Tell Me How This Ends Well by David Samuel Levinson is the story of the Jacobson family: father, Julian; mother, Roz; and adult children, Mo, Edith, and Jacob. In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe environment, as the family gathers together for Passover in Los Angeles. Mo is an out of work actor, Edith, a professor of ethics accused of sexual harassment, and Jacob a gay playwright living with his boyfriend in Germany. Roz is ill, and patriarch Julian is controlling and narcissistic.
This is not a happy or healthy family, and the kids decide that their father must die so that their mother can live her final days out from under his tyranny.
The book is told, in turns, through the eyes of each of the children, and then their mother. It is well written, and while the situations are hyperbolic and extreme, they were really not all that unbelievable, and really made me think.
To be truthful, about halfway through I was wondering how the book could end well. It started slowly and didn't really hold my interest, but I stuck with it. As the book progressed, the author artfully peeled back more and more layers of complex relationships, personalities, and motivations, which drew me in. On a side note: I am supremely satisfied with the ending.
Bottom line: Well written. Started slow, but made me think.
I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher through Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment