When I read that a book is dealing with long-held family secrets, I always feel a dip in the pit of my stomach. In my experience secrets are never good, they're always foretelling of something dark or tragic or traumatic, plus there's the kind of gray area of who is keeping the secret and why. Will this make the characters unlikable for me? I typically have a hesitancy when starting a book like this. I'm just personally not a fan of books that delve too deep into trauma. With that said, however, something just drew me into We Are the Brennans. Because despite the secrets, I am a big fan of second-chances and going home again.
The story opens with Sunday Brennan getting into a car accident after drunk driving. Five years ago Sunday moved from New York to LA much to the surprise of her friends and (now ex-)fiancé. When Sunday wakes up in the hospital with her older brother Denny sitting by her bedside, he convinces her she needs to come home to recuperate. Sunday agrees.
Sunday is quickly welcomed back into the Brennan family fold and it's clear she's desperately needed as Denny been having trouble getting his new pub off the ground being met with roadblock after roadblock, plus dealing with problems in his marriage. Helping Denny brings Sunday face-to-face with her ex Kale who is now married with a young son.
The Brennans are family and no matter what they'll be there for each other. So when someone from the past threatens their futures, they'll all ban together, but that means revealing all their secrets.
The story is told alternatively between pretty much all the characters. I loved the transition between chapters ending on a bit of dialogue and whomever had spoken last would be the person who's point of view picked up the next chapter. I felt like we got a really well-rounded view of all the characters. There were numerous times where I would have my thoughts or opinions about one character, then we would see things from their point of view and my perspective would invariably alter. It's a good subtle kind of commentary about there being two sides to every story. Through that lens we see the effect that Sunday's leaving had on everyone. I loved how the story started out kind of simplistically in regards to Sunday left, now she's back. Slowly the story unpacks or unfolds all the varying layers of what her leaving and now coming back means for everyone.
The story kind of hinges upon Sunday's traumatic experience from five years ago - which was, yes, traumatic but not as dark as I had braced myself for it to be thankfully - that is the turning point that precipitated her leaving that is the cause for where we find ourselves in the present tense of the story proper. Although not the only thing going on - since Denny's marriage trouble and issues opening the new pub are his own - other conflicts are certainly connected. I feel the way that Tracey Lange weaves in and out of the past and present making those connections is expertly done.
And no one has more of a past in their present than Kale and Sunday. Going in I tend to root for the second-chance romance. In this case, however, Kale is married and has a son. Immediately I was curious to see how Lange would spin this. There's very clear unresolved issues between Kale and Sunday. At first Kale's wife, Vivienne isn't painted in the best light. Then we get her one point of view section and - as mentioned before - my perception of her shifted as I could better understand, and even empathize, with where she was coming from. It put me in a quandary.
While I won't spoil how things work out, I think the biggest message this story leaves me with is that we are all flawed and family is always messy, but you have to decide who your people are and who you can count on.
Much to some people's chagrin, the book has a kind of soft ending. By that I mean, not everything is tied up nicely with a bow. Admittedly, there were a few story threads hinted at then seemingly abandoned which I would have appreciated a little more from, but we do get the prospective path into the future. I think based upon each reader's own opinion and interpretation of the characters will depend on how you read into what that future looks like for everyone. For me, it was satisfying.
While I went into this book with trepidation, I can say it's been playing on repeat in my thoughts since I finished.
The story opens with Sunday Brennan getting into a car accident after drunk driving. Five years ago Sunday moved from New York to LA much to the surprise of her friends and (now ex-)fiancé. When Sunday wakes up in the hospital with her older brother Denny sitting by her bedside, he convinces her she needs to come home to recuperate. Sunday agrees.
Sunday is quickly welcomed back into the Brennan family fold and it's clear she's desperately needed as Denny been having trouble getting his new pub off the ground being met with roadblock after roadblock, plus dealing with problems in his marriage. Helping Denny brings Sunday face-to-face with her ex Kale who is now married with a young son.
The Brennans are family and no matter what they'll be there for each other. So when someone from the past threatens their futures, they'll all ban together, but that means revealing all their secrets.
The story is told alternatively between pretty much all the characters. I loved the transition between chapters ending on a bit of dialogue and whomever had spoken last would be the person who's point of view picked up the next chapter. I felt like we got a really well-rounded view of all the characters. There were numerous times where I would have my thoughts or opinions about one character, then we would see things from their point of view and my perspective would invariably alter. It's a good subtle kind of commentary about there being two sides to every story. Through that lens we see the effect that Sunday's leaving had on everyone. I loved how the story started out kind of simplistically in regards to Sunday left, now she's back. Slowly the story unpacks or unfolds all the varying layers of what her leaving and now coming back means for everyone.
The story kind of hinges upon Sunday's traumatic experience from five years ago - which was, yes, traumatic but not as dark as I had braced myself for it to be thankfully - that is the turning point that precipitated her leaving that is the cause for where we find ourselves in the present tense of the story proper. Although not the only thing going on - since Denny's marriage trouble and issues opening the new pub are his own - other conflicts are certainly connected. I feel the way that Tracey Lange weaves in and out of the past and present making those connections is expertly done.
And no one has more of a past in their present than Kale and Sunday. Going in I tend to root for the second-chance romance. In this case, however, Kale is married and has a son. Immediately I was curious to see how Lange would spin this. There's very clear unresolved issues between Kale and Sunday. At first Kale's wife, Vivienne isn't painted in the best light. Then we get her one point of view section and - as mentioned before - my perception of her shifted as I could better understand, and even empathize, with where she was coming from. It put me in a quandary.
While I won't spoil how things work out, I think the biggest message this story leaves me with is that we are all flawed and family is always messy, but you have to decide who your people are and who you can count on.
Much to some people's chagrin, the book has a kind of soft ending. By that I mean, not everything is tied up nicely with a bow. Admittedly, there were a few story threads hinted at then seemingly abandoned which I would have appreciated a little more from, but we do get the prospective path into the future. I think based upon each reader's own opinion and interpretation of the characters will depend on how you read into what that future looks like for everyone. For me, it was satisfying.
While I went into this book with trepidation, I can say it's been playing on repeat in my thoughts since I finished.