The House We Grew Up In: A Novel

Very good read ! Didn't want it to end. All the characters were so interesting ! Would strongly recommend. Well written

🄱🄾🄾🄺 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆📚 The House We Grew Up In Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk 4⭐️ Picture-perfect Bird family, who live in a nice house with a nice lawn. There's a sweet dad, 2 lovely daughters and 2 twin boys, and a hippie mother that makes their lives sparkly and happy. But one tragic Easter, death knocks on their door. And the picture-perfect family is torn into pieces. Years past and they barely know each other, can't bear to be around one another. But they're all called together again, back in the same house, to know what really happened all those years back. This is definitely a plot that I did not expect. I know Jewell has a lot of books written and I was introduced mostly to her thrillers. This is such a nice surprise- a heavy domestic fiction with interloping messy topics and situations from each family member. It's very realistic that it's not only one person that's messed up but the whole lot of them. Everybody was dealing with something. I was very anxious when I was reading this book. The details were ever present, overwhelming with purpose. Jewell executed what she intended to do. She made me feel the heaviness of the situations and the characters. I assumed some metaphors that were a great representation of what's happening inside the family. There are multiple timelines. There are dates to help guide if the reader wants to do a time chart. But even if it's not a linear timeline, it wasn't confusing. Jewell left tiny details to help establish the changes in her timelines. As expected, it was wonderfully written. It's not one that I would've picked up myself but I'm glad I did.

Oh how I loved this story! I purchased the book as a Kindle/Audible Audio version but to be completely honest I didn't read a page. The narrator (Karina Fernandez) was so spectacular that I wanted nothing more than to listen to her weave the story with each character's individual personality and voice and had trouble pulling myself away when I had to get anything else done. That isn't to say the story itself isn't as wonderful as the narration. This was a perfect combination of an excellent story and the right narrator able to pull off the complicated emotions and circumstances it presented. The story weaves back and forth in time, from Meg, the oldest Bird child, her daughter and, eventually, her father, sister and brother Rory, cleaning out their mother Lorelei's home back to various Easter weekends over the course of their lives. When we first meet Meg in 2011 we discover that Lorelei was a hoarder (think of the worst possible episode of Hoarders and you'll have a good idea of how badly she lived). As we go back in time we see her sickness evolve from a sort of whimsical, free spirited quirkiness into a brutal, sometimes aggressive need to keep everything until there is literally walls of junk and only one chair she can sit in. She pushes everyone away and refuses to bend or compromise with anyone. This sickness, along with the tragic incident that happened one Easter, pushes each member of the Bird family in opposite directions and effects how each of them develops as a person. We get to see each character battle with their guilt and lack of control and the author really does an astonishing job of presenting the heartache and damage done to them (and that they do to each other) by the circumstances of their lives. We get to see first hand the vicious cycle of mental and, in some cases, physical damage that can cause generations to pass on this sort of problem even as they swear they will be different. The story also incorporates the email correspondence between Lorelei and an online romantic interest and it is within this correspondence that we get to peek inside Lorelei's scarred heart and mind and see how her life imploded from her own point of view. We learn what really happened that one horrible Easter and her attempts to try and fight her mental illness as much as she can. These parts really broke my heart! The narrator does such a great job of inflecting a false happiness into Lorelei's words as the listener can hear the pain and sadness crack through. Even though Lorelei had hurt those she said she loved most, quite badly at times, I couldn't help wanting to give this fictional character a hug and try to help her. Even being done with the story I still can't get her out of my head! While I know this sounds just horribly sad it isn't all bad. We do get a sense that things could be different in the future for some of the Birds, if they are willing to get help and help each other heal and move on. Regardless of where these characters might have gone after the story technically ended, the time spent with each of them was quite the journey. I'm always amazed when an author can make me truly feel for their fictional characters and Lisa Jewell definitely did that. I am so excited to see what else she has to offer!

When I read the summary I thought that this book wasn't for me, the story of a hoarder, etc. But I downloaded an extract, out of curiosity. And I was hooked from the start. It is so well constructed, so well written, the characters become real people, with their weaknesses and their strengths. The story and events are so real also. And so sad and dark, like their house. But there is always hope. In family and friendship bonds. In brightness and rainbows. In life. I just loved it.

I really like lisa jewell's novels, characters are so deep and lively, looking forward to read more from lisa jewell

This is an amazing book. I was enthralled by the poignant story and the beautiful clarity of the writing. There is great insight by this author who has obviously researched her subject thoroughly. The imagery that is created makes it so believable, so heartwarming, and so ultimately tragic. I had empathy for this family; a mother who is a hoarder and the people who try to understand her and deal with her as she begins on this path and how it takes her through the years. Lisa Jewell is a wonderful writer and this book is one of the best I have read in some time. Extremely well edited and proofed. Highly recommend. This is a 'real' story; it does not read like fiction.

This was a modern, intricate and psychological tale of such deep sadness. The ending, of course, was rushed as it seems all authors run out of steam, however the epilogue addresses some issues. It was compelling reading for me, so well done Lisa. Please put more into the endings.

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