The story of a small university town, .Yes it is the biographies of the townspeople but they are anything but ordinary.. They all have their stories to tell and secrets to tell. It was a fascinating read from beginning to enhd.

This is a quiet yet compelling book, following the lives of the Gruber family as the three daughters grow from toddlers to high schoolers in a small midwestern town. Told in vignettes in varying perspectives (sometimes one of the daughters, sometimes one of the parents), we watch these "ordinary" lives unfold in a series of "ordinary" events (moving, school, work, friends, illness, etc.). While nothing really dramatic happens here, the story is absorbing nonetheless - maybe because it feels like reading a biography of people you know (or people you were). I'm one of those people that's always curious about others, that reads the obituaries just to see what people did with their lives, so this book was right up my alley.

I received a free copy of The Biographies of Ordinary People, Vol 1 by Nicole Dieker from NetGalley in return for review consideration. Receiving a free copy has not influenced my opinion or the content of this review. The Biographies of Ordinary People was self-published by Dieker in May 2017.

I should also mention that Dieker is the editor of The Billfold - one of my personal favourite websites, and one where I've actually been published a couple of times. It goes without saying that this has no bearing on my review of the book, but I also definitely recommend The Billfold if you're into personal finance (heavy on the personal), and a comments section you can actually read!

Ordinary People is, at its heart, a book about regular people living regular lives, which is a type of story that I love to read. It means that the characterisation needs to be strong, and Dieker definitely comes through with that. The three sisters take on the largest roles in the book, as they move through school and try to understand their places within their family and within the wider world. They're all very distinct characters and they feel like real people with real relationships. Particularly when they interact with each other, you can really feel that sibling bond - sometimes friends, sometimes rivals, always family but not always happy with that. I also really enjoyed Rosemary's storyline. I think there are elements of her story that will resonate differently with different people - for me, it was the sections involving her mother - and that makes her one of the most important characters in the book, in my mind.

In terms of the plot, we follow the Grubers over a number of years, seeing both everyday experiences and more unusual and important ones. But we're not only seeing the lives of the Grubers, but also of the town they've moved to. We meet the girls' friends, other teachers at the school, and Rosemary's colleagues. We see how the town changes over the eleven years the book covers, for both good reasons and bad. And again, Kirkland feels like a real place. I could imagine the college, the swimming pool, the places where the characters spend their time. That's important for any book, but particularly for a book like this, where there are no spaceships or explosions or dramatic car chases. The only way a book like this works is if you believe in the characters and the setting, and in this book, you really do.

As someone of a similar age to the Gruber daughters, I could definitely see elements of my childhood and teenage years in their stories. Particularly when technology started to play a role in their lives, with mobile phones, that was something that resonated very strongly with me. I think Dieker has done a really good job of capturing the way that things have started to change ever more quickly, and how the parents of children growing up in that era, and probably more so now, find that their offspring have this new thing (internet, mobile phone, social media) that doesn't quite make sense to them, and that they're maybe not certain how to help them navigate.

Dieker's writing is clear and strong, giving us multiple characters who all feel like distinct, individual people, which isn't always the case. She also manages the sometimes troublesome feat of having children, and then teenagers, as POV characters, and making them seem realistic. There are a few points where, when the narrative shifts after short chapters, I found things a little disjointed, but that was only a few, isolated occasions, and not something that bothered me for more than a few moments.

The Biographies of Ordinary People is a quiet book, but one that's full of appealing, engaging characters, and which has storylines that I think will resonate with a huge variety of people. If you enjoy family sagas, or books where a love of theatre, music, and literature jumps out at you from the page, this is definitely a book you should consider picking up. There's also a sequel, which I'm looking forward to reading, which follows the Grubers up to the end of 2016.

Thank you Nicole Dieker and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This is the story of the three Gruber sisters and their family following their lives from 1989 to 2000. This was an enjoyable read on a wet afternoon, that kept me interested and keen to read more. I look forward to following the sisters through their next years in volume 2.

The Biographies of Ordinary People is just that - a family saga told through the perspectives of ordinary people experience relatively ordinary life events. This novel is primarily character driven, my most favourite type of novel. Dieker does not need any extramarital affairs, murders, or crazy plot twists to deliver a satisfying and engrossing novel. A rare find these days. I also thoroughly enjoyed the times this novel is set in - I admit this is what drew me to the novel as I grew up during this time period, and Dieker did a fantastic job of capturing the culture. I look forward to the next edition.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for review.

This is a beautifully written novel following the life paths of an interesting family, full of tiny details that make up the fabric of their lives. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one

I really thought I would like this book. However, while it was good and the characters were developed well, it didn't seem to work for me. It felt like there was something missing.

I liked it well enough, but it wasn't a memorable novel for me. The characters are well developed and there is nothing I disliked, but there was little "oomph" for me personally. I think this is the type of book which will appeal to those of it's time exceptionally well, and fall a little flat for those outside of that bracket.

I anticipated an interesting read about "ordinary" people. What I got was a dry, plain novel telling the story of a family much like my own. As appealing as this sounds, I found myself quite bored many times. It's not a terrible novel, but just not my taste. Perhaps if you're looking for a read that doesn't require much brain power this is for you.

Oh...how I loved this book. Nicole Dieker has managed to capture a very specific time in the not to distant past. The three Gruber sisters are so familiar to me, as the younger sister of three older sisters and the older sister of one younger sister and a niece who felt like just as close.

Reading Meredith's thoughts and feelings felt like a glimpse of my own diary from ages 7 and up. The buzzy feeling of excitement, the joy of a best friend and the curious thoughts of something other than the life I was already living.

The style of the writing may not be enjoyable to some. It's kind of old fashioned...in the same way that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or the Little House series is old fashioned, and that's probably why I liked it so much. I love those books and I loved reading those book.

I'm AMPED UP for volume 2 of this series. Who have these people become now?

Thanks to NetGalley, Nicole Dieker and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.