A thrilling read with complex characters and dynamic storylines. The book successfully melds characters stories together while maintaining an exciting and detailed account. Very good read. This is an author I will keep my eyes on.

Pretend We Are Lovely explores the lives of the Sobel family in small town Virginia in the 1980s. The parents, Francie and Tate, are recently separated and the entire family is still dealing with the aftermath of the death of their son/brother seven years previous – the boy died under suspicious circumstances, and Francie carries the blame for his loss.

Francie has always struggled with food, but with her estranged husband out of the house, her eating disorder has completely taken over the family. She compulsively weighs each item she eats and records the calories in a notebook kept in the kitchen. Her daughters, ten-year-old Enid and thirteen-year-old Vivvy, cannot help but observe their mother’s obsessive behaviour regarding food, and it affects them both dramatically. In contrast, their father Tate brings the girls unhealthy snacks such as donuts, sneaking them into the house behind their mother’s back. Because of both parents, the girls end up having complicated relationships with food, often confusing nourishment (or its denial) with love.

We witness the lives of the Sobel family over the course of one summer vacation, in which the girls are mostly left to their own devices. Francie is lost in her own world of food obsession, and college professor Tate has begun an affair with a nineteen-year-old student – likely transferring his paternal feelings from his estranged daughters to another young girl. Enid and Vivvy, meanwhile, are on their own – Enid binge eating while Vivvy starves herself, and both girls experiment with the boy next door.

As Francie spirals out of control, starving herself and eventually disappearing, the rest of the family is damaged almost beyond repair. The level of dysfunction at play here is difficult to read, as the girls are taught to confuse hunger with desire – to fit in, to be loved, to be forgiven, and much more. The alternating point of view chapters create a strong narrative in which the painful misunderstandings between family members are highlighted. All of them are keeping secrets, but each character knows more about the others than they think. This novel is an intimate, voyeuristic view of gritty and believable familial dysfunction.

The shifting relationships between the family members are realistic and their distinct voices are insightful and raw. Although it took some time, I felt connected to all the characters as they evolved, despite or even because of their flaws. The story is often depressing, and it was painful to see the dangerous effects of the parents’ behaviour on their impressionable children – but even so, the novel is filled with a tenuous sense of hope that the family can come back together and even thrive. I was very impressed with Reid’s writing and I would love to read more by this talented author.

I received this book from Tin House Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

http://www.bookbarmy.com/abandoned-books-part-two/

Scrappymags 3-word review: Dysfunctional family ruin.  A solid 4/4.5 star 
My book reviews are all on my website at http://scrappymags.com/ at publication date!

Genre: Contemporary fiction (1980's setting), release 7/18/17

Shortest summary ever: Francie is a mom to 2 girls - Vivian and Enid (13 and 10 respectively), married to Tate, a college professor. Let's put it this way - she won't be winning mom of the year awards. Estranged from Tate, battling an eating disorder, and haunted by the strange death of her son 7 years prior, she barely passes for a mom. Dad is wrapped up with dealing with this, and he's no angel either. 

What’s good under the hood: Adoring the revolving narratives, I dove into each member of the family with gusto, and they are well written. The two girls mirror their parents in many ways, some positive, some sad. It's a lesson in what kids learn from their environment (good and bad). A rarity, my gauge on characters I liked/didn't like changed so much in the course of the story that it kept me guessing until the last page. I enjoyed the story and thought it to be REAL - all the nitty gritty don't-really-want-to-read-this-sad-stuff-but-have-to REAL. Real to me is often magical - like I'm a voyeur peeking in at this dysfunctional family. I felt embarassed for them and embarassed that I was watching, but like the proverbial train-wreck, I couldn't look away. 

What’s bad or made me mad: Nothing made me outright mad, but it's a slower paced novel of a serious nature. Without giving spoilers, I was disappointed with a vague aspect of the story that I wanted a resolution to and never received. I never REALLY understood what happened and felt a massive disappointment with that. (Unless I didn't read closely which would be my bad).

Recommend to: 

* The story develops page after page so those in the mood for a lush, deep, rich story, not a riveting quick-paced romp. 
* Those looking for serious topics, but don't be too afraid - it's a pretty quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley, Tin House books (W.W. Norton) and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review and new appreciation for my (pretty) normal family.

Very nicely done--the voices especially are strong and original and compelling. It's a challenge to write in a child's voice--in several children's voices--and Reid pulls it off!

PRETEND WE ARE LOVELY BY NOLEY REID

The title of this book sums up the Sobel family--All surface and superficial but horribly dysfunctional.
Francie is the mother of two young girls Enid, aged ten and Vivian, aged twelve, almost thirteen. Tate Sobel, father and husband teaches classes at the university and is living in an apartment near campus having an affair with a nineteen year old student named Holly. There was a son named Sheldon that mysteriously and suspiciously died seven years ago at the hands of Francie.

It is July, 1982 and Enid and Vivian are starting their summer vacation which they usually hang upside down from trees in the woods that border their backyards. Francie will yell to the girls she is going to play tennis. Her two daughters don't believe her because she never has a tennis racket. Vivian tell's Enid that their mother lies. Francie has promised her daughter's that she is going to sew them a halloween costume, but they would both like a store bought costume--one that comes in a kit with a mask.

Pretend We Are Lovely is largely about hunger. Hunger to be a family, hunger to fit in at school, hunger for the devastating loss of their brother and son, hunger for the intimacy of a strong marriage, hunger for love and acceptance. Francie is driving her car in the sunshine, taking the long route:

"The girls can hang like monkeys in their tree all they want. I go out of my way, go into downtown, I wouldn't drive to tennis any other route. This is my path. Midway, I slow to pass Carol Lee Donuts but keep my face forward, my eyes in front of me. It doesn't matter. Even just seeing it peripherally, I know the scene by heart. Inside the big picture window, an imposing mixer pipes batter rings that drop into hot oil below. They float and sizzle and the pretty girl with the thick red braid flips them. (Holly as in student having affair with her husband) One by One she dunks soft yellow edges and the fried rings bob up golden brown. I know who she is. To Tate and how long."

Francie weighs out and calculates everything she eats and denies herself all of the delicious foods and is proud her bones stick out. Enid is compared to her father by the way she is passionate about eating and is called fat by her mother Francie and sister Vivian. The two daughter's are subtler forms of each parent. Vivian is like Francie and Enid is like Tate in body types.

Francie leaves her girls and their father Tate moves back into the family home to take care of his two daughters. She is gone twelve days. When Francie returns she starts eating everything in sight. She abandons her measuring and scales and eats. Enid starts copying her mother's anorexic behavior at ten years old. This is an intimate look into this family that are all looking for ways to fill their holes in themselves. There is hope for most members of this family to heal.
Tender, raw, shocking, but always hopeful. The girls have to learn the difference of eating food for sustenance and nourishment versus using food for comfort

I deducted a star because throughout the entire book it was difficult to know who was speaking. This is because sometimes a character was clearly linked to who was speaking. Then there was further dialogue that followed that wasn't linked to anybody. I wouldn't know who was speaking because the dialogue was not linked to a character. I would have to re-read the paragraph again trying to figure out who was speaking because it is not specified who is responding or is it the same character continuing to speak? This made for confusion and a choppy dialogue..

Thank you to Net Galley, Noley Reid and Tin House Publishing for providing me with my digital copy for a fair
and honest review.

This was a tremendous read! As a southerner, I especially related to the voices of the characters used here. I found all the characters engaging and was hooked all the way through. Five stars!

Unable to read farther than page 50, I just couldn't get into the rhythm of the characters or storyline

Not sure why, but I wasn't a huge fan of this title and couldn't get through it. Will try again before the galley download expires but for now am giving it 3 stars.

There is something about a novel of family secrets that I will always be in love with. It's made even better in this book, due to the fact that these are the small secrets that we all have, but that together can potentially ruin a family.

Pretend We Are Lovely, by Noley Reid.
This is a book club dream. The conversation could cover, the coming of age of girls, eating disorders, ruined marrage, trying again, mental illness, death of a child, the pain and anguish of guilt handed down through generations.
Don't we all pretend that things are ok? This family is no different, Untill they can't pretend anymore. When Francie, the Mom cracks it's the being of the end, Untill it's not. Then Tate, the Dad, and his daughters Vivviy and Enid start again.