of life, because it can change quickly. Some of the characters find peace by the end, and some don't. Isn't that pretty much how life is?

I don't know how the whole blurbing process goes for books, but I assume that authors tend to blurb books by other authors who are likely to have an overlapping audience. I therefore wasn't surprised to see that The Blessings was blurbed by Stewart O'Nan, Siobhan Fallon, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Jennifer Close, all of whom I have read and three of whom I have read multiple books from. I clearly have a type.

Go read (or listen to) The Blessings.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, we get to know the various members of the Blessing family, who I wish had had a different last name. Each chapter focuses on a different family member, and picks up a few months or years after the last one left off. It's a close family that has its problems but is thankfully neither syrupy sweet nor dysfunctionally enmeshed or incestuous. We watch each character struggle with both individual issues and greater family problems.

These slice of life, novel-in-stories-about-interconnected-individuals books are always hit or miss with me. I often find myself agreeing with Ayelet Waldman, who once said that it's lazy to take a bunch of short stories and call it a novel when real novelists work hard to create a narrative arc. Being a hyperfocused kind of person, I really prefer to get to know one or maybe two characters really well rather than reading a series of snippets, especially since collections like these are usually uneven at best. And finally, books like these often come close to the irksome situation-not-a-story category, i.e., let me show off my way with words and load you down with details that are supposed to be poetic and I'm sure you won't notice that there's no real plot here.

But sometimes, these books actually work for me. I liked Family Album, which was similar in some ways, and I liked this book. The writing was strong. There actually was a story of sorts here, and it moved. The characters and their situations were interesting, some more than others of course, but enough to keep me pretty engaged throughout. And there were a few chapters in particular which I found really powerful.

This isn't a book for everyone, but I found it pleasant to read and my time with it passed almost too quickly.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads First Reads giveaway.

The Blessings is a portrait of a large Irish family from Northeast Philadelphia that spans several decades of tragedies and joyous events, successes and failures, and an ever-increasing number of family members. Author Elise Juska has adroitly captured the essence of families like the Blessings, and her portrayal of events rings true. Not only do the biological family members relate in perfectly natural ways, staying true to each other through thick and thin, but Juska has also captured the insecurities of the people who marry into the clan quite realistically.

Growing up in a large family has many advantages, not the least of which is an automatic support group when tragedy strikes. Juska shows this beautifully in those scenes when family members die or suffer illness. But those families can also be quite intimidating, as individuals struggle to find their place in the pecking order, or to strike out on their own. Juska recognizes these struggles, and gives her readers a glimpse of how devastatingly they are manifested in some people. And yet, in the end, the pull of family is not easily ignored or resisted; and so the tension between independence and belonging is softened.

Elise Juska has delivered a beautifully written, poignant story of people who are very real, very relatable, and, ultimately, very likeable. This is a family you probably already know and care about. Their details might differ from the family you know, but their spirit and character will be nearly identical. In developing characters that are so recognizable, Juska has written about us all.

[Anne Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't help it: I HAD to give this 5 stars. It sucked me right in.

Never mind the brief blurb provided on the book page(lifted from the book flap I think): this is NOT just the story of a young man who dies leaving a widow and 2 youngsters.

This book is the story of the Blessing Family in three generations. Each chapter focuses on one person in the family, necessarily including all the rest, but from the POV of the central person in the chapter.

If you are an only child, READ this. You'll find out what it's like to have siblings. If you arr (like me) the oldest of five, READ it, you will laugh and cry and think "oh, yes..." It is not startling, raw, or seamy. It is warm, troubling, sad in places, an honest approach to the dynamics of a loving family with most of the problems of 20th/21st century life.

It was a joy to read, and I suspect I will both read it again and give it to a couple of cousins when it comes out in paperback

[Sandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story about family, all the strengths and weaknesses, joy and grief that most family go through, but this author makes you feel like your right there going through everything too as your reading. I hated to see it end. A really good read!

From Amazon:
When John Blessing dies and leaves behind two small children, the loss reverberates across his extended family for years to come. His young widow, Lauren, finds solace in her large clan of in-laws, while his brother's wife Kate pursues motherhood even at the expense of her marriage. John's teenage nephew Stephen finds himself involved in an act of petty theft that takes a surprising turn, and nephew Alex, a gifted student, travels to Spain and considers the world beyond his family's Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood. Through departures and arrivals, weddings and reunions, THE BLESSINGS reveals the interior worlds of the members of a close-knit Irish-Catholic family and the rituals that unite them.

[Devin Redmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Blessing family lives in Philadelphia and is a close-knit group. Each chapter is told from a different member of the family as time goes on. Time is missing between the chapters, but it's always moving forward. I thought The Blessings was full of simple yet thought provoking observations. It did focus on the characters' difficult moments, but it wasn't overwhelming, and there was always a feeling of hope. I cried at the end, not because it was sad, but because it made me happy to come from a family filled with grandma and grandpas, aunts and uncles, and a whole bunch of cousins.

[Scottsdale Public Library]

The Blessings gives one a peek at the highs and lows of the Blessing family through a generation. Each chapter focuses on a different family member and seamlessly weaves in and out of deaths, divorce, illness, and other struggles. All in the context of a close knit Irish-American Catholic family. I found it to be bittersweet and engrossing at the same time as it painted the portrait of the soul of a family.

-Amy O.

Check it out!
Scottsdale Public Library

[Marilyn Ostermiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a power that comes from belonging to a large, close-knit family. You know of a certainty that when life goes terribly wrong, you've got a massive back field that will carry you until you can stand upright again. Elise Juska sweeps her readers inside such a family, an Irish-American family in Philadelphia. Each member of that family holds up their end of the bargain, but she has drawn each character so carefully that we also are privy to the demons that haunt each of them when the lights go out. It's a literary tour de force.

[Janet Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

This finely-crafted story is told through a series of Blessing family members’ points of view over a two-decade span of time. A deceptively small book with very big themes, this novel is gentle and wise. It made me look at my own close and extended family with new eyes; now I see the ways in which we are alike, not the ways in which we are different. A transformative reading experience. Highly recommended.
"http://www.libraryreads.org"

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book irked me for a couple reasons. One is that it jumped forward in time every chapter and it got very confusing to keep track of exactly what point in time it was. Dates would have been helpful. The other reason is that the book is full of telling and not showing. It felt like I was just reading a list of facts and things the characters were doing without any description or detail. What a pity.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poignant story about the collective journey of an Irish-American Philadelphia family - one person in my book club fittingly called them a tribe - who weather pain, loss, and family trauma together but also share comfort, ritual, and tradition. Gracefully told as a series of interlocking stories, it was that rare book that everyone in our group loved yet still found very discussable. 4 1/2 stars.

[Jess Dormstetter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a simple story that is written so well it makes you wish it could keep going. The imperfectness of individual lives within a family yet the connectivess is so beautifully portrayed. Every single chapter being written by a different voice could have easily made for a haphazard mess, but the author executed it brilliantly. Great read!

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

The teaser just scratches the surface of this very enjoyable novel. Coming from a large family I understand the characters struggles to be separate yet entwined with each other.
The story moves slowly to give the reader time to absorb each family member. I would actually rate this four and one half stars for its beautiful writing.