This book was written before The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and I had just assumed that it was going to be very similar to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (haven't read it)-- girly, maybe a little dramatic, teenage girls getting into scrapes. Uhh it is for sure NOT that.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the family members, and is dated with a year. Each chapter works independently of the others, but it's best to read them in order. I say this because what started out with warm fuzzies and "oh haha, I bet my mom has memories of a childhood in the 60s exactly like this!" plods steadily downward to, "Things are not quite so idyllic as they first seemed," to things so heavy I dreaded what was coming next. It's hard to find a slow burning story that is so well-written.

I loved the setting (Louisiana), how the story unfolded, the audiobook narrator did a particularly fine job, and the writing is fantastic.