The story spans several decades, tracking Marilyn and David Sorenson and their four adult daughters in suburban Chicago. While the parents remain visibly infatuated with one another after forty years, their children struggle with various crises: secret pregnancies, infidelity, alcoholism, and professional stagnation. The narrative shifts between the couple’s origins in the 1970s and the present day, when a long-hidden grandson suddenly appears. This arrival forces the sisters—Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace—to confront their resentments and the heavy expectation of duplicating their parents’ idyllic marriage.
Readers who enjoy multi-generational family sagas will find a detailed study of sibling rivalry and the burden of inherited expectations. The book provides a look at how long-term partnerships evolve and how children often misunderstand their parents' private lives. By the end, the reader sees how a single family unit can contain both deep dysfunction and genuine loyalty. It offers a realistic depiction of the messiness inherent in long-term intimacy and the difficulty of forging an independent identity within a large family.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2019
- Language
- EN
