jo_22's Reviews (399)

Awesome book- I loved the Minnesota setting and that it was centered around the supper club. Did a great job shifting character perspectives and time periods and it was really wholesome. Themes/focus areas of family & generations, small town culture, hardship & hope. I do wish there was a bit more parts tying some plot points together (ex.

Have Ned reflect on Mariel’s death or convo of Ned talking to Julia about Gus. More of Florence and Mariel after they reconcile, etc

) however @ the same time I do think there was strength and effectiveness in not focusing so much on the dynamics between characters after plot points occur and more focused on how each character deals with / lives their life with the weight/gifts/hopes of past generations. Plus it aligns well with the Midwestern/Minnesotan way of “things we don’t talk about”. 
I loved the last page— and overall the book made me reflect on and appreciate my family & generations before me. 
Really well-written.

LOVED

Weird book. I usually like satire but the dialogue was unnatural and none of the characters were likable, plus plot was frustrating. 2 stars for pieces of the story & concepts that were interesting, and the ending was redeeming, imo  

This was cute and entertaining. I liked the settings and it was good for its genre 

First half was slow - I didn’t like how it took almost half the book for the plot to get to the storyline covered in the back cover synopsis. 2nd half was great & had good pace. Overall enjoyable historical young adult fiction, just a bit inconsistent & definitely young adult.
I love Dana Schwartz & loved the author conversation as a bonus to the audiobook.