If you like William Faulkner, you'll probably love this sprawling, languid novel of regret, love, and loss. If not, you're likely to find this novel tedious and dull.

The writing is top-notch, even luminous in places. There's just too much of it, with entire chunks of the story badly over-written to the point of incoherence. The story itself - if you can call it that - is too often disjointed and rambling, resulting in muttering meanderings of mush. Main characters Dana, Jackie, Lupita and Hap are eventually linked. But it takes so long and so many torturously serpentine twists in the road to get there, nobody really cares by the end of the day. Because the plot moves with the alacrity of a three-toed sloth.

If you have the time and patience, dive in. If not, you're probably better off watching grass grow. Or stocking up on No Doze.

#TheEndoftheDay
#NetGalley

An incredible, touching, thought provoking story about what women will and must do to survive. It is a sad tale, that unfortunately most women can relate to in one way or another, I guarantee if you read it, you will not soon forget it.

"Whatever their differences might be, they were alike in one, now obvious way: they were both men who left her bruised. "

I love Bill Clegg's writing. I know several people thought this was a slow-moving novel, but not for me. Maybe because I knew that, I sat down and committed to reading at least 30% of it in one go. Most stories pick up by the 30-40% mark and this was no exception. By that time, I'd met most of the characters, gotten attached to them and was curious enough about the plot (and how the characters connected) that there was no way I was putting it down.

"He is yours and so he is also mine, whether I like it or not, but let’s not pretend to have the same experience of him, she told Hap later, after they became engaged."

The characters in this story seem to far away from each other that, at first, it's impossible to imagine how they might be connected. And yet, the story beautifully, patiently weaves them together and you're left seeing the whole quilt in a way that makes each square more precious.

I loved Clegg's writing, his characters that slowly made their way into my heart with their exquisitely flawed lives and choices. None of the characters were utterly likable and yet they were each so relatable in their own ways and easy to sympathize with. The wanting, the grief and the sadness of their lives was so palpable.

I enjoyed this quiet book very much.

With gratitude to netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I started this book, I began to really enjoy the three characters (Dana, Jackie, and Lupita). As I moved from Part 1 to Part 2, I was a little surprised to find new characters being introduced (not to mention all of the secondary and tertiary characters). Things started to get a little confusing and more involved. Ultimately, by the time I finished the book, I was ready to be done. I know this style is what is trendy lately, but this novel really put my mental organization skills to the test. That said, I would be interested in reading another novel by Mr Clegg - just not in the near future.

I haven't read any of Bill Clegg's previous work and as I read this novel I admired and appreciated his writing style. This novel is complicated, for it covers fifty years, goes back and forth in time and alternates points of view between four or five characters. What I loved about the novel was the nuanced characters who Clegg slowly develops through narrative and action. These characters are not completely explained (or therefore understood) but are shown through some narrative, the characters' actions and limited dialogue. Similarly, the story is slowly revealed with scenes from different time periods with various characters. In the end, there isn't complete resolution and quite a bit is left to the reader's imagination and assumption. Yet with Bill Clegg's superb writing, this story felt real to me. And while I enjoy novels with clear plot lines, I feel that Clegg's complex characters and unresolved stories (with all the emotions) are true to real life.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Yikes. I really wanted to love this book, and I found that it started off very strong. Multiple POV add to the mystery and intrigue of childhood class dynamics, babies, adoptions, heartaches, and plenty of drama. But as the story unfolded I found the characters blending into one another and I found myself,..frankly, just bored. I ended up skimming most of the last 1/3 of this book just to get it over with. I just didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters, I wasn’t rooting for any of them. I’m left feeling completely underwhelmed.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The End of the Day by Bill Clegg. I was a Clegg fan after reading Did You Ever Have a Family, so I was excited to see a new book by this author. This books weaves three seemingly unrelated stories together. A man meets up with his long-estranged father to introduce him to his baby girl, when he comes upon something surprising. A retired woman received a visit from a friend she hasn’t seen in almost 50 years, and finally a taxi cab driver receives a very disturbing phone call, which drags her to the past. When I started this book, I wasn’t as drawn to it as I was with Clegg’s first book. However, I am glad that I stuck with it. Clegg is a talented writer and I do recommend this book if you are already a fan or if he is a new author to you.

The End of the Day is well written and has interesting format, switching viewpoints among the various characters. I didn't find the characters as compelling as in his previous, Did You Ever Have a Family.

Although some parts of the book were interesting...the writing was presented in a disjointed way. Because it was disjointed it was hard to follow in parts and had to reread it.

This book was so intriguing. From reading the synopsis, I had to know how their lives intertwined and I was pleasantly surprised. I really can't wait to see what others believe about this book.

DNR

Well, I’m giving up at 38%. No star rating as I don’t rate books I don’t finish. I just could not get out of the starting blocks with this one. There was no one really to like. There are a LOT of characters in this book and they aren’t all totally unlikeable, but no one grabbed my heart. And I was confused. A lot. Now some of that may have been do my dilution of concentration these days what with the coronavirus pandemic in its full glory. But gosh, I was having to go back time and time again to remind myself who was who and what their stories were. It just became too much of a challenge and I folded.

Don’t rely solely on this review to help you decide whether to read the book or not. There are plenty of positive reviews out there so read those too.

Thank you Net Galley, Gallery/Scout Press, and Mr. Bill Clegg for the opportunity to read an ARC. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. Unfortunately this was a book that didn't hold my interest and I was unable to finish it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love stories that are told in this format. Separate stories about people whose lives are interwoven in some form.

Half century old secrets are at the heart of this novel of 3 people told over the course of one day when their lives intersect: a widow whose childhood best friend visits her after 40+ years, a man and his estranged father, and a taxi driver in Hawaii.

As you read this story and see how it all unfolds and comes together, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Bill Clegg is not an author whose work I had read before. His works are acclaimed and bestsellers and no doubt The End of the Day will be too. Like great authors of the past, many readers will either love or hate his work. I fall more into the love category though there were a lot of characters to keep track of in this one book. The connections, loyalties, lack of and secrets make this groups of character stories filled with relationships. What seems to be disconnected maybe in actuality.

It is a character driven story with events from the past affecting the present. The first half kept my interest more than the last half which seemed weighted down by all the many emotions and thoughts of the characters. Characters who may not seem so at first are complicated within a complex story.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY by Bill Clegg, so I was thrilled to get an advanced reader copy of THE END OF THE DAY. Clegg's writing is luminous. In his first book, the characters were compelling and the storyline was thought-provoking -- definitely a five star review, but THE END OF THE DAY failed to evoke the same response in me. I initially thought that Jackie and Dana were in their eighties because of the author's descriptions of their cognitive and physical conditions -- and was surprised (and disappointed) to discover that they were only in their sixties. Several of the characters were mere caricatures and never fully developed. Without the lived experience of being a Latina, I believe that Clegg, a white, male author, may take some flack for his character Lupita. The story initially intrigued me -- I really enjoy multiple storylines that reveal intersecting perspectives, but in the end, their stories and motivations fell flat. I could not fully believe that Lupita would take the risks she took, Dana evoked a Cruella De Vil vibe, and Jackie was so utterly hapless that I could not feel any sympathy for her. So although this book fell flat for me, I still hold Bill Clegg in high regard and will look forward to his next novel.

The End of the Day is more character-driven than plot-driven. It's beautifully written but may not resonate with all audiences. It's a book about secrets and family.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

The premise of the book sounded really interesting and now that I've read it and can think back over all the pieces, it was mostly interesting. I found it very confusing to follow while reading and I would describe a lot of the chapters as being "over-written". They seemed to have way more extraneous detail about the particular character whose life was being described than was necessary. I found myself wondering more than a few times "how is that relevant?". I felt that jumping from character to character for each chapter made the time sequencing very confusing. I also was not happy with the ending. I guess I like stories that tie things up in a satisfactory manner. Doesn't always have to be a happy ending but I prefer all the pieces to come together. None of the characters ever find out the whole story. I had not read this author before, and while I didn't hate the book, I didn't love it enough to read anything else by the same author.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC.
Human relationships are complicated and we often don't forgive slights and trespasses against us. In this story, five characters that at first seem to have little to do with one another actually have a common root and something that happened that broke families and friendships.
I was not sure how everything tied together at first, but once that was revealed, I really enjoyed the book.

I won't have much to say about this book which is in my opinion its biggest flaw. It just did nothing particularly interesting or worthwhile. The blurb on the front notes "Ambitious in scope, tender in detail" but unfortunately that's not what this is. This is ambitious in scope, because the book tries to tackle class and socioeconomic differences, but the fact of the matter is is that it does not succeed in that. I found this to be rather superficial and I think it lacks nuance. The book had a lot of potential to explore class and disparity between different socioeconomic groups in a lot of interesting ways, but it just never went there. It scratches the surface at times, but I felt like it beats around the bush too much, without really tackling the issues it could (and probably intended to).

Tender in detail it is also not, but overbearing in detail most certainly. The book managed to drag on so much, without really ever going anywhere and I found that incredibly frustrating. The pace is so slow, but instead of doing something in the mean time, the book focuses so much on unimportant details. The author spends paragraphs upon paragraphs focusing on things that did not do anything for either the story nor the characters. 

I feel like this book is similar to Did You Ever Have a Family, but I do not think it did any of the things that one did right. Yes, this is technically a character study, but I barely remember the names of said characters. I think they were quite boring and unremarkable in most ways. I also had a strong sense of deja vu reading this. Like I've read about these same prototypical characters a thousand times before (and one time was too many). It also moves through time, but not in any way that is interesting or that keeps you guessing. 

One thing I did enjoy is how all the stories in this book come together. I love multiple perspectives that end up converging, that's always a plus for me. But I felt like even that was not executed well here, because it was obvious where it was going to go, but the text also does not engage with this interconnectedness in any shape or form.

To Sum Up
Overall, this one was a huge disappointment. I just could not engage with the book at all and I feel like it lacked nuance and focus.

My favorite books are the ones that seamlessly work together seemingly disconnected lives. That is what The End of the Day does so beautifully. If that is your thing, read this book immediately.