Atonement

Dig beneath the surface of the seemingly perfect Tabor family and you will see a major chink in its armor, one that is only known by the two heads of the family, one unconsciously and the other intuitively. The patriarch’s failure to ask forgiveness for a long ago sin has reverberating consequences and no amount of pseudo-atonement will make up for what he has refused to do. Therein lies perhaps one of the most fundamental tenets of living. Harry Tabor fails to realize that his sin is not only about him and when a crisis of conscious shows up in physical form, Harry’s crossroads shows him the way.

On the day of celebrating a decade long achievement award, Harry’s long buried past forces its way into consciousness and there is only one thing he can do about it. The thing he does may seem extreme however nothing will stop him from his mission.

His wife Roma, their three children, and two grandchildren are all present this night to share his accomplishments and celebrate the great man that Harry is believed to be. Roma can sense something is wrong with her husband and being a well-trained psychologist, has all the tools needed to flesh out the problem however due to the festive chaos that encircles this grand event, she fails to push for an opportunity when one doesn’t easily present itself.

Meanwhile, each of the Tabor children are hiding secrets of their own which Roma accurately intuits though she is overwhelmed with who and where to start. Roma is guided by a historical intuition however life is throwing her curves left and right. Roma suffers from conflicting emotions and her own cognitive dissonances.

Initially, I was leaning toward disappointment that this was yet another book centered on one family’s who cares dynamics and the integration of all of the separate personalities. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that the story began to pick up and show promise. In the end, this story does a good job of stating that a family dynamic is an living entity of its own and the effects of one man’s decisions can show up in ways unforeseen, affecting each and every member without conscious awareness.

Deeply prophetic with strong religious yet ultimately spiritual underpinnings. Life’s journey from place to place is reflected in this lovely tale of intention, reconciliation redemption, and coming home.

BRB Rating: Read It.

Harry Tabor is an emperor in his world. He has everything he could have ever imagined. The novel begins the day before Harry Tabor's recognition dinner as Man of the Year. In earlier times Harry would have been "running for his life" from pogroms, as did his grandparents, instead of living in Palm Springs with a lovely family gathering to see him honored. He thinks, "I have been a very lucky man," but as the authorial voice warns, "luck is a rescindable gift."

Harry hears a voice that resurrects memories buried so deep that he had lost sight of them completely. At seventy years old, Harry realizes he is unworthy of high honors and must face the truth and atone for his sins.

Harry's children also each struggle with secrets they can't reveal, a search for love or meaningful work, a need for spiritual or emotional rebirth, the need for mystery or the magic of ritual.

There came a time when I could not put this novel aside and found myself furiously reading and watching the battery life on my iPad counting down...20%...11%... I finished it just before the battery gave out.

The happy family gathering is revealed to be a gathering of troubled souls, and by the grace of God, are bound together, each healed and made stronger. The novel's focus on the spiritual life of the characters may not appeal to some readers, but I loved it.

I loved Cherise Wolas's first novel The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, although I felt the ending dragged. For me, The Family Tabor began slow and gathered strength about halfway.

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

It was very hard not to compare this book with THE RESURRECTION OF JOAN ASHBY, which was just sooooo good! Wolas, once again delved into the topics of identity and family dynamics. While I didn't connect with this story as much as her debut novel, I loved the intense layering of each character and their effects on one another. The important question now is: with TROJA releasing in 2017 and TFT releasing in 2018, can we look forward to yearly releases from Wolas?

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. I loved her debut novel so I was excited for this one but it wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped. It revolves around seventy-year-old Harry as he's about to win an award for Man of the Decade. His family is gathering in Palm Springs to celebrate--but each of his grown children has issues or secrets that gradually come to light--as does his. There are a lot of backstories and I got bogged down with those. I expected more dialogue among family members but much of the novel was spent simply relaying information about the character's lives that I wasn't sure was relevant.
The book is also very focused on Judaism and "the chosen" as Harry has repressed memories from years ago and son, Simon is suddenly quite interested in his Jewish heritage while his wife is Catholic. So of course this causes a rift in the family. I couldn't have predicted where this was going and kind of lost interest in the end. But I do love some of the prose as Wolas is a talented wordsmith. This just wasn't my cup of tea.

I am extremely thankful for getting this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wish the book had been accurately labelled as a religious book
It is very akin to what ‘The Shack” by William Young did for Christians, “The Family Tabor” is attempting to do for the Jewish faith.
I wish the author &/or the publisher had been forthright about how the book is so steeped in jewish religion.
I kept up because I owed an honest review of the book, but I personally found it difficult to read because of the non stop propaganda ( pushing the importance of being ‘chosen’ and Jewish, lengthly Jewish traditions and holidays, Jewish persecutions…) and stereotypes ( stock trader, relocation of persecuted Jews, lawyers, social anthropologist PHD… ).
The backdrop story of Harry is irrelevant to the message of the book which is about being one of the ‘chosen people’ and needing to honor the faith and responsibility that come with this realization. All the side Stories (Roma’s ancestor stories or Camille stories) are just a reinforcement of the message.

The reader is following a Jewish family on the day the patriarch Harry Tabor gets awarded “man of the decade”.
On that very special day God starts talking to Harry who suddenly remember decades of repressed memories related to how he made his money and how unworthy of the award he really is. Harry needs to make amends.
In the same short time frame all his three adult children have very deep life altering realizations of their own. The most shocking one is Simon (the son) who also has an epiphany that his Jewish upbringing should become front and center of his life and paramount to his daughters education hence cornering his Christian wife to break up the marriage because he cannot compromise. But all will be well because he has a vision of ‘the path’.

Despite everyone’s high emotional introspection, none of the character share their issues with the others. The end seems a little rushed for some of the characters ( what ever happens to Elena ?)
Miraculously ( well God is talking to Harry and Simon so…) all find solace in their personal struggles, faith solves all issues and all ends well.

I did not care for the writing style of the author. The language is extremely researched and eloquent but it is very wordy, condescending, and spreading one education a little too much. A lot of Yiddish words, Spanish, German, Russian, Old French, Old English, Latin …. . Many words are being used to their second or thirds degree meaning. The author also like series and cumbersome comparison like ….. repeating the same meaning in ten different ways or listing fifteen similar Countries.

to quote the author “But he knew of a hack job cleverly posed as opinion that ended with a saving rhetorical grace"
Book to come out July 2018

As the name implies The Family Tabor is about a family and how and why their members are at a crossroad in their lives. Chapters follow various Tabors and Cherise Wolas has done an excellent job of weaving the entire story together. I was given an early copy to review.

Harry Tabor becoming the Man of the Decade was just a little too confusing for me. I couldn't find continuity in the first couple of chapters and put the book down

Wow. I loved this novel. It has all of the elements that I love: family, secrets, family secrets, mystery. The authors descriptions are vivid and believable, as are the characters. Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read this book and give an unbiased opinion.

There are times when I request a book from NetGalley, get accepted and immediately think “Oh man, what am I in for“. The Family Tabor is such a book. When I saw it on NetGalley, I immediately thought it would be a book like The Ring by Danielle Steele. A drama that crosses generations of the same family. In a way, The Family Tabor is like that. But it also is not like that. This book isn’t a multigenerational drama. Instead, it focuses on secrets and how they can wreak havoc with lives.

I found The Family Tabor to be confusing to read. The 3rd person perspective jumped from family member to family member in the same chapter. I could be reading about what Roma was thinking and then it switched to Phoebe with no warning. There were times that I had to reread the chapter to understand who I was reading about. I do not like it when I have to do that. It ruins the flow of reading for me.

While I understand Harry’s guilt over something that happened over 20 years ago, I don’t understand how he suppressed the memory of it. I am not an expert on these things but his company was funded with some of the missing money. You would think that he would remember something like that. It didn’t scream realistic to me. It also didn’t make me like him once the full truth came out. He took advantage of a situation and got away with it.

Out of the 3 kids’ issues, the only one that I actually connected with was Camille’s. I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Simon’s issues were spiritual. Phoebe was the one that I couldn’t understand. She didn’t have to lie about having a boyfriend. But she did. It made no sense.

I didn’t like Simon’s wife. When he told her that he wanted to look more into his religion, she flipped her wig. She didn’t want him to be a Jew? Seriously? And to end her marriage of 10 years because of that was ridiculous. So much for true love. Also, her irritation with Lucy and her repeating words was beyond annoying. To be honest, after that bigoted comment, I skimmed over her parts. I didn’t want to read anything more about her.

I wish more attention had been paid to Roma. I was fascinated by her grandmother’s story and how it shaped Roma’s life. I was also fascinated by Roma’s profession. I wanted to know more about her patient and why that child was running.

The last half of the book was as awkward to read as the first half. I barely hung in throughout Harry’s epiphany and disappearance. The only thing that perked me up was the almost mystical dreams that Camille, Simon, and Phoebe had. I felt that their resolutions to their problems were convenient. Even the end of the book was blah. I saw it coming from a mile away.

What I liked about The Family Tabor:

A) Nothing. Normally I find something nice to put here but yeah, not this time

What I disliked about The Family Tabor:

A) Confusing to read

B) Simon’s bigoted wife

C) Everything after Harry’s disappearance

I would give The Family Tabor a rating of Adult. There is mild violence. There is mild language. There are sexual situations and sex but they are very vague. I would not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 21.

There are no triggers in The Family Tabor.

The Family Tabor is a book that I would not recommend to family and friends. I would not reread this book or be willing to read any other books by the author.

I would like to thank Flatiron Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Family Tabor.

All opinions stated in this review of The Family Tabor are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I received an ARC from both Netgalley and from Flatiron books in a Goodreads drawing.

I found this novel of a family about to celebrate the life of their patriarch to be very absorbing. Each character was described in beautiful prose and the mystery that develops kept me turning pages. The story made me examine my own purpose in life and what I want to do with whatever time I have left.

I have not read Cherise Wolas' first novel, but will definitely move it high up on my list of what to read next.

If one has patience then go for this book. There are numerous backstories and the book in general is not fast paced. While I enjoyed it I also has a mystery book that I was reading simultaneously so reading this was not painful at all.

I gave the book a fair try. Did not finish past 20%. Not sure if it was the genre, or boring.

This book had a slow start. I got nervous I wouldn't be able to finish it. Then, bam! It became a book I couldn't put down. It perfectly described the Tabor family and made you feel like you were there with them. Once I became hooked I never wanted to put the book down. I would read on my walk into my office and during my lunch break. I couldn't get enough of the characters. I felt the connection and saw some of my own family in the characters.

An interesting exploration of how all the individuals who make up the Tabor family handle past mistakes, lies, deceptions and truths. It was a pleasant read but too many issues in the book to be examined thoughtfully.

The writing style was fine, I can't find anything to criticize and that's why there are 2 stars. However, I did not finish this book, having quit at 35%. Perhaps the genre just wasn't for me, as I mentioned, the writing style was fine. The story, however, dragged on and on, and I saw no point to anything. None of the characters spoke to me and I felt no connection to any of them. By the time I quit reading one-third of the way through the book, the only emotion shown by any of the characters was anxiety.

This book has a little of everything. A family saga sits at the core of the story, starting simply enough by following each member of the family as they prepare for a reunion and celebration. Then a mystery develops, which adds weight to the individual stories and ups the stakes. I didn’t realize when I started reading that it would be a book so steeped in religion. I enjoyed the journey, though I found the conclusion a bit abrupt.

This one was very hard to get through. There was so much backstory and not enough story. I was confused a bit. The author reminds me of Stephen Carter, by big words that make it feel like she's trying too hard. Loved the premise but the story just fell flat for me.

Well, I finished it but what a chore that was. Usually I can read a book very quickly. This one stretched on for day and days. Well before the halfway point I was ready for this to end. I found the backstories....so many backstories.....to be distracting and they added absolutely nothing to this story. Actually I’m really not even sure what the primary story was supposed to be. All of the characters had their own issues going on and on and on. None of them were really resolved in the end. I found most everyone whiny and self centered. The use of descriptors was way over the top for me and took away from the book. Good luck if you plan to read it for yourself.

The way the author weaves the modern-day issues of faith, career, generosity, and forgiveness with world history, personal values, and intrigue engage the reader and stoke interest. Puzzling through the myriad of dilemmas faced by every member of the family makes Family Tabor a titillating read, that stretches the imagination and enhances the vocabulary.

I can't say that I enjoyed this book, but it was an interesting take on broken promises, secrets and atonement of biblical proportions. The writing was overly descriptive, and the characters too whiny. Had to do a lot of skimming to finish.