I talked to my 93 year old grandma the other day. I don’t call her as much as I should, especially now that she’s living on her own, since my grandpa died almost a year and a half ago. She and I were chatting about getting older and she mentioned that she still had an older sister who was living and about to turn 102. I was surprised because I didn’t realize that she still had a sibling that was that old and I didn’t know must about her family. I knew the basics but most of my family history is from my grandpa’s side. Family reunions and family lore is heavy on that branch of the tree.
Hearing her talk about her sister, as well as her two younger siblings reminded me of the Shaw siblings from Rebecca Kauffman’s Chorus. Reading every one of these stories, seeing how each siblings life was shaped by their mother’s death. Each of these stories have the same sort of theme—love, home, heartbreak. Everything is connected.
The jumping around, back and forth in the years was a nice touch. In fact, I quite liked it. It helped move the story along in a nice way, dragging out some of the “key element” of the “event” until the last quarter of the book. The chapters with Lane, Wendy and Jack were some of my favorites, but honestly this entire book was wonderful.
The stories themselves are so tightly written and just delicious little morsels of perfection. It’s been a LONG time since I read something that grabbed me the way that Rebecca Kauffman’s writing has, maybe the first time I picked up a book by Alice Munro? I just know that I have already ordered her other work and I’m anxiously waiting for it to arrive.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance of its release.