After hearing all the hype on A Nearly Normal Family, I had to check it out for myself. I wasn’t sure what to expect because there were mixed reviews from different people. Personally, I really enjoyed it and thought it was a great storyline. I especially like stories that have different viewpoints, because it lets you learn about the characters little by little. Edvardsson did a great job of connecting many parts of an intricate story and weaving them into a powerful narrative.
The story is told from the father’s, mother’s, and daughter’s point of view. The beginning, told from the father’s side, was a bit slow and dragged a bit. The storyline was very interesting and captured my attention, but it did not build fast enough to keep me engrossed. Once it got to the daughter’s section, I couldn’t put the book down!
The book is about Stella, an 18-year-old charged with murder. She is a normal girl from a normal family, yet finds herself in jail for the murder of an older man. Her father is a pastor, her mother is a lawyer, and they struggle with many complex issues in the book. The father’s point of view discusses his job as a pastor, and the challenges he deals with after his daughter is charged with the crime. Stella’s part talks about her life, what she has experienced, and what brought her up to that very moment. The mother rounds out the story, discussing the case while Stella is on trial, and giving the last bit of information needed to complete a story that kept me guessing.
The only negative I can mention is that there were a lot of words I had to look up. This is not a negative for the book, but just for me personally. I like understanding what is going on in a story and imagining myself as part of the character’s lives, but some of the Sweedish words threw me off. When there would be words I didn’t understand, it would take me out of the moment and in some cases, kept me guessing on what the author was talking about.
All in all, I truly enjoyed A Nearly Normal Family. As the book gained momentum, I couldn’t put it down. I invested with the main characters and their lives, and found myself holding my breath until the very end!
The story is told from the father’s, mother’s, and daughter’s point of view. The beginning, told from the father’s side, was a bit slow and dragged a bit. The storyline was very interesting and captured my attention, but it did not build fast enough to keep me engrossed. Once it got to the daughter’s section, I couldn’t put the book down!
The book is about Stella, an 18-year-old charged with murder. She is a normal girl from a normal family, yet finds herself in jail for the murder of an older man. Her father is a pastor, her mother is a lawyer, and they struggle with many complex issues in the book. The father’s point of view discusses his job as a pastor, and the challenges he deals with after his daughter is charged with the crime. Stella’s part talks about her life, what she has experienced, and what brought her up to that very moment. The mother rounds out the story, discussing the case while Stella is on trial, and giving the last bit of information needed to complete a story that kept me guessing.
The only negative I can mention is that there were a lot of words I had to look up. This is not a negative for the book, but just for me personally. I like understanding what is going on in a story and imagining myself as part of the character’s lives, but some of the Sweedish words threw me off. When there would be words I didn’t understand, it would take me out of the moment and in some cases, kept me guessing on what the author was talking about.
All in all, I truly enjoyed A Nearly Normal Family. As the book gained momentum, I couldn’t put it down. I invested with the main characters and their lives, and found myself holding my breath until the very end!