Julie's Review: Family Pictures

Summary:  From the author of Another Piece of My Heart comes Family Pictures, the gripping story of two women who live on opposite coasts but whose lives are connected in ways they never could have imagined.  Both women are wives and mothers to children who are about to leave the nest for school.  They're both in their forties and have husbands who travel more than either of them would like.  They are both feeling an emptiness neither had expected.  But when a shocking secret is exposed, their lives are blown apart.  As dark truths from the past reveal themselves, will these two women be able to learn to forgive, for the sake of their children, if not for themselves? ~amazon.com

Review: I love Jane Green's books. It's like cuddling up and talking to a good friend. Her books always tackle important issues and never fail to make them not look all pretty. Her books typically do end nicely tied up but not in a way that isn't realistic. Most of her characters fight for their happiness and do get it in the end.

Family Pictures is no different. All the women in the novel, Sylvie, Eve, Maggie and Grace all have to fight for the life they want in the end. Each of them has a different path and some are more self-destructive than others but they are not easy.

I pretty much knew the storyline that Ms. Green was going with but that didn't make it less compelling. What makes it compelling are the women and their resilience.

As we are introduced to Sylvie first and it seems her story is the majority of the book, I understood her better than I did Maggie. That doesn't mean I didn't sympathize with her but she wasn't the easiest character to like initially. That being said she had the most changing to do and she did do it.

Ms. Green tackles both eating disorders and drinking in this novel as well. Neither is easy to read about but I was more disturbed by the eating disorders. She does a magnificent job of going into how very destructive they are and the long term effects on the body.

While the outcome might not be surprising, Family Pictures, is well worth the journey.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this novel.