«Stories We Tell Ourselves» by Sarah Françoise

«Stories We Tell Ourselves» by Sarah Françoise

Pages: 218.
Published: April 2018 by Apollo.
Genre: Fiction, contemporary.
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Spoiler Alert!
You can’t keep a secret forever.

MY SYNOPSIS

Family reunions are usually complicated. Frank, Joan, and their children are about to face one of those this year. Each one of them is dealing with complicated but very similar issues, and they’ll must find a way through them, if possible.MY REVIEW

It’s an interesting story. I think I had never read something like this before.

Characters are very complex. They are mysteries to be explored instead of problems to be solved, as I heard somewhere.

There is this common thread that connects the reality each member of the family is going through, so it is evident that the dynamic they all created while living together shaped the way they see life and do things.

My favorite was Lois, though. For some reason I could see something of me in her, as if we had similar personalities. So, her part of the story was the one I liked the most.

However, I must admit that the writing style was a bit confusing sometimes. There were moments when I couldn’t tell which character’s perspective I was reading from; it changed, and I didn’t notice immediately.

Also, there were many issues that, in my opinion, weren’t developed properly. Actually, I have the feeling that I saw the beginning of many independent stories, but none of them got very far.

Characters constantly analyzed their current situations, but they didn’t do much to deal with them, except for some few exceptions.

Basically, I believe the general concept of the book was interesting, but at the end I had more questions than answers. That might have been intentional, but it kind of bothered me that I didn’t know much of anything after reading the entire thing.

I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it; it’s just that I wish I had seen more. Stories progress as their characters make decisions, and that’s the one thing they didn’t do very often in this book.

**I received a copy of this book from Apollo through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own**FAVORITE QUOTES

+ «Real truth came from the silences. From the lack of words.»

+ «Lois knew Nick’s forgiveness was not a done deal. It was, and would remain, a work-in-progress.»

+ ‘I want to tell you something,’ he said. ‘No, you don’t.’

‘If you wanted to tell me something, you’d just tell me,’ she said … ‘This preamble means you’re either scared to tell me or you don’t know how to.’

+»… she wished she too was a stain. A stain was never welcome, but eventually it was accepted, and then forgotten about.»ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Françoise is a French-British writer and translator currently living in Brooklyn, NYC. Her writing has appeared in Joyland, Bone Bouquet, Hobart and Poor Claudia.