Thank you Libro.fm / Simon & Schuster Audio, for the ALC of Little Monsters in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the print book for my own collection.
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: June 27, 2023
Summary:
From the author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game comes a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets—for fans of the New York Times bestsellers The Paper Palace and Ask Again, Yes .
Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated—and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings’ lives are still deeply entwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother’s goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works.
As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his seventieth birthday, staring down his mortality and fading relevance. He has always managed his bipolar disorder with medication, but he’s determined to make one last scientific breakthrough and so he has secretly stopped taking his pills, which he knows will infuriate his children. Meanwhile, Abby and Ken are both harboring secrets of their own, and there is a new person on the periphery of the family—Steph, who doesn’t make her connection known. As Adam grows more attuned to the frequencies of the deep sea and less so to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan the elaborate gifts they will present to their father on his birthday, jostling for primacy in this small family unit.
Set in the fraught summer of 2016, and drawing on the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, Little Monsters is an absorbing, sharply observed family story by a writer who knows Cape Cod inside and out—its Edenic lushness and its snakes.
My thoughts:
This is another book I had to have because I just loved the cover…but I was also intrigued because of the plot. I love stories about family relationships and this one story about a messy, complicated family that kept me engaged all the way through! Plus, the audio is narrated by a full cast and that just made the listening experience that much better!
Coming from a large family, I love nothing more than delving into stories about other families. I love seeing the messiness of them, how complicated their relationships are because to me, that’s reality. And that is exactly what we are given here. We have secrets, sibling rivalry, struggles with identity, loss, and even mental illness thrown in. It’s so relatable to me on so many levels and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. I might not have loved all the characters and definitely didn’t agree with all their actions, but I don’t necessarily think that we are supposed to.
I loved how the story is told from multiple points of view. This allows us to get everyone’s perspective on everything that is going on, seeing everyone’s side to the same story. I really appreciated this because as you know we all see things differently, even being at the same place at the same time.
This was a fun, enjoyable read and I definitely recommend picking it up if you haven’t already.
Audio thoughts:
As I already mentioned, this was narrated by a full cast and it really made for a great listening experience.
