I liked a lot of ideas this book had, but the execution fell flat for me. In essence, this is a generational family saga covering the 50s to present day. Every 22 years, we check in with the family as they struggle with a long held family secret, always worried that they will be ruined. I love the idea, but there wasn't much about this that worked for me.

For starters, I really wanted more development of the time periods. Nothing felt different between the 1955 chapters and the present day chapters. I really wish the passage of time had meant more and been fully explored. It honestly would have added so much to this book.

I also never felt connected to the characters. Even in the last few chapters, I was struggling to remember who was who. Part of this was because I didn't feel like they had distinct personalities or motivations, but there was also just a large cast of characters. Every generation added new members to the family- spouses, kids, friends, etc. And when you're covering an almost 70 year period, that's a whole heck of a lot of people. Unfortunately, the characters I felt most connected to were from the first section, and they disappeared from the story pretty quick.

My last issue was the writing style. I'm picky with styles and this never flowed quite right for me. I don't mind the occasional clunky sentence, but I felt like I was stumbling over the words constantly in my head. There was something about the phrasing that just felt off. 

I did honestly really enjoy the first section. The main characters are mourning the death of the beloved patriarch and grappling with an unknown threat, and the tension is palpable. I don't think the rest of the book quite got back to that feeling. It was a quick read and a fun story, but unfortunately not for me.