If I'm Being Honest....Amazing Book!
If We’re Being Honest by Cat Shook is a new release from Celadon Books last month, one, after cracking the spine, I didn’t want to walk away from. Shook brings to the page a family, the William's, who are facing the loss of its patriarch (Gerry) who has just died. Like almost every family would (and should) they gather for mourning and burial in the hometown the children were born and raised in. While most of the children went elsewhere when grown, the Williams adult children (and now grown grandchildren) have stayed close, often returning home (to Gerry, the patriarch and Ellen, the matriarch) to nurture relationships with one another.
Unfortunately, during the funeral service a huge secret is shared, one that shakes, shatters, the entire family. Most of all, it changes how the children, grandchildren and especially Gerry's wife, Ellen, see the life they lived with their husband, father and grandfather. Sadly, this secret can never be explained fully as one of the major participants in it, is the deceased. And now, the rest of the family feels the need to tiptoe around Ellen, Gerry’s wife, not knowing how she is taking the secret that was made known about her husband. Plus, a good friend (the other part of the secret and the sharer of it), has become a painful reminder of what was, that was not known about. The William's who are left, feel betrayed.
Ellen, for the most part, remains silent about everything that is going on with the family, missing her husband, hating him for what he had done to her, to the whole family, that it never made known while he was alive, sad that her husband had to keep such a big part of him a secret, but, had he not, the family wouldn’t be what it was… The cognitive dichotomy of it all is too much for an old woman with three children, grandchildren who are almost middle age and now, with the knowledge shared that the Williams clan will have their first great grandchild…which may connect the William's family with another who were very close.
However, there is a positive to emerge from Gerry’s secret. Because his grandson Red, a young man he was very close with, has a secret of his own. One very much like his grandfather’s. And, even though their physical bond is broken, that they were never able to openly share with one another, Red now has the chance to change his life in a way his grandfather never did, or could. But, will Red be able to share his secret with the family? And, if he does, will it help the family or only hurt all the Williams family members, more than they already are? Especially because of what happened at the funeral, the particulars of the secret shared.
If We’re Being Honest is a wonderful book about grief and family, about what it means to keep a large secret and have it shed, not being able to explain it oneself, how it affects loved ones….And, it was a beautiful book about how life goes on, how death is handled, the toll it takes and then, the steps a family member or loved one takes, almost like coming out of a quicksand pit, moving back into a new normalcy, a hole that disappears a little more each day as we go on. It also deals with pain and acceptance, struggling against it and those who are able to find it.
This is definitely an author who has made a smashing debut into the literary world with this first novel, If We’re Being Honest and, if I’m being honest, one to watch (and one I will watch), in the future.
Happy Reading!
Unfortunately, during the funeral service a huge secret is shared, one that shakes, shatters, the entire family. Most of all, it changes how the children, grandchildren and especially Gerry's wife, Ellen, see the life they lived with their husband, father and grandfather. Sadly, this secret can never be explained fully as one of the major participants in it, is the deceased. And now, the rest of the family feels the need to tiptoe around Ellen, Gerry’s wife, not knowing how she is taking the secret that was made known about her husband. Plus, a good friend (the other part of the secret and the sharer of it), has become a painful reminder of what was, that was not known about. The William's who are left, feel betrayed.
Ellen, for the most part, remains silent about everything that is going on with the family, missing her husband, hating him for what he had done to her, to the whole family, that it never made known while he was alive, sad that her husband had to keep such a big part of him a secret, but, had he not, the family wouldn’t be what it was… The cognitive dichotomy of it all is too much for an old woman with three children, grandchildren who are almost middle age and now, with the knowledge shared that the Williams clan will have their first great grandchild…which may connect the William's family with another who were very close.
However, there is a positive to emerge from Gerry’s secret. Because his grandson Red, a young man he was very close with, has a secret of his own. One very much like his grandfather’s. And, even though their physical bond is broken, that they were never able to openly share with one another, Red now has the chance to change his life in a way his grandfather never did, or could. But, will Red be able to share his secret with the family? And, if he does, will it help the family or only hurt all the Williams family members, more than they already are? Especially because of what happened at the funeral, the particulars of the secret shared.
If We’re Being Honest is a wonderful book about grief and family, about what it means to keep a large secret and have it shed, not being able to explain it oneself, how it affects loved ones….And, it was a beautiful book about how life goes on, how death is handled, the toll it takes and then, the steps a family member or loved one takes, almost like coming out of a quicksand pit, moving back into a new normalcy, a hole that disappears a little more each day as we go on. It also deals with pain and acceptance, struggling against it and those who are able to find it.
This is definitely an author who has made a smashing debut into the literary world with this first novel, If We’re Being Honest and, if I’m being honest, one to watch (and one I will watch), in the future.
Happy Reading!