“Is there any sort of situation where you can say with certainty that a single person is responsible for what happens? Everything in life is dependent on so many different factors that interact in so many different ways.”
Book Jacket Description:
Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?
Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?
My Review:
“A Nearly Normal Family” was the monthly read selected for the book club I am a part of. I had never heard of the author or the title before so I was definitely interested to check it out. After I got home and sat down with the book I unfortunately found both positives and negatives.
The novel is written in a unique three-part structure with each section written from the point of view from a different family member. The first section is told from the point of view of Adam (the father). This section was a bit dry for me and I found myself slugging to get through it. This is rather unfortunate since it is the opening of the book and I felt like it was really hard to get into the story.
Section two revolves around Stella (the daughter). This is by far the best section since it gives insight into what happened on the night of the murder. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Stella, her best friend Amina and boyfriend Chris. I found myself very interested in finding out how the story of their summer break ended in a murder trial so this section was quite a page turner for me.
The last section is told from the point of view of Ulrika (the mother). This section is rather short and revolves around the murder trial. Overall the three-part structure was a rather neat way to read a book and it was interesting to see each character’s reactions to the events. I also rather enjoyed seeing how the entire family was affected by the murder trial and reading about how a parent reacted versus a child.
This book overall was a toss-up for me. I loved some parts and hated others. While the book does have an interesting ending when the truth is revealed I didn’t find it overly shocking or surprising. To me it was a bit predictable and lack luster. I don’t know that I would re-read this book or that I would strongly recommend it, but it also wasn’t bad or boring. Which is why “A Nearly Normal Family” lands itself at 3 stars. If you don’t read it you won’t be missing much but if you do commit to reading it you won’t regret it either.
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