A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

A dazzling novel of family, following a troubled mother and her two daughters over forty years and through a swiftly changing American landscape as they seek lives they can fully claim as their own. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2024; Ecco; 978-0063039841
audio, ebook, print (240 pages); family fiction

This book is a look at the Cohen family over 40 years.  They are a family of 4 at the beginning of the novel - father Rudy who had been in a concentration camp and was still keeping secrets from his wife; mother Frieda who takes care of people in a nursing home during the day but can't quite take care of her family;, oldest daughter Nancy who is the pretty sister and younger daughter Shelly who is the smart sister.  The family barely gets along but when the patriarch dies, they find out that he was really the glue that held the family together and they go from being an unhappy family to a major dysfunctional family.  The novel covers a 40 year time span starting in 1971 and we get a look at a changing America as the backdrop to the lives of Frieda and her two daughters. 

After Rudy dies, Frieda realizes that her daughters don't really even like her.  After they leave home, she rarely hears from them.  She moves from Chicago to Miami to try to start a new life but her life is unstructured and filled with booze and the wrong men.  Nancy gets married at 20 - not because she really loves the guy but because she is pregnant.  He is a traveling salesman with a shadowy lifestyle and their life is pretty nomadic which makes it difficult for their daughter Jess to make friends.  Shelly is so smart and hates being part of her family.  As soon as she graduates from high school, she goes to school on the west coast and then finds a job in the early technology field.  The two sisters see each other occasionally but their time together often ends up in a disagreement of some sort.  The one thing they do agree on is to stay as far away from their mother as possible. 

This is a book about family and motherhood and how difficult it can be to love your child while you are chasing your own goals.  It's a story about family love and forgiveness.  And most importantly, it's about the changes that need to be made to find happiness in life.  They learn that you have to let go of past hurts and accept your family if to find happiness.

Buy A Reason to See You Again at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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