The Hole We're In

by Gabrielle Zevin

From award winning writer Gabrielle Zevin comes a biting, powerful, and deliciously entertaining novel about an American family and their misguided efforts to stay afloat--spiritually, morally and financially.

Meet the Pomeroys: a church-going family living in a too-red house in a Texas college town. Roger, the patriarch, has impulsively gone back to school, only to find his true ambitions at odds with the temptations of the present. His wife, Georgia, tries to keep things in order at home, but she's been feeding the bill drawer with unopened envelopes for months and can never find the right moment to confront its swelling contents. In an attempt to climb out of the holes they've dug, Roger and Georgia make a series of choices that have catastrophic consequences for their three children--especially for Patsy, the youngest, who will spend most of her life fighting to overcome them.

The Hole We're In shines a spotlight on some of the most relevant issues of our day--over-reliance on credit, vexed gender and class politics, the war in Iraq--but it is Zevin's deft exploration of the fragile economy of family life that makes this a book for the ages.

Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Adult

283 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2010

About the author

GABRIELLE ZEVIN is a New York Times best-selling novelist whose books have been translated into forty languages.

Her tenth novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was published by Knopf in July of 2022 and was an instant New York Times Best Seller, a Sunday Times Best Seller, a USA Today Best Seller, a #1 National Indie Best Seller, and a selection of the Tonight Show’s Fallon Book Club. Maureen Corrigan of NPR’s Fresh Air called it, “a big beautifully written novel…that succeeds in being both serious art and immersive entertainment.” Following a twenty-five-bidder auction, the feature film rights to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow were acquired by Temple Hill and Paramount Studios.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry spent many months on the New York Times Best Seller List, reached #1 on the National Indie Best Seller List, was a USA Today Best Seller, and has been a best seller all around the world. A.J. Fikry was honored with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Award for Fiction, the Japan Booksellers’ Prize, and was long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award, among other honors. To date, the book has sold over five-million copies worldwide. It is now a feature film with a screenplay by Zevin. Young Jane Young won the Southern Book Prize and was one of the Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction.

She is the screenwriter of Conversations with Other Women (Helena Bonham Carter) for which she received an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Screenplay. She has occasionally written criticism for the New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered, and she began her writing career, at age fourteen, as a music critic for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Zevin is a graduate of Harvard University. She lives in Los Angeles.

NOTE: Apologies, but Gabrielle doesn't reply to messages on Goodreads.

Reviews

[Carol Dodgen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a downer with no relief. The characters were not likable and never were able to get themselves out of any of the holes they were in. A stark, pessimistic view of life with no silver lining. Not a beach read. More like a book to get you in the mood to cut yourself.

[Lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impossible to put down. Fantastically well-done look at the varied holes we climb in, climb out of, dig for ourselves, and find ourselves in. This searing family-disfunction/credit-based-society-critique/study of religious fundamentalism left the earth pretty scorched, but breathing, bleeding believable characters kept me turning pages as fast as I could read.
Roger, trying to finish his PhD, leaves his wife Georgia to take care of family finances while he focuses on his dissertation- which he hopes will become a book that will save their family. Georgia, however, is struggling with his drop in income since he returned to school, and with the pressure to stage an elaborate back-yard wedding for oldest daughter Helen, who unthinkingly keeps increasing her wish-list (repaint the house, add a pond? professionally printed invitations, at the very least). Son Vinnie has already left Texas for New York, where his film school ambitions prove more costly than he could have known, and youngest daughter Patsy is left, in the cruelest twist, to bear the brunt of Roger and Georgia's failings, and she is essentially cast out of the family to serve as a sacrificial lamb. Patsy, however, is a powerful and strong character, and one of the best characters I've read all year.
This was really seriously good fiction. So impressed.

[Monte Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year I read Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen... and from my review you might have gathered that I was not that much of a fan.... I do think that these would be interesting books to read in conversation with one another because they are similar? Or at least they touch on similar themes. While both are historical in nature, The Hole We're In is a lot more recent than than the 70s era Crossroads. Both books center around characters that are deeply religious, both have a subplot in regards to an inheritance and both follow a family in similar means of distress.

I can admit that when it comes to Gabrielle Zevin I do find it hard to fathom a version of me that can believe they can write a bad book. I am more than willing to admit that this wasn't as good a time as the two more recent publications through which I was introduced to Zevin, but the way that she crafts a narrative and executes a story was all over this book.

It also doesn't hurt that The Hole We're In is several hundred pages shorter than Franzen's work and is a complete narrative that sure could continue past the last page, but it doesn't. It's a self contained narrative; so in addition to my bias I'm already having a better time here with what was executed than the potential that lives on with him.

The Pomeroy's felt like real people, which is crucial when there isn't an external plot moving the narrative along so much as the narrative is a chronicling of this family and the ways that their choices; their financial choices in particular, unite and serve as a wedge between them. The ways that each of them are a mess of contradiction while being more similar than their dysfunction might let them recognize.

It's not a perfect book, and a more honest rating might be closer to a four than a five, but I really enjoyed the time I spent with these characters in their lives. In particular how the second part of the book really focused in on Patsy who was a bit player in the set up arc of the book but really came in to drive it home strong.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never get tired of variations on "terrible parenting" stories. You think you had it bad? The mother in this story maxes out her credit cards and then applies for credit cards in her adult son's name when the offers appear in the mail. Using his identity, she maxes out credit cards in his name too, practically destroying his credit. The dad, a hypocritical holy roller, denies his youngest daughter her rightful inheritance (from the grandmother) because she refuses to go to a church college. Since mom has wrecked her credit too, the youngest daughter can't even get a school loan, so she feels compelled to join the military thinking she will get her college paid for that way. While she is in Iraq, her husband is busy spending all the money she thinks she is saving, so she comes home from the war to work at "Slickmart" to try to save money for college.

And just like a lot of people you know, these people are not spending money on wild extravagances, but on normal things that we have convinced ourselves we need to live comfortably: cell phones, cable t.v., the occasional meal at a chain restaurant, Christmas presents, expected charitable contributions, etc. There is a lot of truth in this book about American overspending and over consumption and the messes people get themselves into with access to easy available credit.

The novel has some structural oddities. The first half of the book is told mostly from the parents' perspective with occasional insights from one or the other of the 3 children: Helen, Vinnnie, and Patsy. The last half of the book focuses on Patsy's life with occasional insights from one of the parents or siblings. It feels lopsided. Another strange aspect is the last section which is set in 2022, at which time abortion is apparently illegal again in America. Patsy has to travel to Canada to obtain a safe legal abortion for her 15-year old daughter. She first attempts to obtain an illegal abortion but is repulsed to discover it is going to take place in a dirty barn by people wearing wigs to disguise their identities. i am not sure what this incident added to the plot or how it fit in with the general theme of credit card debt. But this is a minor point. There is a lot to like in this alternately funny and sad book.

[N · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hole We’re In could more accurately be titled People Making Bad Decisions. And, indeed, for the first half of the novel, it’s queasily compelling to read about Gabrielle Zevin’s “typical Middle American family” as they lie to each other and rack up a crushing amount of debt.

However, Hole begins to unravel around the halfway mark. Story threads are introduced and never developed. (In some cases, story conclusions are deliberately obfuscated and I think Zevin thinks she’s being literary when she really, really isn’t.) POV changes and time skips forward and the narrative gets confused and boring.

It’s a story about debt. No, it’s a story about Fundamentalist Christianity. No, it’s a story about the Iraq War. No, it’s a story about abortion. No… it’s all of these and yet somehow it’s nothing. The lack of focus kills the novel dead.

Hole had the potential to be thoroughly enjoyable novel. In the end, though, it becomes a class in how to drive your novel off a cliff:

Instead of creating one interesting character and developing that character, Zevin creates five, six, seven characters and then leaves their stories hanging. Instead of picking on one story theme and seeking out its nuances, Zevin picks several story themes and veers randomly between them.

Disappointing.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me ages, since release (I pre-ordered it)till now to read this. And so it seems the world ends today May 21st, 2011 (later in the day I guess, and maybe it is a time zone thing). Good timing to be reading a book about fundamentalist Adventist Christians. Solipsism FTW.

The reason it took me those ages to read this might be because frankly, the blurb and reviews make it sound like a downer. I need to be in the right mood to want to tackle potentially devastating novels, AND often novels about the despair of human condition seem to try too hard, are too obviously manipulative for me to actually like it. I should have trusted Ms Zevin a more. It is very well written, moving, and I could relate to the characters (though a warning, they are all quite flawed and non heroic. But I usually do not have a problem reading about unlikable characters). It is not claustrophobic, something I was unconsciously expecting somehow. And hey, Britney Spears as a literary theme, not something I expected, but it works. (Who would´ve thought it?) And Tristram Shandy and how if you are not careful, fate (or social-cultural-religious constricts) really has it in for you.

But I got, as always issues. First, this book has an interesting structure, in 4 parts:
- a year in the life of the Pomeroy family, a chapter for each month. Circa 1995. Which perhaps could almost be read as a standalone novella.
- some 5 or 6 years after that, a few weeks of Patsy´s life.
- some 5 or 6 after that, a day in the life of this family.
- some 10 years a roadtrip Patsy takes. This is obviously set in the future, and there is a speculative element in that a certain political event has taken place abortion outlawed in all the USA.

The problem with this structure is that characters do not get the same ammount of time or attention. It feels unbalanced. We have a lot of Patsy, but not consistently enough that we could say, or more importantly feel, that she is the main character (she is not on part 3), a lot of Georgia the mother and Roger the father, a little bit of Helen, almost nothing of Vinnie ( Victor on some goodreads reviews, I wish I knew why). Too many things are not resolved or only alluded in throw away lines. The final part was almost off-tone with the rest of the book, the speculative element making it unreal, almost manipulative. And nitpicking some details like Patsy´s triumph in not owing anything to anybody is not clear, for what we know of her life, or to happen off screen so to speak. The check of her mothers that her husband pocketed?.

And then there is that, after finishing and thinking about this book for a while (a good sign regarding the quality of the book), does fate (in the form of education and parenting, and gosh, education is indeed another theme here) really have it in for middle class americans, who put a lot of faith in Credit and their Church? (Yes, says the book). Me, I do not know.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a fundamentalist Christian family in which half the members seem to be like Nikki in Big Love--unable to stop shopping or admit to their credit card debt--was surprisingly painful to read. Surprisingly painful because none of the characters were likable, and the family situation was so fraught and tense.

Nevertheless, read it I did because, well, I had to see how it would end. Lamely, as it turns out. The first quarter is by far the best; after that, the author moves forward in six year intervals, each less tense and less believable but still redeemed by the realness of the debt and the awfulness of the religion and the people who espouse it.

Not dissimilar from The Three Weissmans of Connecticut, though in that case the writing was lighter and shinier and at least one of the characters far more lovable.

[John Woodward · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about a family that disintegrates, not because of the members' hedonism, but from their idealism. (Intolerance and bigotry are ideals to those who practice them.) Money and respectability are the main concerns of the parents, and every character must come to terms with these needs. People make choices, and oftentimes are disappointed in themselves afterwards -- but are still stuck with the consequences of those choices. Most of the book takes place in there here-and-now, but the last little bit looks ahead into an America that is deeply depressing, and depressingly likely to come true.

[Bekah Groop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was definitely a case of right-book-right-time. Zevin’s internal character work is extraordinary and I think it’s why I’m drawn to her books over and over again. Despite covering difficult topics, her books are comfort reads for me and this was no exception. She examines everything from the war in Iraq to the cycle of credit card debt in families, to strict religious upbringings, but does so with compassion and honesty. The scene with George near the end of the book had me in tears and I don’t cry at books very often.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adored The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, so I wanted to read something else by Gabrielle Zevin. In some ways The Hole We're In reminded me of A.J. Fikry: Zevin's easy to read style, the way time slows or speeds during parts of the novel. In other ways, the two couldn't be more different: setting, characters, tone.

The Hole We're In tells the story of the Pomeroy family. Pastor Dad decides at age forty to return to school for his PhD. Mother George works temp jobs to support the family whilst dad earns a graduate assistant's pay of $15,000. Son Vinnie is disowned after going to Yale, a secular university, instead of a Sabbath Day Adventist sanctioned school. Daughter Helen demands the wedding to end all weddings. And daughter Patsy is treated like a patsy by her mom to the detriment of her relationship with her father.

To say the Pomeroys are a dysfunctional family is putting it mildly - there's identity theft (within the family!), racism, rebellion, adultery, credit card debt in the tens of thousands and more. Large swaths of the novel read like gallows humor and parts of the novel felt like watching a car wreck in slow motion.

As in real life, there are no true innocents in this story - there's no one character without a mortal flaw, although I did find my sympathies resided most closely with Patsy. It's a story of how religion left unchecked and unexamined can tear a family apart, a story of how someone can seem like the ideal man from a distance, but hypocritical up close, a story of children who stay and children who go. One character ponders whether we can ever escape the circumstances of our birth and I'm not sure how I would answer this question after reading this novel.

If you'd like a readable book that deals with big issues like consumerism, faith, family dynamics and more, The Hole We're In is a good choice. But if I were you, I'd line up a light hearted novel to follow it since this book has more depth than might be apparent at first glance.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than average drama focussing on issues of today and how they impact one family. Difference between this and most books of this type, at least for me, is that the family is fundamental Christian, employing the restrictions imposed by the church. But this does not take away the outside influences affecting everyone these days. The father's decision to complete his education at the age of 42 forces the entire family to uproot from Tennessee to Texas, plunging them deeper and deeper into debt imposing strains on his fragile wife who takes an ostrich-like approach to the catastrophe. Their three children are given lives and motivations of their own, each surviving by their own means with surprising results.

[nene · Rating 4 out of 5]

depressing as hell

[Jess Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐️ borderline two stars honestly…. This just didn’t hit it for me, the characters and family dynamic just made me mad - the lack of ability to communicate properly with each other was shocking! Gutted that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to because the masterpiece that was T&T&T was so good.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF….this is just not working for me. I love all of Zevin’s other books but the pace, tone and characters of this book are just off for my taste.

[Katie Herzog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the realness and rawness of the characters and how each perspective is given. This book tackles many different topics, mostly religion and the inner depths and turmoil of family and the impact of individual choices. Gabrielle Zevin has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

[Charlotte Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was mostly about being in loads of debt, affairs and cancer. Kind of redeemed itself in the end but altogether very depressing and I hated 97% of characters. 2.5 stars

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think Gabrielle is a great writer and there was a great story in this book populated with compelling characters; I just wish it wasn’t buried underneath the multitude of curse words on the pages. This book was enthralling but a real downer of a story. It is about the Pomeroy family, Roger, the father and a fanatical seventh day adventist, George his long-suffering wife, Victor, the outcast son because he went to Yale and not a religious college, Helen, a daughter with mountains of credit card debt and finally, Patsy, who takes the brunt of most of her parents hypocritical sins, eventually joining the military. The part that really bothered me about his book was that her parents wouldn’t let her date a black football player at her high school and the mother let the father think that Patsy had gotten an abortion, when really it was her. Everything falls apart for this group, with the exception of Victor and Patsy. Helen and Victor really take a backseat to the story, for half of the book, Patsy is the main character and driving force plot wise. I despised the father, the mother and rooted for Patsy but was disappointed to see her life turn out the way it did and that the cycle of pregnancy/abortion continued with her daughter. I heard this was a searing look at our “recession era” time, and with the book cover styled to look like a credit card, there was plenty of financial woes for the family members, but I felt the book raised many more issues than just that and it wasn’t necessarily the focus. It felt like too much crammed into one book, I would have enjoyed hearing the story from some of the characters that didn’t get many pages (Victor, Helen, more George). The story often jumped ten years into the future and not in the right places.

Favorite Quote:
Sometimes she suspected that something inside her was a bit broken. She related to documentaries she had seen about autistic people. She knew how a person was supposed to react to things-love, for instance, or excitement or delight and could put the appropriate show of those feelings, but she never felt any of them. The only emotion she truly experienced was mild annoyance, and she felt that most all the time.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

So many lazy things that enraged me about this book with a lot of storylines and people that never quite came together cohesively. And after reading “Tomorrow and Tomorrow…” I was really excited to read another book from this author. Unfortunately this one was a huge stupid disappointment. The concepts about capitalism, consumerism, hypocrisy and image obsession were really good, and as this was written in 2011, it made me appreciate some of the modest improvements we’ve made to consumer credit and identity theft protection.

However I am so confused by so many things— was there virgin pregnancy? Is that what happened or was Patsy at PP for birth control? Was Georgia actually getting the abortion but ALLOWED her daughter to take the blame?! How was this never explained or discussed? And then the contrast with the Patsy’s daughter’s abortion later on. Huh? Come on …

Also hello, Patsy girl, go to community college for an associates and apply for a Pell grant. Then you can use those grades to get into a 4-year uni. Like her storyline/decision-making just made no sense, in general, but I think anyone with access to the internet could find info about community college! Patsy, was, I assume the character we were supposed to feel sympathy towards and I did — she had horrible parents and siblings so damaged from the horrible parents that no one was there to help, but at some point, i just felt like she was so phenomenally stupid it exasperated me!

The parents really were so revoltingly reprehensible. I also about lost it when George turned down the FT job with benefits. Literally the biggest moron of the book! Finally, the last section, which was supposed to be in the dystopian 2022, was ridiculous.

Really I just wasn’t interested in any of the characters and they all felt one-dimensional and extremely unintelligent. More like character sketches than actual people. Ugh!

[Korynne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve read almost every book by Gabrielle Zevin and I’ve enjoyed all of them so far except this one: The Hole We’re In is quite unremarkable and depressing, an unfortunate departure from Zevin’s other novels.

This book is mundane and unexciting. It’s just a slice-of-life story but nothing interesting happens. Zevin picked the wrong slice of these characters’ lives to portray. The book reads too much like a random Wednesday in real life, and that’s just not a fun reading experience, in my opinion.

I disliked every single character in this book. The parents are abusive. The spouses and partners are despicable. The sibling relationships are toxic. There is no hope. No climax. No resolution. The characters did not learn from their mistakes. Like why was this book even written?

There is so much talk of being in debt and not accomplishing your dreams and just living this really unfulfilling life. It’s truly a depressing book. And I’m sorry but that is NOT the kind of novel I need. You know how we middle-class people find it really interesting to read stories about those who are astoundingly rich because it’s so unbelievably unrealistic to us? I feel like a really rich person, to whom money is no object, needs to read this novel to get a look into the life of a normal middle-class citizen, because I’m sure this all would seem unbelievably unrealistic to them.

If you want a dreadfully mundane and unfulfilling story filled with unlikable characters, then this book is for you. I will continue to read any books by Gabrielle Zevin, but this is one to skip. If you’re new to Zevin’s novels, I’d recommend starting with Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow because that one is truly a masterpiece.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must respectfully disagree with the above synopsis by Good Reads as must have obviously been written by the publisher. The only point I would agree with is the “flawed and at times infuriating” although I would say ALWAYS infuriating. There is nothing at all to like about the parents in this family nor do I consider them “relatable”. What I would say is that if you are looking for the “poster” parents for some of the world's worst parents, here is your couple. The husband is a narcissistic idiot and the wife is shameful in how blind she is to his idiocy and how she treats her children is - stealing their credit identity to steal from them and leave them with lifelong credit problems. They are total nut jobs. But the biggest problem I had with the book was that about 1/3 of the way through the book they had such a convenient bail out to their problems that was totally unrealistic and then the whole book shifted to the adult life of their third child whom the mother threw under the bus multiple times. It was like two books in one cover. I disliked the parents so much that I almost stopped reading 40 pages into the book and then it became like a train wreck where you just can not simply look away. So how do you rate a book that was one of the biggest loads of crap you've ever read? That is tough. There was nothing wrong with the writing skills, I just hated the story line. Because it pulled out such shocking emotion from me, maybe that is a reason to say it was ok. I don't know. I'm hard pressed to recommend this to anyone unless you want a teacher's manual on how NOT to parent children. I finished it so for that I will say “it was ok”.

[Kahlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my least favorite things that happens with literary fiction is a writer's failure to cohesively tie the character progression (or in this case digressions) to a solid plotline. This story had too many threads that were never pulled tightly together. Quality writing for the most part though, especially with this being an earlier novel in the collection for this author, but she has definitely improved her craft since this one was published.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this novel that follows the dysfunctional Pomeroy family, lead by a bland and flawed fundamentalist Christian patriarch, and rounded out by the incredibly well drawn and unique characters of his wife and children. The author uses the motif of holes- physical, financial, emotional-- throughout the book with mastery and without too heavy a hand to illustrate the mundane with such color that it becomes utterly absorbing. I had a difficult time putting this one down once I started reading. Gabrielle Zevin has definitely become a new favorite author of mine this past year, and it is taking all of my self control not to read her books one after the other, but much like a prime rib dinner, I feel like that would be too much richness to enjoy as much if I inhaled them all the time. Five stars- my favorite of her books that I've read so far.

[Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

[audible] i know people complain about this book because there are no likeable or redeeming characters and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but I think that's kind of the point. There is a line in the book - something like "we do the things we can live with" and I think it sums it up perfectly. We are all variations of bad people. Some can just live with more bad than others. This book is full of bad people in bad situations. That said, I didn't mind Patsy and I enjoyed her as a character. I thought she tried to rise above her upbringing. I also love the writing style as I did Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

It was a dark book with no redemption, but perhaps it is just a demonstration that we never escape the hole we are in.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent novel about the ways money fucks a family (and that family is all of us) up, and the repercussions that ripple down the lives of each member of the family from youth to old age. As much as this is a condemnation of our society's debt-happy consumeristic ways, Zevin manages to present the story in a neutral way, almost like an anthropologist chronicling the lives of her subjects, letting the events speak for themselves. It allows the story to breathe and develop without being sanctimonious or preachy, just heartbreakingly real.

[Keli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really disliked almost all of the characters in this. But there was one passage that I really loved, she captured the feeling well, "and love so much love...that the heart can hardly stand it. It is lucky, she thinks, that we don't feel all of the love inside us every moment. We couldn't breathe or walk or eat. it is lucky that it just flares up every now and again then resolves itself into a manageable dormancy."

[Claire Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was depressing, which is not surprising given the topic (credit card debt, family dysfunction, extreme religion). I liked one of the characters and felt sorry for a few others and really disliked the dad.

[Kyle Hepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely do not understand the reviews for this book. I thought it was phenomenal. The writing was so smart, the characters were so human and the plot seemed absolutely realistic and real. I loved it and I’m excited to read more by this author!

[Bookworm Express Kwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this one! The story was written matter-of-factly and flowed nicely from page to page.

The Hole We’re In starts with Roger Pomeroy impulsively deciding to go back to school, moving his family with him. We follow different family members at different times in their lives.

We see Roger’s wife Georgia struggle to make ends meet, leaving bills unpaid for months, never able to confront Roger. Roger is a religious man and religion guides him through a series of choices that dictates the course of their lives.

I found it interesting to see how the three children tried to break free from their parents and circumstances. At the same time I would have loved if The Hole We’re In explored Roger and Georgia’s dynamics more. Georgia was an interesting character, as she could (and should) have been the person to counterbalance Roger. But she hadn’t been. What were the reasons for her to be so compliant to her husband at the expense of their children? I would have loved to explore that. Still, I liked how real this book felt. The characters were definitely flawed, and their choices miserable.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a moment of tonal whiplash, this book pulled it out in the end I think. I was definitely feeling very down on it towards the middle since I need a happy (or at least hopeful) ending. I also have a decent amount of financial anxiety so this was a risky read for me.

I guess I'll just go in order. At the beginning of this book, basically everyone is awful and fucking each other over (sometimes literally) for the idea they might receive table scraps. It reads like a very cynical view on human nature. Only some of the characters win you over by the end.

The most torture-porny character is of course Patsy. She really does not get a break for the majority of the book. Her parents steal from her, she's forced into the military, she's forced by her indoctrinated values to marry some mediocre idiot who sucks, and forced by those same indoctrinated values to keep a baby she can't afford. Just to name the most egregious. I was really struggling around the midpoint of the novel when Patsy has no money, no prospects, and seemingly no hope.

I fought through my urge to DNF (the boredom of an office job drives a hard bargain) and I'm glad I did. Patsy gradually digs herself out of the holes she's in (badum tiss). She's not doing perfectly, but she's doing better. The torture (and the fact it makes me so uncomfortable) is kind of the point. Difficult art is worth engaging with. I definitely wouldn't have been as strong as Patsy and persisted like she did.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This story is about an unlikable, dysfunctional fundamental Christian family, whose members continually struggle to pull themselves out of debt. And none of the family members like any of the other family members, several who are continually looking for ways to get money, especially from one another to bail themselves out. Or they’re just existing, muddling through their lives under a ruthless Christian father with a strict dogma that slowly erodes the family. I read it it fast and kind of like I would watch a scary movie, in the comfort of my home, knowing this wasn’t really happening to me. The narrative was a bit choppy and it skipped years in time. prompting me to read back to reorient myself. Not as good as Tomorrw and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but engrossing nonetheless.