Honestly, We Meant Well

by Grant Ginder

"“This rollicking book has it all: sex, lies, and scenery. Grant Ginder weaves a wonderful, engrossing multi-generational family story, with the Greek isles as a backdrop so beautiful that the reader will want to dive in.”—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of The Vacationers and Modern Lovers

An irresistible, deftly observed novel about family, regret, and vacation by the author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

Family vacation always comes with baggage.

The Wright family is in ruins. Sue Ellen Wright has what she thinks is a close-to-perfect life. A terrific career as a Classics professor, a loving husband, and a son who is just about to safely leave the nest.

But then disaster strikes. She learns that her husband is cheating, and that her son has made a complete mess of his life. So, when the opportunity to take her family to a Greek island for a month presents itself, she jumps at the chance. This sunlit Aegean paradise, with its mountains and beaches is, after all, where she first fell in love with both a man and with an ancient culture. Perhaps Sue Ellen’s past will provide the key to her and her family’s salvation.

With his signature style of biting wit, hilarious characters, and deep emotion, Grant Ginder’s Honestly, We Meant Well is a funny, brilliant novel proving that with family, drama always comes with comedy."

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, Book Club, Contemporary, Greece, Travel

308 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 2019

About the author

Grant Ginder is the author of five novels, including LET'S NOT DO THAT AGAIN and THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING. He received his MFA from NYU, where he teaches writing. He lives in Brooklyn.

Follow him on Twitter or Instagram @GrantGinder

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned- 4 stars

Family crisis on steroids! Darkly humorous, great location!

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Enjoyable! Great Summer read -
from Berkeley, Ca. to the Greek Islands!

UPDATE.... MY BOOK REPORT....LOL


March 18....
Berkeley, California ....our story begins with this first paragraph:
“Ten minutes before the phone rings, Sue Ellen Wright — tenured professor of classical studies, beloved recipient of countless teaching awards, wavering wife, and mostly good mother—is wondering how, exactly she got here”.

Sue Ellen teaches classical archaeology. I still remember my archaeology class at UC Berkeley... I can still picture the lecture hall.

The first chapter of this novel tickled my funny bone. I could sooooooo understand where Professor Sue Ellen was coming from. She’s been teaching wise-ass Berkeley undergraduate- adolescences- for so many years - she could almost smell the foul-order of obnoxious freshman - Conner McFarland. This type of pompous - righteous student - ha, Conner, shows up to class wearing a T-shirt & flip flops, a pair of athletic type mesh shorts, a San Francisco Giants hat pulled low on his forehead head...and is comfortably slouched in his chair. Did I mention it’s cold and raining outside?
Gotta love Berkeley!
But in all seriousness- Sue Ellen worried that undergraduate laziness was becoming more the norm than an anomaly. Sue Ellen actually had to ditch her class notes one day to spend an hour teaching her students how to distinguish between Hollywood and fact.

I loved reading about Sue Ellen - right away. Originally from the East Coast, Sue Ellen, had been living in the bay area for 30 years. ( seasons in the Bay Area are not as obvious as on the east coast) .....
I loved this line:
“You don’t need falling leaves or melting snow to mark time passing—mistresses and couple therapy get the job done, too”.

You’ll meet the Wright Family: Sue Ellen, Dean, ( Sue Ellen’s husband) and Will...( their son, 23 years old)...

We’re introduced to Gianna Galanis - who used to work in development at the national archaeological Museum in Athens. She left that job to become the director of programming at “Golden Age Adventures”. She organizes educational vacations catering to older, more distinguished clientele’s. ( old farts) ...
Gianna Galanis was launching a new cruise called “The Grandest Voyage Ever Made”....( a cruise tour of some of the Greek Islands and important sites).Sue Ellen was NOT invited as a ‘cruise’ guest.... but she was invited to give an hour lecture on the historical and religious aspects of Aphaia temple- where she did her own college research- on the island of Aegina.
Gianna Galanis would cover Sue Ellen’s travel expenses - a stipend would cover her lodging at a conveniently located hotel.....
BUT.... Sue Ellen had her own idea of where she wanted to stay.
After MORE FUNNY dialogue between the ladies on the phone....
Sue Ellen ‘accepts’!!!
Sue Ellen had personal reasons for accepting the hour job many hours away from Berkeley.
When she was a grad student herself...decades ago....it wasn’t just her studies that remained in her memories.....
she had a deeply passionate stay on the island. Sue Ellen remembers the smells of the cypress trees and pine needles fondly.....but it was her first love: “Christo”....who lives deeply inside her.
Her husband, Dean ( who hates the sun), and their son Will tag along for a summer family vacation.

Sue Ellen spent the past year - dealing with Dean’s affair.. I’m not sure if the couple’s painful year fully got solved....or not.....but author Grant Ginder ( my first read of him).... is REALLY FUNNY! He has some kicker lines and funny dialogues between characters. Sure .... there is some sadness...even in Greece ( hard to believe, I know...haha!)....but mostly it dazzles our funnybone and speaks to our heart.

The Wright Family flies to Greece for the summer...”staying on the island of “Aegina”..
You’ll meet Eleni Papadakis- ( Christos adult daughter) ... and Stavros- a Corinthian - handyman that Christos hired thirty years ago to help at the Inn he owned.

The Inn is now very rundown - with plumbing problems and ovens that don’t always work. Eleni inherited the Inn ....( Christo died of pancreatic cancer- before this book begins - but his presence is felt)....
Eleni doesn’t want the Inn...the responsibility of it. She plans to sell it. However, Stavros tells her guests from America are booked to stay. Ha..yippy thinks Eleni. She gets to play Hostess....one LAST TIME!
The Wright Family will need to share 1 working shower. After their stay… there will be no more guests for Eleni. She’s selling the rusty old Inn....dying to get back to her City life in Athens ....with her own damn plans — not her dead father’s life.

The fun continues....
Months before Will Wright was about to become a college graduate from Cal...he was dumped by his boyfriend, Rajiv. Ha.... apparently Rajiv applied for a job and got it....the job Will wanted.
But ‘lost-love’ and a ‘lost-job-opportunity’ was not all Will’s problems. His recent plagiarizing of his thesis....FROM HIS BELOVED NOVELIST PROFESSOR FATHER.....will follow him to Greece.

I LOVED THIS SUMMER GEM....
I laughed >>>> MANY LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY PARTS....
I cringe, ....in a good way.....some great cringe-worthy moments...
I smiled a lot...
I enjoyed the characters ... their issues...their personalities... their issues....
I felt like I was on the island..eating, drinking, smoking, hiking, chatting...right along with the old and young farts.
A nice refresher history lesson was nice too......( I’ve been to Greece- Athens and several of the islands).

I found this to be a ravishing great escape read - that didn’t abandon good writing ... or insightful drama.

Irresistible & Entertaining....”HONESTLY”.....THEY MEANT WELL!!!!!!

[Olivia (Stories For Coffee)]

DNF at 35%

Sorry, but I just have no time to read about characters who want the world to pity them when they’re actually just trash people. I cannot feel bad for a man who constantly cheats on his wife with younger women and then acts like he’s somehow the victim of the cruelty of life, and I have no time to see what happens to his son who plagiarizes his college thesis entirely and gets an A. I hope he gets his degree revoked *yawn*

I have better books to read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished basically in one sitting. I loved it. The dynamics and family drama are brilliantly executed. I highly recommend this book to everyone. The different point of views are spectacular.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one from my Netgalley backlog about a family trying not to fall apart on vacation in Greece. I felt like the alternating viewpoints were the highlight but I didn't find any of the stories overly original - the professor husband who had affairs with students, the female wife regretting the one that got away, the gay son who has flamed out in his MFA program - probably the inn owner felt the most original but her story didn't get as much focus.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy through NetGalley. It came out June 11, 2019.

[Judith E · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even ramping up the audio speed to 1.5x didn’t tamper the fluff down on this one. Thank goodness for fast forwarding.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Grant Ginder is excellent!

This book is more than a novel, and I sincerely hope my review can convey the beauty of its prose, the smart nod to dramatic comedy, and the raw realities life throws at us at every turn. Grant Ginder combines the elegance of literature with knowledge of old classics blended smoothly with urban existence.

The story is told from four points of view (POV); two majors: Sue Ellen and her son Will, and two minors: Dean, her husband, and Ginny, Dean’s student and Will’s student-peer. We also hear from Eleni, who owns and runs a hotel on the island of Aegina, in Greece.

Two highly educated professors at UC Berkeley, in California, with their twenty-two-year-old son, Will; have survived as a family unit to this point where, Sue Ellen Wright and Dean Wright, are on the cusp of becoming empty-nesters. The question now is, will this unit survive the upcoming graduation.

In the past month, Sue Ellen, tenured Professor of Classical Studies, respected writer, lecturer, winner of countless awards; has discovered that her husband, Dean has been cheating on her. Within this same time, she’s also learned that her long-ago “love” from her summer in Greece while studying for her thesis, has passed away. These sorrows grew heavier when she realized her son, Will was centimeters away from not graduating given his poor grades and yet-to-be-written thesis, due in mere days.

Dean Wright, Professor of Literature at the same university, has written several novels, one of which has become a best-seller, thereby making him famous and popular with his students. It’s also turned him into an even bigger pompous ass than he was previously, thus convincing him the affair he was conducting went with his “author status.”

Will has always liked his parents for the most part, as much as any teenager usually does. Now at twenty-two and a senior in college, Will realizes he’s had more than a reasonable amount of independence growing up, and may have made some mistakes he regrets. He’s a little in awe of his father’s writing talent and knows that particular gene skipped him entirely, as he struggles to write his final thesis. In his desperation and time constraint, Will goes looking on his father’s computer for unfinished stories just to get some ideas. He finds what he’s looking for and before you know it, he’s copied almost an entire story and submits it as his own. Dazed, he just thinks to himself, “What did I just do? Did I just do what I thought I did? Shit!” (or words to that effect.)

Meanwhile, while Sue Ellen feels her world is coming to an end, her phone rings with an offer to be a guest speaker in Greece this summer, in Athens and on the island of Aegina, discussing Greek history and architecture. She doesn’t hesitate, “YES, I accept. thank you.” Details are worked out later.

Dean gets wind of this trip and figures he can make up with Sue Ellen by coming with her on this trip, (which he normally hates) and why not bring Will with them and make it a fun, family adventure. What could go wrong? That’s half the book, but written in a loving, intelligent and snarky way.

So, Dean begs, literally, and Sue Ellen agrees. However, right before they leave two more things happen that set the tone for even more revelations to come. Oh, it’s worth every word, which of course I can’t tell you.

Ginny Polonsky, the student extraordinaire. She’s Dean’s student and enamored with him, she’s also very bright and a little obsessed. Remember ‘Gilmore Girls?” Think of Paris, Rory’s ‘frenemy’ from her school days. The smart girl, desperate for attention, perfectionist, dated her professor: that’s Ginny. Well, Dean and Ginny have a little fling right before Dean leaves for Greece. Also, Will’s professor wants Ginny to publish Will’s final paper, which he received an A- on, in the school’s final publication for the semester. Ginny might know a little something about that paper, but all she tells Will is that she’s agreed to put it in the paper. Will, is not happy about that news.

So, the family takes off for Greece, and they eventually stay at the hotel on Aegina, where Sue Ellen finally meets Eleni, the daughter of Christos, the man she met when she herself was twenty-two, and fell in love but had to return to the U.S. to finish her degree. She’s never been back since that time; Eleni has just inherited the hotel after Christos recent death.

This is a big, beautiful story for every one of these complicated characters. They learn and grow, so when they each make their decisions for their futures, they’ll know it’s the best one for them.

Highly recommend!!!

Thank you NetGalley, Flatiron, and Grant Ginder, you nailed it! Hope we get a Movie!

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading a novel that takes place on a Greek island, and I rate it a 3.5. The story concerns a classics professor who gets a month long summer job lecturing in Greece where her son and husband join her. I found this book to be both sad and humorous. This could be a great summer read!

[Tyler Goodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, We Meant Well is about a family trying to pull themselves back together. To do this, the Wrights travel to the Greek island of Aegina, where they try to overcome infidelity, plagiarism, The Past, etc. Set against this ancient backdrop, it's hard not to picture each character as Odysseus, wandering far from home, and struggling to find their way back. But in this version, they each keep having to ask themselves: when is it time to just give up and move on? Ginder writes characters who are simultaneously terrible, hilarious, warm, and (yes) well-meaning, and this novel is a perfect combination: a fun escape that is also serious, insightful, and surprising.

[Story · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and cliched.

[Donna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“All art is appropriation.”

Sue Ellen Wright is a professor of Greek classics; she’s headed for Greece to deliver lectures and reminisce about the experiences of her youth. At the last minute, her philandering husband Dean and the couple’s lovesick son Will decide to tag along. Grant Ginder has made a career of writing hilarious prose about disastrous families, and Honestly, We Meant Well made me laugh out loud more than once. Thanks go to Net Galley and Flatiron Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The book opens as Sue Ellen is conferring with a freshman who’s come to her office to challenge his midterm exam score:

“’I’m pretty sure I got this one right.’
“Connor points to a picture on his midterm…it’s an artifact that he was meant to identify.
“’That’s not a bong, Connor. That’s a Corinthian urn from the fifth century B.C.E…’
“But can’t you see how it could have been a bong?’
“’No,’ Sue Ellen says, ‘Actually, I can’t.'”

Teachers, are you experiencing flashbacks here? And those of you that aren’t teachers can appreciate that Sue Ellen needs a break, one that takes her as far away as possible. Her bags are packed.

Dean is a professor as well, and he’s a celebrated one. As the writer of a bestselling novel, The Light of Our Shadows, he is permitted to cherry-pick which students may enroll in his seminars. He knows he ought not to have sex with any of them, but they’re so insistent; and why shouldn’t they be? He’s a genius. At the moment, though, he’s a genius with writer’s block, and he thinks a Grecian holiday might just be what he needs; it will strengthen his marriage and get his creative juices flowing as well.

Will is a student, but who can chart a course, academic or otherwise, when his heart has been shattered? His boyfriend broke up with him and has instantly turned up on Instagram with kissy-face photos of himself with his new squeeze. It’s humiliating. It’s horrifying. Worse: everyone is liking those photos. Meanwhile, he has committed an unforgivable academic sin, one he’s desperate to keep his parents from learning.

Ginny Polonsky works at the university, and she knows where the bodies are buried. Readers know what Ginny knows—well, most of it anyway—and as the family unknits itself and copes with one unforeseen event after another, we are waiting for Ginny’s other shoe to drop on them. It’s immensely satisfying when it does.

There’s not a lot of character development here, but not much is needed. I believe each of these characters, which are written with admirable consistency. The prose is tight and the resolution surprises me. I would read this author again in a heartbeat.

The Wrights are Caucasian and middle class, and this is the demographic most likely to enjoy this book. It’s just the thing to toss into your suitcase or carry on when you’re headed on a trip of your own.

[Katie (never.ending.reading.list) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time reviewing this one because I'm still trying to figure out if I liked it.

Honestly, We Meant Well follows a dysfunctional family on a trip to Greece and has some side characters who tell their perspectives as well. It was a bit weird since some main characters who had great stories sort of took a back seat and then side stories that really didn't fit were give major attention. I'm really not sure what this one was about.

It was well written and parts were hilarious but then other parts I just found myself kind of bored. There was exactly one likable character in my opinion and the rest I just couldn't care less what happened to them. The whole honestly we meant well thing was pretty cool except I don't think anyone other than the mom actually meant well.

But! What I loved was the Greece aspect. There was so much history and culture in here, I felt like I was there with them.

Overall, I have no idea about this one.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great read, at moments laughable and at others sad. I really enjoyed this tale of a family in crisis. Nothing new about the mother learning that the father is a cheat....but, Ginder makes this family incredibly interesting and moves them to a wonderful setting that adds to the specialness of the novel.

Sue Ellen and Dean come back from the edge of a divorce after he is caught cheating. Just as their lives are getting back on track, Sue Ellen, a classics professor is invited to lecture in Greece and elects to return to the island where she had an earlier experience with great, memorable love.

Oh, here the pot is stirred when her husband and struggling son decide to join her. Once on the island she becomes acquainted and with her former lovers’ daughter, Eleni. who is trying to hold together the crumbling hotel.

As we read the novel, the author combines the various voices of his cast of players. The final ingredient is Ginny Polansky a student of Dean and Sue Ellen who comes to this island of tranquility and hope but hysterically brings the plot to a climax.

I truly enjoyed this novel, can’t wait to discuss it in seminar and reading groups.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this interesting and original novel.

[Aristotle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad Retsina

A married couple and their gay son escape to Greece to fight off their mid life crisis and his lack of ambition.
Why can't they use the word gay as an adjective? As in "Lets have a gay ole time."
Why do they have to make gay men creepy dudes looking to get freaky in a public bathroom or on grinder?

I can't give this book more than two stars a generous two at that.
The Wright family journal of their summer in Greece. Not exactly the most exciting of reads. It was like looking at pictures from your friends family vacation. Snooze. Drool. Yawn. Greek coffee, make that a double! Stat!

Dean wasn't a likable character.
His pants were still around his ankles when he thought, with perfect clarity. -Dean
That's the kind of guy he was.

His wife Sue Ellen wasn't a barrel of laughs.
Will was a wuss.
The hotel owners Eleni and Stavros were interesting but underused.
Sorry to say this is a skip it.

[Lisa (Remarkablylisa) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me forever to finish but im glad I read it.

[Andrea Raub · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of people liked this book but I’m not even sure why I finished it. Too trite for words.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is promoted as “rollicking” and “a story so funny” etc. I must have read the wrong book. Not one Ha. Not one chortle. Not one guffaw ever threatened me in reading this book. It was a fine book, but certainly misrepresented. It is a story of love and loss, new beginnings and making life decisions. I liked that the characters were all flawed, some more than others, but still all had rough edges. I like that when the book ended, the author didn’t need to tell you everyone’s path, but I didn’t feel abandoned or lost. It was fine. But when I picked it up, I wanted levity and that, I did not find.

[Pretty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recieved an arc of this book, and I have to say it was an easy read. It is written through 5 character perspectives which I found a bit much. I feel the book would have been better if the son Will's character was axed all together it felt like a filler story to me. Just a way to add length to the storyline. It had a good curve ball towards the end but this one just wasnt for me even the parts about Greece didn't excite me and that is what I looked forward to the most.
Cheating husband narrative has been done a million times.

[Brittany (Rescues and Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you so much to Flatiron for sending me an ARC of this book!

This story, at its foundation, is about family. A small family full of flawed individuals who have gone to an island off of Greece's mainland to escape the problems they have been facing back home.

But on a deeper level, it is also about new beginnings. It is about respecting history but being brave to forge your own path in the present. And honestly, I truly enjoyed this!

The Characters

Sue Ellen - A Classicists Professor at Berkeley, she is asked to visit Athens so that she can give a lecture to a bunch of geriatric cruise-ship guests. She accepts the offer, longing to be back in the place that holds a history for her...a place where she once knew someone very special.

Dean - Sue's husband. Successful author and philanderer. After he is caught having an affair, he has spent the last several months trying to repair his marriage. He thinks accompanying Sue Ellen to Greece will be just what they need, but unfortunately, his indiscretions seem to follow-him…literally.

Will - Sue and Dean's son. He is struggling with the recent breakup from his boyfriend. On top of that, he is weighed down by the knowledge that he has essentially plagiarized one if his dad's old pieces of unpublished work for his thesis thinking no one would ever know. Now it is getting published…

Eleni - Reluctant innkeeper. She runs the Alectrona, a small Inn on Aegina that was left to her after her Dad died. Desperate to get back to Athens, she is selling the Inn and will lodge only one more family...the Wrights. But perhaps she will learn more about herself and her dad from this family of quirky characters.

Ginny - I won’t give too much away about Ginny since her part was ultimately small and it would be a minor spoiler. But….she’s insane. And that is about all you really need to know.


Perhaps what stands out the most, were the characters. I “enjoyed” each character individually as they were each distinguished with their own personalities, quirks, history, and flaws. Why is the word “enjoyed” in quotation marks? Because most of these characters were also highly unlikeable. Dean, for obvious reasons, is a scoundrel who has made several mistakes as a parent and as a husband, and who is only concerned for his own personal well-being.

Will is also fairly self-centered, focusing more on running away from his problems then facing them head on.

Ginny, well…she is crazy. Again, that is really all you need to know.

In all honesty, I found Sue Ellen and Eleni the only truly redeemable characters in this story. But having likeable characters was not the point and they needn’t be likeable to enjoy the dynamic these characters had with one another.

This story was also very atmospheric. Set again the backdrop of Greece, the vivid setting is almost a character in itself and has truly sparked in me an interest to visit that part of the world.

Gripes

Perhaps my only truly Gripe is the disproportionate amount of time that certain characters received, or the lack of closure that seemed to encounter each of their story lines.

For example, Eleni. I enjoyed her character but she was actually given a very small role throughout the story and ultimately felt like she was just being included as a device to further the plot. I would have liked to see more of her and learn more about when happens with her at the end.

Or then there is Will, who, on the opposite end of the spectrum, really did not have a particularly important role in this story. There were often times we would get to his portions and I would wonder what the point was? Especially since his entire story line basically revolved around his recent break-up and then a fling he had while in Greece….one that basically went nowhere and was entirely anti-climactic.

Overall this was truly an enjoyable, fun, light-hearted adult- contemporary. And I am excited for more people to read it!


As a small side note: Since I did receive an ARC I found several spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. Hopefully more proofing is done before it is published!

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Let’s Not Do That Again but I like Ginder’s style.

“Why not? Because, Christos, we are too late. Because I have fallen in love with someone else; because I have made a choice. Because despite what our poets tell us, we contain no multitudes, no alternate endings.

We are like Homer’s Dawn, who was not marigold, or violet, but was rose and only rose. We are epithets. Dean the lost, Christos Who Regrets, Clear-Eyed Sue Ellen.

Singular reductions that strip us of all the people we wish we were but can never truly be. And to forget this is to truck in fantasy. A life of second chances that call to us, luring our ships closer and closer to gun-gray rocks.”

[Tripfiction · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel set on AEGINA, GREECE



A snapshot few weeks into the lives of the dysfunctional Wright family. Mum and wife Sue Ellen (nothing like the Dallas Sue Ellen) has been invited to lecture to an older demographic of tourists, travelling under the auspices of Golden Age Adventures (think Swan Hellenic). She is at the top of her game as she is a Classics Professor.

Dad Dean is a writer and intends to read and write whilst in Greece but he has been having an indiscreet liaison with one of his students and actions have consequences.

Young Will, their son, is just getting over the ending of his relationship with Rajiv and is drawn to scrolling through the latter’s Instagram account. Rajiv has clearly found a new love and he has also purloined the job which had Will’s name on it. All rather irksome and upsetting for him. He himself has taken one of his dad’s earlier pieces and presented it as his own work. Oh oh, he is going to get into deep water. Not to mention that he reads his Dad’s major book and discovers that once again, his Dad has also lost his moral compass! Life father, like son, perhaps….

“They are, if nothing else, a family of books: books they read, books they study, books they collect. Books they dream of someday writing; books they stress over and abandon; books that win fortune and fame….”

Oh what a convoluted life these guys lead. Boundaries are shot and tensions are high. The author is great at depicting the minutiae of family life, peppering his prose with humorous observations. Greece too, with side trips to Delphi and Athens, comes alive in the capable hands of the author. His great writing style shores up a fairly prosaic storyline with which I struggled to engage for the most part.

[Manon Misheck · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many people try to put up a front for their family - that they have everything put together. I loved that this novel dove into the lives of a family who thought they had everything put together until recently. The backdrop of a beautiful Greek island is the perfect setting, but that's about the only thing that is going well for this family. This book felt so relatable because it went in depth on the issues this family is facing - and brought it to the reader with a humorous twist! This book was truly enjoyable and I appreciate Netgalley and Flatiron Books for giving me the opportunity to early review it!

[Amanda Belcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect end-of-summer book. Funny, intriguing characters and set in such a beautiful place. (You might feel the need to run off to Greece after reading it). It was also so wonderfully written that if I wasn't reading a library copy I'd definitely be underlining and highlighting. I loved Grant Ginder's writing style and now I'll definitely have to check out more of his work.

[Joann M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay for me. I liked learning about Greece.

[Athena Rupas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grant Ginder's "Honestly, We Meant Well" is funny, filled with biting wit, hilarious characters and deep emotion. It's an amazing novel about a family that's falling apart rather hilariously so. The plot is beautifully written and the characters are all well developed. Definitely the type of writing one has come to expect from Ginder. His descriptions of the atmosphere and scenery make you feel like you're right there in Greece with the characters. This family is a trainwreck but you can't help but root for them from the beginning! This is a must read!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

[Mom · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nasty, bored, rich family spends a month on a Greek island and creates drama. I finished it, barely, so 2 stars instead of 1 which is just for DNF books. I guess the title was supposed to be ironic since nobody in this book meant well. Each was so despicable that I could only hope the bad guy would end up ok as his weaknesses made him sympathetic compared to every other horrid, self satisfied, unkind, narrow, selfish, self-righteous little creepy character is this stupid story about a bad marriage, ignorant teenagers and uncontrolled hypocrisy.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was set in Greece and it's about a family in crisis who stays in a hotel for a month there. Sue Ellen had loved the owner of the hotel many years ago, but he has since died. Her husband is not faithful and her son seems lost after graduating from college. Was not my favorite book! I applauded Sue Ellen's decision at the end of the book.

[Jessica Packard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Flatiron Books for sending an ARC so I could go on vacation with the Wright family! I loved how each chapter is from a different characters perspective. Ginder does a beautiful job of weaving each storyline together.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 Reasons to Read Honestly, We Meant Well:

1. If you need a book that paints a beautiful picture of a beautiful setting, grab this one. Taking place on an island off of Greece, I felt as though I could see the stone white walls, sandy beaches and crystal blue waters. The juxtaposition of beauty and the sadness of a family in crisis made for an unforgettable story that I held with me long after I finished reading.

2. The themes of letting go, loss, and family are interwoven in such a compelling way. Mother, Sue Ellen, and her son, Will, are the two main characters with husband, Dean, and Will's peer, Ginny, as the supporting characters. Sue Ellen is struggling to keep herself and her family afloat as she battles with her husband's infidelity and her son's loss of structure as a recent graduate trying to carve a place for himself in the world. The authentic and genuine battles she deals with as a mother, coupled with the inner struggles of young adult, Will, was written with such honesty I found myself completely moved throughout from beginning to end.

3. I find I am drawn to books with a dry and dark sense of humor. This is one of those books. Through the familial struggles, there is an undertone of wit that I relished, and it had me turning the pages because I couldn't get enough.

4. You all know me and my hidden love affair with Google. This book helped to cultivate that love. I found myself googling the places referenced, as well as the Greek history and mythology that were woven throughout this heartfelt tale.

5. Throughout the loss and pain there is an overwhelming theme of "new beginnings". I love when I read a book that closes one chapter on a character's life, and opens a new one, leaving a sense of hope with the reader as the final words are read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

HONESTLY, WE MEANT WELL is written from five different perspectives (though one is little and only toward the latter half). A wife/mother/professor Sue Ellen, a husband/father/one-time author/cheater Dean, their gay son Will recently single and searching for the next step in his life as college ends, the daughter (Eleni) of the man Sue Ellen fell in love with over a summer together/a young woman struggling with whether or not to sell the hotel in Greece she'd inherited from her father, and the student Ginny who slept with Dean and now refuses to leave him alone. Their trip to Greece where Sue Ellen is to give a lecture on a cruise ship creates a fundamental shift in each of their lives. Old comforts and familiarities in life, that were perhaps not so, come to an end. While new paths redirect each of them. Sometimes it's simply time to see you've had a decent run, to not forget the good times before everything went kaput, and to take that leap and dive into life anew. Mr. Ginder's writing is very pleasant, humorous, and thought-provoking as he digs into each characters unique personalities. He's definitely and author I'll have to keep an eye out for new reads.
My copy was an arc from Flatiron Books.