If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I LOVE multigenerational family sagas! So when I heard about Maisy Card’s debut novel THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY follows multiple generations of a Jamaican family as they grapple with the effects of one man’s monumental deception and secret. The kaleidoscopic story goes as far back as colonial Jamaica and extends all the way to present-day Harlem. What unfolds throughout the book is not just the personal dramas of one family but a greater picture of the history of Jamaica and effects of slavery, colonialism, racism, colorism, and migration on the Jamaican people.

There is a lot to like in this book. The writing is vivid, the characters are unique and multifaceted, and the plot is expansive and has enough twists and turns to keep you interested and wanting more. But there is just something that didn’t click for me. The opening chapters were so strong and got me totally hooked but as the book progressed it kind of fell apart. The chapters jump in time and perspective, which makes the book read more like a collection of individual stories. I normally don’t mind that but with a multigenerational family saga I like to have a more concrete narrative thread that connects it all together. Unfortunately, for me the ending fell flat and didn’t live up to it’s compelling beginning. The epic undertaking of this book is truly impressive considering it’s short length, but I think the book would have benefitted from being longer so the story and characters would have been more fully developed and explored.

For me the greatest aspect of THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY were the elements of historical fiction weaved throughout the story. After reading this, I feel that I have gained a better understanding of Jamaican history and culture. Maisy Card clearly wrote this book from her heart and own experiences, which definitely comes through on the pages! Even though I didn’t completely love the book, I found this Jamaican family saga an important story to be told and read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a roller coaster of twists, turns, secrets, and lies. I would not have guessed this to be a debut novel. The synopsis of the book, in my opinion, is just a tiny bit of the story and essentially serves as a jumping off point for the rest of the book. There are so many characters, with their own stories, that it can be difficult to follow. Thankfully, the author included a family tree at the beginning of the book, which I referenced several times while reading. My biggest, and probably only, complaint, is the "genre switch" near the end, hopping from realistic fiction to sort of a magical realism/folklore. Or maybe I just didn't get it and need a book club to process it. Either way, this was a solid read. I'll be thinking about this book--these characters--for a while.

I love a good intergenerational read - it's fascinating to me how our ancestors and the events of their lives can trickle down to affect us now. The family described in the novel dates back to 1800s Jamaica where the slaves suffer at the hand of their owner all the way up to the present day where relationship and family conflicts and mental illness run rampant.

This novel does a great job demonstrating how trauma and pain can permeate into future generations. Maisy Card's writing is thoughtful and moving; she creates characters that are deeply flawed but still have you rooting for them. I really loved the touch of supernatural/magic throughout - it made each chapter feel both unique and yet tied to one another through a dark mysticism.

The only problem I had with this novel is that I had a super hard time remembering how the characters were related to each other. This probably has more to do with me than the writing, but I didn't feel the interconnectedness of the characters as much as I wanted. The time jumps also felt confusing to me. I almost would have preferred the structure to have started in 2020 and then worked its way back to previous generations. I'd still recommend this book because of Card's ability to weave a truly interesting family saga.

DNF @20%
3.13.2020

This book is just not for me [even though I am seriously trying to read more "read around the world" books]. There is just too much jumping around, no linear story and to be honest, at times, seems to be going for sensationalism rather than just a well-written story. In my opinion, this had so much potential, with amazing characters and instead, just fell flat. I have absolutely no interest in continuing with this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A big disappointment. I’m so tired of this trend of disjointed pieces of time and characters and storylines instead of a linear narrative with rounded, evolving characters with whom a reader can become truly invested. Even though its prose sentences are skillful, These Ghosts Are Family seems to rely, instead, on shock value and gimicky structure. It makes me sad.

I love a good multigenerational family saga and THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY definitely fits the bill! TGAF has a non-linear timeline that is presented in a manner that felt more like a collection of short stories than a traditional novel - which was such a welcomed experience. I was immediately connected to the characters and while you kind of jump into the family history head first, everything comes together pretty quickly.

I still can’t believe how much happened in less than 300 pages. It was a great exploration of racism, immigration, slavery, Jamaican culture, and how our choices can impact our family’s future.

The ending did leave me with a few questions - I felt like I needed to re-read the final chapter or two to fully grasp what happened. That’s definitely an “it’s not you, it’s me” kind of problem, though!

I am so impressed with Maisy Card’s debut novel. I will definitely pick up whatever she writes next! Also: this was so unputdownable that I definitely snuck in the audio while at work (thank you @librofm for the ALC). The narration is fantastic and I would highly recommend it as well!

I Just Want To Start Off By Asking Who Wants To Pull Up To Ms. Cards DMs & Asked Her Why She Played Us So Good With This Book ?

“Let’s say that you are a sixty-nine-year-old Jamaican man called Stanford, or Stan for short, who once faked your own death. Though you have never used those words to describe what you did. At the time you’d thought of it as seizing an opportunity placed before you by God.” These were the first few sentences that dragged me into this whirlwind of a book. I wanted to know what was going in this mans life that he would want to fake his death. It turns out Stan Isn’t his name, his name is Abel & Used his friends death as a means to take on a new identity to escape his life back in Jamaica. I thought wow typical West Indian men running to America and leaving their whole life in their homeland behind like it were nothing.

As I continued reading I really sympathized with Abel. Yes, what he did was wrong but I was beginning to understand why he desired to leave his old life behind to create a new start. I’m like yeah I have this book all figured out, well I was wrong. This isn’t just Abel’s story of how he stole his friends identity all these years ago, it developed into a thought provoking page turned that covered slavery , unrequited love, parenting, infidelity, I could go on but I think Maisy Card covered it all. There are many lessons to be learned from this book. My biggest takeaway is that any little decision you make can have large effects on your life and maybe for even generations to come.

My tip for reading this novel is that you try not to rush through, it maybe hard because you really want to know what happens next but if you blink to quick you may miss something. It’s a whole family reunion going on in this book 😂

This is going to be a tough summary to write, because there's a lot that went on in this novel, but I'll try. In a nutshell, Abel Paisley and Stanford Solomon were dockworkers but Stanford was killed in an accident, and the white workers mistook Abel for him, leading to Abel taking on Stanford's identity, leaving his family (his wife, 2 daughters), and built a new life in New York. Abel'ls new life turned out to be more complicated than he expected. Because of his decision, it brought two different families together and complicated their origins and roots, When Abel finally decides to reveal the truth, we meet families from both sides, each with their own story to tell, each questioning their roots and identities.

I've never read a book quite like this before, I was drawn to their stories right from the start until about the last quarter when Abe's story took place, and the ending with the story of the 3 mysterious missing girls. I couldn't see the point of their story and found myself skimming through. However, I'm going to re-read it to see if I can get more from it.

What earned great points for this book for me was definitely the first three quarter of the book, and when Debbie inherited her father's book about her family and her ancestors. I was drawn to the stories of slavery from the point of view of Peta-Gay and Louise, and was even more intrigued as their stories unfolded and how each and family member were connected to one another.

This novel is about many things - love and family, slavery and racism, family secrets, atonement, and about finding and understanding ourselves and who we are. Stunning for a debut. Would I recommend it? Yes. And I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Okay - I am sorry, I am not a fan of this book. The beginning had me hooked, the first 20-30 pages, I was engaged. But then as I kept reading, I was getting so aggravated with the main characters Vera and Abel. I couldn't connect with the characters, The wording and the language also kept throwing me off - I really wanted to love this book because of all the reviews I have seen on it. Being connected to the character or at least having and understanding of the characters stories is very important to me and it was not happening for me with this book. I also think I couldn't connect because I had just read another emotionally heavy book that really drained me and I started this one right after that emotional book, so that may have had an impact on my engagement in this book. I would like to pick it up again to retry this book when I am in a different mindset.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy for me to read and review.

These Ghosts Are Family is Maisy Card’s debut novel, and after finishing this book, I can’t wait to read more from her. This novel follows a man named Stanford Solomon who has a shocking thirty year old secret: he is actually Abel Paisley, a man who faked his own death and stole the identity of his best friend. The book starts with Abel as an old man, reflecting on the choices he’s made as he’s about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene. When we first meet Irene, she has shown up to work for Abel as a home health aide, not realizing he is her father.

From there, the book travels back and forth from Jamaica to Brooklyn, from the 1800s to the 1990s and finally to present day. We slowly learn about the makings of Abel/Solomon’s family, and the impact of his choice to leave his first wife and children behind. This is historical fiction, but also an interesting immigration narrative, as it looks at the attempts of certain characters to rewrite or redeem their family.

I loved how this book explored generational trauma, and how it can continue to follow family lines much like ghosts. Speaking of ghosts, there are both real and figurative ghosts throughout the novel, and I was not expecting the book’s ending! As much as I loved the writing of the last few chapters, I wished the novel was a bit longer so as to tie up the events mentioned in the beginning.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. As a first generation Filipina, I related to the characters’ desires to trace their family lines and know where they come from, despite the ugly that might be unearthed.

The history of a Jamaican family is brought to life in a non-linear format in this debut novel. Beginning with the story of a man who left Jamaica and took on the name of a dead co-worker, he moves to England and then Harlem. His family believe him dead. Its near his death that he reveals who he really is. Jumping between different periods of time, the reader is introduced to a well-off woman who discovers her family owned slaves in Jamaica. Her ancestors were owners of the Jamaican family traced in the book. Ghosts haunt many of the family members. They aren’t a close family. They’ve splintered off and many of the women find themselves raising children alone. There are so many family secrets and so many different ghosts who haunt the various family members through the ages.

The Paisley family has problems with its fathers. And its mothers. The children have a few problems, too. Freud might argue with me, but I trace the problems of the Paisleys of Maisy Card’s These Ghosts are Family to the fathers. The first family story contains the revelation that Abel Paisley stole a friend’s identity and ran away from his first family. In his dotage, Abel has gathered his three daughters to tell them the truth. From there, we’re off and running through two hundred years of the family’s history, from colonial Jamaica to contemporary New York.

These Ghosts are Family is a novel formatted in link short stories that travel back and forth in time. Thankfully, there’s a family tree at the beginning of the book. I bookmarked it so that I could flip back to it when a new relative was introduced. The various family members wrestle with feelings of resentment against missing relatives; the missing relatives feel a lot of guilt for having absconded. This book doesn’t argue that parents are always necessary. The parents who stay put are often awful, from the rapacious plantation owner to the drug addicted mother. Instead, I feel that These Ghosts are Family is telling one long story (in parts) of the ways that we influence each other—mostly for the worse.

What interested me most about These Ghosts are Family—apart from the dysfunctional family dynamics—was how it revealed the history of Jamaica. It makes sense. The Jamaica we know is, at least in part, the product of dysfunctional relationship with a paternal colonizer (England). The early stories about Abel and his wife show how colorism creates artificial social boundaries and expectations. Several of the stories reflect how Jamaicans and other people from the Caribbean leave the islands, seeking good pay, only to find that they are expected to do hard, degrading jobs for little money. The stories set furthest back in time are particularly hard to read because they deal with the horrors of chattel slavery. It was fascinating to see how the Paisleys were affected by history and family.

These Ghosts are Family is brilliantly written. I really liked that each story felt distinct and necessary to the overall narrative at the same time. There are no wasted words in These Ghosts are Family. I also liked that the characters are completely believable—tricky considering how much psychology there is in this book. This book will definitely be a hit with readers who like stories about dysfunctional families.

This is a multi-generational novel in a similar vain to Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing. This book opens when Stanford Solomon hires a home health aide who just happens to be his daughter, Irene. Irene is unaware of the possibility that her father is even alive. Solomon tells an unbelievable story and then sets the tone of what is to come.

We learn of his wife Vera, who became a widow, his daughters and grandchild. Along with this you get some additional stories of others that surround this family. But even more so, you will learn the deep history of this family history. Slavery is really just the start.

This book was just so engrossing, and the writing was just beautiful. From the first words I knew I was in for something really good. You might ask why 3 1/2 stars. I did find some of the stories, caused the book to lull, as I find with most short story collection or books with interconnected stories. You are just not that vested in everyone.

This book coming from a debut author is really something special. I can’t wait to see what else Maisy Card writes.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The story is short: It begins with a woman getting fed up; it ends with her dying." ~ 90%

But first, there is a 69-year-old Jamaican man named Stan who once faked his own death. And so These Ghosts are Family begins. He meets his firstborn daughter, a home health aide, as she shows up to work to care for the father she thought was dead all this time.

We see the consequences of Stan's decision throughout the family tree from Jamaica to present-day Harlem. Their lives could have been completely different had Stan taken a different path. Through alternating time periods, readers witness a family forming and fracturing over generations. Themes include loss, growth, infidelity, migration and the common struggle.

These Ghosts are Family is a family saga that is interesting yet hard to follow at times. I was all in for some of the characters' individual stories whereas I was lost on a couple others and had to slow down to digest exactly what the author intended. It turned out to be a well thought-out tale. I can best describe this debut novel as a challenging read worth your time.

Happy Pub Day, Maisy Card! These Ghosts are Family is now available.

LiteraryMarie

This book was interesting. Still gathering my thoughts even after a re-read. This is multi-layered novel that started off fantastic but I lost my way several times during the multitude of characters. This felt more like a collection of short stories rather than one fictional novel. I enjoyed the writing & historical fiction aspects of the novel but at times I wanted more closure from some of the stories. The last chapter still seems off to me. I feel like I'm missing something.

This book starts off with a bang, when you realize that Abel isn't who he says he is. From there the story takes you through twists and turns as you learn the many connected ways that the characters are connected. The ending was very confusing and is the reason I dropped a star rating.

This debut novel is an original and very readable (except, for me, some of the dialect) inter-generational family saga. The characters are vivid and the historical and cultural details fascinating (though often horrifying); the supernatural (for lack of a better word) elements add a uniqueness to a book that I would not simply categorize as "historical fiction."

I look forward to reading future books by Maisy Card, and thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is wild!!!! So many twists and turns!!!! I need to discuss somewhere ASAP with others!! I am in love with books that share a family's history and how they evolved (or not). I enjoyed how everyone's actions affected each other and how the character's connections was laid out. I look forward to more books from this author....someone give her a TV deal too.

My feelings about this novel are definitely mixed. I loved the premise so I was really excited to start this book. This unusual multi-generational saga moves through different time periods and involves a multitude of family relationships. Each chapter is like a novella of a different family member – all interesting characters that keep you engaged. Maisy Card’s ability to give depth and unique personalities to so many characters is impressive. Overall, this book is beautifully written.

However, I just struggled to keep up with how the various story lines related to the overall story. Simply put, there is a lot going on in this book and I found myself getting lost at times. It may have been just my issue, but it definitely impacted my appreciation of the book.

Fans of historical fiction mixed with modern day drama will definitely enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I thought that this was an okay story, I enjoyed it but it just didn't blow me away. I enjoyed the concept and found the cast of characters to be interesting and off beat but I was just never fully committed to what was happening. There wasn't really a point when I felt captivated by what was going on. I appreciated the storytelling and as someone who is Afro-Caribbean, I am interested in reading more stories about Caribbeans. I look forward to Maisy Card's future as a novelist but These Ghosts Are Family was just kind of safe for me.