My Rating: 4 stars
Having read (and loved) Cherise Wolas’ masterful debut
novel The Resurrection of Joan Ashby last summer, I went into this
book, her sophomore effort The Family Tabor, knowing
that I would be treated to yet another beautifully written story with
well-developed, realistic characters. Wolas’ writing is exquisite – she is one of
those rare talents who is able to take seemingly ordinary, everyday events and turn
them into gorgeously rendered scenes, with descriptions that are intricate and
richly detailed, yet deftly woven into the story in a way that never feels
overwritten (to me at least). As she did
with her characters in her previous novel, Wolas goes deep into the minds of
each member of the Tabor family and slowly, gently, brings forth the issues
that each character faces, the inner conflicts that they struggle with and how
those feelings, those emotions that feel so real, impact the rest of the family. This is a character-driven story through and
through and once again, just like with Joan Ashby, we get to know each of Wolas’
characters intimately, understand what makes each of them tick, the motivations
behind their decisions, and the extent to which their backstories as well as actions
taken in the past affect their lives in the present.
This is one of those books that requires a certain amount
of patience to read, not because the concepts are particularly complicated or
hard to understand, but rather the story is very introspective, and in a sense,
almost requires the reader to approach with a contemplative mindset. To me, there was also a philosophical element
to the story and despite the descriptive details, I felt that there was also
profound meaning in some of what was left unsaid throughout the story, leaving
room for us to reflect and apply our own thoughts rather than dictate a
particular direction to follow. The
story this time around also focuses on family dynamics and the delicate balance
between the necessity of maintaining the bonds of family while still following
one’s individual path and beliefs, however with this story, there was also the
added element of faith and religion, which ended up being a bit more central to
the story than the author originally intended (here’s a link to Wolas’ interview
with Publisher’s Weekly where she talks a little bit about the religious
element in her book: PW interview). As a reader who is always seeking to learn
about cultures different from my own, I appreciate the knowledge that I was
able to gain about the Jewish faith, most of which was previously unknown to
me.
With The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, Cherise
Wolas set a tremendously high bar for herself and while I feel that this book
lives up to those standards and is as excellently written as her debut, it didn’t
have as profound of an impact on me as her previous novel did. I had connected deeply with Joan Ashby,
perhaps because of her being a writer and a storyteller, which are both things
that are huge in my life as well. In
comparisons, I didn’t connect with the Tabor family as deeply, despite knowing them
so intimately through the author’s amazingly intricate characterizations. Even with that said, this was still a wonderful
book, one that I enjoyed and savored, though didn’t “love” as much as the first
one. With yet another impressive work that
I had the privilege of reading, Wolas is now on my list of favorite new “must-read”
authors. I can’t wait to see what she
will come out with next!
Received ARC from
Flatiron Books via NetGalley.
No comments:
Post a Comment