Families are difficult, and life is trauma. That seems to be the overarching message here. The book centers on Lyla, and her relationships with her family. The book opens with Lyla being browbeaten/teased by her dad to climb the majestic old oak tree in the backyard of the family home, land owned by her grandmother, to hang a rope swing. Dad is a veteran with what we would now call PTSD. He drinks, he’s reckless, and while Lyla idolizes him, I think she also sees him for the broken man he is.
His mother, the family matriarch, is another piece of work who can’t let well enough alone and looks for ways to make people around her bend the knee. She is hard on everyone around her due to guilt over her role in past events. She softens up a bit toward Lyla in the end, which is kind of strange since the first part of the book is all about what a hard case she is to Lyla.
Her mother has had a litany of awful things befallen her. She has Been Through it, with zero empathy from her mother-in-law or, really, her daughter. S he takes it out on Lyla, but Lyla gives as good as she gets. That relationship is complex and complicated, for sure.
The book is split into three parts, generally centering on Lyla as she navigates her youth, her attempts to forge her way without her family, and then her return to the family bosom. There’s trauma enough for everyone along the way.
I felt that there were gaps in the telling, unnecessary characters, and some plot devices that just don’t work. Lyla seemed like she wouldn’t see a red flag if you wrapped it around her head, so desperate she is to belong somewhere. The adults in this book were unlikable and while I generally like flawed characters, there’s not much in the way of redemption here.
There is a LOT of generational trauma here, and getting through it was a slog. All in all, the book did not resonate with me.
Thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for the advance copy.
The Amy Experience 