What Eileen says about Life and Other Inconveniences: This story features family and friends who have dealt with loss, love, death, and family dynamics, made me laugh, cry, and be empathetic for the various characters. Full review below…
Life And Other Inconveniences
From the New York Times bestselling author of Good Luck with That comes a new novel about a blue-blood grandmother and her black-sheep granddaughter who discover they are truly two sides of the same coin.
Emma London never thought she had anything in common with her grandmother Genevieve London. The regal old woman came from wealthy and bluest-blood New England stock, but that didn’t protect her from life’s cruelest blows: the disappearance of Genevieve’s young son, followed by the premature death of her husband. But Genevieve rose from those ashes of grief and built a fashion empire that was respected the world over, even when it meant neglecting her other son.
When Emma’s own mother died, her father abandoned her on his mother’s doorstep. Genevieve took Emma in and reluctantly raised her–until Emma got pregnant her senior year of high school. Genevieve kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back…but Emma took with her the most important London possession: the strength not just to survive but to thrive. And indeed, Emma has built a wonderful life for herself and her teenage daughter, Riley.
So what is Emma to do when Genevieve does the one thing Emma never expected of her and, after not speaking to her for nearly two decades, calls and asks for help?
Eileen’s Thoughts
Life and Other Inconveniences is an amazing and emotional story that is pure Kristan Higgins; you can hear her voice through the words. This story features family and friends who have dealt with loss, love, death, and family dynamics, made me laugh, cry, and be empathetic for the various characters. We get a peek of how each person dealt with loss, pain, grief, new loves, babies, and/or unexpected events. This story dealt with people forgiving others or finding forgiveness within their heart. Then there was family love shown in varying degrees from “I love you because you are my child” to “I don’t mean to smother you but I need to protect you” and those in between. There’s mother and child love, grandmother and orphaned child, widowed father and a devil-child, unconditional love, as well as love between two people possibly in love. There is also the growth of the characters through a summer of ups, downs, lies, truth, as well as all sorts of other unexpected events and feelings.
Ms. Higgins wrote a story that reflects family dynamics which many readers can relate to. Reading this story was like being in a room with the characters, each taking a turn to tell their version of their story; each chapter is the voice of a different character, talking and clarifying their point of view or memory. I wondered whether or not it was cathartic for the character, sharing their memories, feelings, and pain.
Ms. Higgins wrote an amazing and emotional story that is not to be missed. In typical Higgins fashion, mixed with the teary emotional portions are humorous situations that brought out laughs and smiles. She provided a tale rich with family dynamics, amusing banter, and other endearing characters throughout this story. I highly recommend Life and Other Inconveniences to other readers.
About Kristan Higgins
Her books regularly appear on the lists for best novels of the year. Kristan is also a cohost of the Crappy Friends podcast, which discusses the often complex dynamics of female friendships, with her friend and fellow writer, Joss Dey.
The proud descendant of a butcher and a laundress, Kristan lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband. They own several badly behaved pets and are often visited by their entertaining and long-lashed children.