Finished this book a few days ago and it left me feeling raw. The story revolves around the Skinner family and how the death of their father altered their lives, mostly due to their bereaved mother leaving them to fend for themselves. A period of life they refer to as “the pause,” Renee the eldest at 12 takes care of her siblings Caroline, Joe and Fiona, a dynamic that shapes their lives permanently, as the story goes through their entire lifetimes. Themes of this book include: familial bonds, self vs. group, feminism, death, sexuality, marriage and addiction amongst other things.
Fiona, the youngest, narrates the story which is important to note as their birth order plays a huge part in their personality traits. As the baby Fiona is irresponsible, selfish, makes poor choices and is quite possibly my least favorite character. She makes huge decisions without consulting anyone, despite being the least capable of such. It’s rare for me to be irked by the protagonist, but Fiona nails it. Still she, like the others is memorable.
The underlying motif is the choices we make. How if we did this or that differently the outcome would change, especially dealing with tragedy. Via: Down To Get The Fiction On