I had a hard time keeping the characters in this story straight and although the plot was intriguing, I didn’t find the resolutions very satisfying. Thank you for the advanced copy.

Buckle up! Take a deep breath and enjoy your 5 decades long journey takes you to the cities including NY, Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Mexico and Kauai, meeting with different narrators and their unique stories!

Bill Clegg is truly mastermind of creating detailed, layered, natural characters may incredibly resonate with us because he knows true nature of people, their characteristics, antics, flaws and he may use his words like a composer who starts a delicate symphony and presents us smart, poignant, lyrical stories.
As a real fan of his work: “Did you ever a family? “, I was so excited to get this book into my hands from the beginning.

Let’s take a closer look to the story: Three childhood friends Lupita, Dana and Jackie estranged for 50 years. Do you want to know the reason behind their hurt feelings? You gotta join us to the journey going back and forth between 50 years ago and present time to find out what happened between those friends. And we’re also introduced a new father Hal who recently finds out his father’s ill-fated medical condition.

All of these characters’ paths intercept meticulously and you learn more about their heartbreaks, misunderstandings, resentments, secrets, lies, frustrations, angers from multi POVed story chapters.

Overall:Once again the author shared his extra ordinary story telling skills with us, introducing different, original characters and their stories but unfortunately this time I couldn’t resonate with each of the characters and I didn’t enjoy every narrator’s stories. Some of them captivated my attention including Hal and Lupita but some parts didn’t address to my heart and soul.

I’m giving 3.5 stars and rounding them up to 4 for the impeccable, strong writing skills of the author. Maybe I was expecting a little more after enjoying so much his previous novel. But i always keen on reading his upcoming works enthusiastically. He is a unique literature talent.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/ Scout Press for sharing this unique Arc with me in exchange my honest review.

I think this would be a great book club book but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. There was a lot of characters and I just stopped caring about them about halfway through.

Based on the synopsis, this could have been a book I loved. However, with the state of the world the way it is, I could not handle something so dense and with such a seemingly sad tone. After multiple chapters of confusion and disconnection, I decided this wasn’t the right book(or at least a book at the right time) for me.

For fans of thoughtful literary fiction, I think this would be a real winner. Someone who is used to a barrage of characters and who can ride out some confusion at the beginning could really love this story. Also, a reader who enjoys (or can better handle) a less upbeat story may find this to be right up their alley. The writing was beautiful, but the story just went over my head.

This novel didn't take off with me. The style is elegant, but after the first chapter of "THE END OF THE DAY," I was bored, and I stopped reading in the middle of the second chapter. I tried to read this book twice, during a long train ride to the mountains., and it felt like homework.
The characters and the storytelling style failed to engage me. There were too many details, too many names of relatives of various people before the story even started, and only one image captured my imagination, the memory of the girl taking the cab to Connecticut with her first trust fund money. (This could have been a more engaging start).
I am sure that other people, more patient readers, will feel different about this novel.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing this book. I regret not enjoying it more.

In all honesty, I had not heard of Bill Clegg or his previous best-selling novel, but his reviews were so positive, I thought I should get to know his work. This novel details the lives of 4 women, who are seemingly not connected to each other at first. But a few chapters in, connections begin to be made and you realize that they are all part of the same secret - but each one holds a different truth. There is one character - Dana- who is the thread that ties them all to each other. I found her very unsympathetic, a "poor little rich girl" but saved from the stereotype completely by questions around her sexuality. She has an elderly wealthy aunt, who is not a main character, but still a central figure in the lives of all four women; the aunt is the benefactor and decision-maker for three of them, in small and large ways. Dana is a bit Machiavellian and so of course tries to become the group's undoing - in her later years, she even decides the secret must no longer be a secret, with little regard to the lives she may upend. The men in this novel are on the periphery - that's not a bad thing - and are mainly written as morally good or morally bad - but always a little dumb. I actually found it refreshing to have a novel about women in which much of their choices - which certainly involved these men - were really made by putting their own needs and wants first. There are a few small giveaways that this novel is written by a man - such as, "she'd rather be a sharp size two than an adorable size ten." What? I found that focus on size to be pandering, an unneeded and sexist jab in a book that otherwise gets the inner workings of these women right. Overall, the theme is the danger of secrets; the lesson learned is we really only know our own reality, and even then, we may not neccessarily understand it. I read it quickly, and was actually a bit disappointed that it ended - the sign of a great book.

With numerous characters being introduced in the first 2 pages I had a difficult time connecting with any of them. Having only read the first 5 chapters I feel that it's not fair to give this book a rating. It just wasn't for me.
I found that none of the characters caught my attention and I have no opinion on any of them nor of the storyline which I could not get interested in.
It could just be that I am in a rut and couldn't concentrate hard enough to follow the book although right now I probably needed something light.
I do not feel that it is fair to give this book a one star or two star rating as I think it may be that it's just not for me.
This review won't be accepted without a star rating so I'm giving it a 3 star since I did enjoy Bill Clegg's writing style.
Thanks to Net Galley for allowing me to review this book.

This book features a wide range of characters and their stories. I found the book to be well-written, but it was not uplifting. One storyline features two best friends who had a misunderstanding almost fifty years ago and they attempt to reconcile. As the story progresses, we learn the backstory for both, but ultimately, they do not work out their differences.

Another set of characters deal with a child given up for adoption and the repercussions of that. These stories all eventually intersect, but I kept hoping for redemption and reconciliation. Maybe at a different time in world events, I would appreciate this book more, but it left me wanting more at the end of the day.

No one seemed happy with the life they had lived, filled with regrets. Maybe this was the message the author wanted to convey, life is short, don’t waste it on petty disagreements.

I really enjoyed this author’s earlier book, “Did You Ever Have a Family” so I definitely wanted to read this one. I truly wish this one would have resonated more with me.

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.