2014 book 229

Hannah Pittard's Reunion
Pittard's second novel (after the excellent The Fates Will Find Their Way) is just as strong as her debut. Thematically, it's similar to Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You, in that it centers on three (dysfunctional-ish) adult siblings who reunite for their father's funeral, though I feel like Pittard is telling a slightly different sort of story. Her protagonist is also dealing with a crumbling marriage, but her issues are more realistic--no shock jocks are involved, for one thing. Anyway, this was a really interesting meditation on a very complicated family (the protagonist and her siblings are their father's first children--he had several more by his four later wives). I liked this a lot and don't meant to keep comparing it to some dude's book, it's just that I keep seeing trailers for the movie. I kind of hope this book becomes a movie, because the protagonist is actually a semi-failed screenwriter, so it would be entertainingly meta. Plus I'd like to see these characters come to life. A/A-.
 

__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on October 7th.