THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN

I noticed this book as I was browsing through some book listings and picked it up on a whim.I had no idea what I was getting myself into.Just a little leap of faith into the unknown.Turns out:I needed a breather at the end of it all.It was just too much to handle.So bad that its good...if you get the drift.

Onto the story:
This story is about the Bird family,who live in a beautiful house in a picture-perfect Cotswold village.The girls Megan and Beth and the twins Rory and Rhys share an idyllic childhood and live with their free-spirited,fiesty mother Lorelei and their sweet father Colin.They have annual Easter celebrations involving the extended family and home-cooked meals ,all planned by Lorelei who wants to make each moment of their childhood a happy one.Lorelei being the bohemian she is exists entirely in the moment,loves rainbows and believes that she can just freeze time by collecting mementos and filling the house with them  as a reminder of events and moments gone by.

Then one Easter weekend,tragedy occurs.The event is so devastating that,it begins to tear the family apart.Years pass and the children have become adults,found new relationships and just drifted apart to such an extent that they dont even meet each other or their parents.Lorelei has become the country's worst hoarder.She refuses help from every quarter and chooses instead to live life as a recluse for six long years.But then something happens that calls them home,back to the house they grew up in and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

My Views:

I began reading this book on Saturday and realised a few pages down that its going to be a long night.As predicted I read it through most of the night and have just put it down.I think that says a lot about the book.I went for a long walk to clear my mind and get out of the Bird family before I sat and typed this review.Yes this book is emotionally draining and a gut-wrenching read.

Havent we all heard that a dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it?!Families are the unit that holds us all together,we have shared-childhoods,quirks which only the close unit is privy to,secrets,problems,yet a common thread runs through it all,tightly wound around the spool.A million cracks on the shell sometimes yet it all holds up well.And families share a common home,a safe haven,something to come back to at the end of the day or maybe at the end of the year or at the end of several years.This book is about one such family and the home they grow up in.

This story spans a time frame of about thirty years and shifts back and forth to reveal the past and present.
The Bird family has more than its share of tragedies.But sometimes the devastation is just so total that you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be and that is exactly what happens here.Each member uses a different coping mechanism to deal with what happens and that changes the course of their lives forever,making them the people they eventually turn out to be.Drifting apart,scattering away.Living life on a precipice sometimes,silently carrying the burden of guilt.However sometimes shared grief,loss and love are enough to bring people together again.I could see each character objectively and then analyse things from their point of view.I could feel Lorelei's pain.I could understand Meg and the others but Beth's character was a bit hard to digest.

I hadnt heard about a Hoarding disorder before.It was just totally shocking to know that something like that exists.(Mental note to myself to clear a years worth of newspaper articles stored in my cupboard)This story just pulled me in so completely that I got utterly involved in the lives of the characters.It moved very quickly and I had to literally dodge numerous curveballs which were so totally unexpected.So many complex issues ,mental disorder,betrayal,adultery interwoven in one captivating heartfelt story. All the characters are flawed but compeletely relatable and it seemed so real.I think the story concluded on the right note.Although it takes them a really long time to get there, it was heartening to see them finally be able to accept,heal and forgive themselves.

Loved the style of writing ,it was thought-provoking and poignant.This may be my first book by Lisa Jewell but it most certainly wont be my last.Highly Recommended!

I rate it a 4 out of 5.