Somehow I missed jumping on the overall bandwagon for Bill Clegg’s popular 2015 novel “Did You Ever Have a Family.” I know everyone raved about it. I know some called it “the best novel of the year.” I know it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. I know I should have liked it a whole lot more, but somehow alas it didn’t turn out that way, and I’m still wondering a bit why.
I listened to “Did You Ever Have a Family” as an unabridged audiobook, and at the time, for some reason, I didn’t realize it was the author who was reading it. Usually I love when the author reads their own book for the audio (especially with memoirs — it’s terrific) but sometimes with novels it’s not so great — as was the case this time. Clegg read it in a monotone voice and didn’t differentiate between any of the many characters. I found myself questioning, “Is this guy getting paid for this?” If I were the publisher, I think I would have found someone else, but alas, I adapted to his reading style.
It doesn’t spoil anything to say “Did You Ever Have a Family” is about a horrific tragedy that takes place in a small Connecticut town after four members of a wedding party, including the bride and groom, are killed in a fire the night before the wedding. That starts the book, and the rest of it delves into who these four people were, and how the tragedy affects their relatives’ and friends’ lives in the community after the terrible event.
Quite a lot of people inhabit the novel, including 10 who narrate the story in alternating chapters. The main characters are the bride’s mother, June, and the groom’s mother, Lydia — whose lives are shattered — but other narrators include the wedding caterer who never got paid, the teenage pothead who lives nearby, and the motel owners on the West Coast who assist June when she eventually settles there to get away. These characters are just the tip of the iceberg.
I liked parts of “Did You Ever Have a Family” — some of the details and descriptions stuck out, and the conversational tone was enticing. I also liked how one comes to learn much more about the characters’ histories than what happens at the beginning of the book.
But unfortunately I felt disconnected or distanced from quite a few of the characters. The many alternating narrators, some of whom are very peripheral to the story, seem to take away from the book’s focus. Unlike the novel “Station Eleven,” which also had a big cast of characters but which is great, this novel became lost and fell flat to me despite all of its characters’ tragedies.
And indeed there is a lot of tragedy and grief in “Did You Ever Have a Family.” Not only is there the main fire disaster, but there’s also cancer, rape, abuse, drug overdoses, and other mayhem among the peripheral stories. All of it felt pretty macabre to me. And although some of the characters find a bit of solace at the end, I was relieved when the novel was finally over.
In the meanwhile I finished off Cecilia Ekbäck’s 2015 literary murder-mystery “Wolf Winter.” Ekback is a Swedish-born author who now lives in my town and I met awhile back on Independent Bookstore day. I had wanted to read her debut novel before she and others appear at our annual book festival next week. So I dove into it and slowly made my way through its 405 pages.
“Wolf Winter” is a highly atmospheric novel that takes place in Swedish Lapland in 1717. It’s about a Finnish family who moves to a northern Sweden mountainside called Blackåsen, where only a handful of settler families live, occasionally mixing with the Laplanders. There the family comes across a dead body high up on the mountain, which some dismiss was killed by an animal, but the Finnish mother believes differently. She starts poking around asking questions, and as a brutal winter comes on, she begins to learn some disturbing truths about the area and the other settlers.
“Wolf Winter” conjures a vivid spooky and wintry atmosphere in a land where the King and Church rule supreme. The main characters are the Finnish mother, and her eldest daughter who feels a power from the mountain, as well as the area’s priest who must investigate the case and keep the settlers in line.
I really liked the book’s imagery and characters — the only trouble is I felt there could have been a bit more action among its many pages. A lot of the drama comes at the very end, but I wish more surrounding the culprits, their motives, or other happenstances would have been spread out across the story. As it was, the action seemed a bit hung up and I thought the novel could’ve been edited down shorter and tighter.
On its cover, I see that “Wolf Winter” has been compared to Hannah Kent’s novel “Burial Rites,” though I still need to read that one to see if there’s any truth to that. It might make for an interesting comparison.
What about you — have you read “Did You Ever Have a Family” or “Wolf Winter” and if so, what did you think?
I’m curious about Did You Ever Have a Family. I think I’ll end up reading it maybe next year. I have heard great things about it, so I’m surprised you didn’t have a good experience with it. Do you think it had to do with you listening to it rather than reading it?
I have Wolf Winter on my list for early November. I hope I like it.
Yes Carmen it might have been a little because of the audiobook, or just me. But don’t let me steer you from Did You Ever Have a Family. See what you think. I’m glad you’ll be reading both books.
I’m on hold for Family at the library. Sorry you weren’t wild about it.
http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-mary-karr-reading-frenzy.html
Thanks Deb. See what you think — you might like it.
I wonder if you would have liked Family more in print. Monotone narration can ruin a book for me.
Yeah I agree Kathy. It could have been in part because of his reading of the audio.
I have heard so much about Did You Ever Have a Family.
I think that I can understand your frustration with it. A story, no matter how powerful, with so many voices has got to in some ways dilute those voices. To some extent, complexity in characters will inevitably be lost.
Yeah Brian, I thought there were too many narrators and I sort of lost track of who it was all the time.
I didn’t love Did You Ever Have a Family…I did ENJOY it, to the extent that one can enjoy a book about tragedy. The characters and the timeline felt weird to me…I couldn’t really connect with very many of them.
I can’t imagine listening to it, though; that would be worse, IMO.
Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.
Oh that’s good to know. I had trouble connecting with quite a few of the characters too. I’m glad I’m not totally alone on this. Thanks Laurel.
I read rather than listened to Did You Ever Have a Family and wasnt blown away with it at all. Parts of it were good – the sections that related to June and Lydia were by far the most powerful. But towards the end I lost interest and felt the ending was far too safe.
Glad to know Karen. I felt I should be blown away by it because of all the hype, but then I wasn’t, so I wasn’t sure what to think. I sort of lost steam in it as well. Thanks for the comment
Dang it. I just received a notice that Did You Ever Have a Family? audiobook is waiting for me at the library. Now I am not sure if I want to listen to it. I also didn’t like the audio of Station Eleven. But then few gals in my book club liked it in print, either.
Have a good week. Please visit: My Sunday Salon
Anne: good luck with the audio. I’d be very curious to hear what you think of it. Maybe it was just me but I thought it seemed very monotone which didn’t help the book. Anyways I loved Station Eleven and plan to also read it after I just listened to it. I’ll stop by your site soon. thanks
I loved Did You Ever Have a Family… connected with it almost instantly and never wanted to put it down. Author narrations can be tricky business. When they are good, they can really enhance the overall experience (especially with nonfiction/memoirs) but a bad reader can easily ruin a book, too. Sounds like there should have been more differentiation between the voices 🙁
Hi JoAnn: I know you loved the book from your site and I wanted to love it too! Glad you connected with it. I wonder if the reading was most of it, or just a part. But it didn’t help.
I am so glad I read your review. I didn’t really want to read Did You Ever and now I feel I don’t have to. Too many others I WANT to read.
Oh good Judy, glad I could help. I know it’s a really popular novel but I don’t think it’s mandatory.
I also especially love when authors read their memoirs. It’s fun to hear the book read how they meant it! But it’s true that authors aren’t always the best narrators and I’ve had some disappointing experiences with authors reading their fiction as well.
I agree Katie. I always love memoirs read by the authors on audio, but fiction read by the author is not always great. Go figure.
I’m about to start reading Wolf Winter. I like atmospheric novels, so I am looking forward to it now. I haven’t heard it compared to Burial Rites, which I really liked. It will be interesting to find out if I agree with that comparison.
Oh great TJ. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Wolf Winter. I need to read Burial Rites but will get to it!