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Search tags: what-remains-true
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review 2019-01-20 23:30
Way Too Many POVs and Some Issues Not Addressed
What Remains True: A Novel - Janis Thomas

There was way too much going on in this one. We had 7 POVs and we barely stay with anyone long enough to even get settled in to what is going on. I think the author did this in order to get to the ending that we did that was just confusing and not heart-warming to me. This book was just a mess to me.

 

"What Remains True" follows the Davenport family a month after the family has lost their young son (Jonah). The family is fractured with the mother in a drug induced haze (Rachel), the father hiding at work (Sam), the daughter feeling lost and alone (Eden) and Rachel's sister feeling as if she is the only one who can fix it (Ruth). We even get to see Jonah's POV along with the family dog. 

 

I wish that Thomas had allowed us to just read the story straight through. We are left in the dark a good portion of the book which made it hard to keep reading this. When things get revealed you end up feeling a bit fed up (at least I did) and just wish things would wrap up fast. 

 

I can't even say that I liked anyone character's POV the most. Including the therapist POV's was a mistake to me. She had enough going on that it distracted from the book. I really disliked Ruth's POV though. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for her.

 

The writing was just okay, I didn't get a sense of different voices in this one. It just felt endless after a while. The flow was shot too. I think it would have been better to flip the book to show what happened via everyone's POV first, then the aftemath a month later, them at the therapist, then what really happened via Jonah's POV. 

 

The ending was not good though. It just forced a happy ending where the book seemed to be heading somewhere else. Maybe it would have been ugly what happened afterwards, but at least it would have been more realistic. 

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review 2018-03-11 19:07
What Remains True by Janis Thomas
What Remains True: A Novel - Janis Thomas
Wow. Book was way too sad for me. Each member expresses their grief
at the loss of 5 year old Jonah,but the dogs point of view was
kind of way to "out there" for me. But the subject matter was
handled well and with sensitively the author and it was very well
written.
 
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