Traveling back & forth in place & time, A Question Mark is Half a Heart tells Elin's story. Elin grew up in the 70's & 80's on Gotland, a small Swedish island, where her days were filled with hanging out with her best friend Fredrik and helping out at the small local grocery store. She tried to avoid her mother since her mother was often moody & distant due to money issues. Flash forward to NYC in 2017 where Elin is married with a teenaged daughter and working as a fashion photographer. Elin has kept her past a secret from her family. They don't even know that she is originally from Sweden. Elin has a deep guilt from something in her past in Gotland she has been trying to run from every since. Over the course of the novel Elin faces up to her past as more of it is revealed to us, the reader bit by bit. At times, I found myself frustrated by Elin and her unwillingness to open up to her family. There were so many walls that could have toppled down with just some honest conversations or not being afraid to reach out. I recommend this to fans of literary fiction.

What to listen to while reading...
Heart it Races by Architecture in Helsinki
Take the "A" Train by Duke Ellington
Summertime by Louis Armstrong
This Little Light of Mine by Elizabeth Mitchell
I Know You Know by Esperenza Spalding
Angel of the Morning by Juice Newton
Blame it on Me by George Ezra

Omg I absolutely just loved this book. I loved the characters and the story line. I couldn’t put it down.

Great book. I found myself surprised again and again towards the end of the story. It is fresh and not predictable.

This one unfortunately didn't work for me. Elin's had a difficult childhood and while she may be financially well off as an adult, she's carried over the feelings of guilt and shame from her younger days. The story is told in a dual timeline, so we get glimpses of younger versions of Elin mixed with her in the current day, making the events in her past feel more real. However, the dialogue felt stilted and too much like "I'm writing dialogue for a book" versus how people actually talk/what they talk about. This dragged it down too much for me, despite having an interest in the story.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy. This did not impact my review.

This book took me a long time to get into, and I nearly gave up once or twice, but something kept me intrigued! The premise itself was interesting, and made a good use of the dual time line, but it seemed to take a long time to get going, which also meant that the resolution and end felt a little rushed. I would happily have had less building at the start and more at the end. At its core though, this is an enjoyable book and the characters and their complexities were expertly fleshed out. The setting was also vividly described, allowing the reader to truly be able to picture both the village in Sweden and NYC!

Thank you Netgally for an advance copy of this book.
This book is written in a dual timeline and it follows the story of Elin. The first timeline takes place on a small island in Sweden while Elin and it starts in 1979. The second timeline takes places in New York in 2017. As a child Elin grows up in a poor and dysfunctional family with a father in jail for a robbery gone very wrong and a mother who struggles to provide for her children. Elin’s life is tough, and she knows first-hand what hunger, cold and lack mean. In the second timeline, Elin has a great career as a celebrated and famous photographer, is married to Sam, a businessman and has a very talented daughter, Alice, but even so, her life is fracturing around her. The two timelines are presented in alternate chapters. As an adult Elin is struggling to connect and be open with her family and this leads to her losing almost everything she loves. She is so scarred by her passed, her family do not know the truth about her origins and her real family. When a letter arrives from someone she dearly loved in her past, all her secrets and guilt threaten to break out and totally ruin her life.
I enjoyed this book very much. I found the writing gripping and the short chapters kept me turning pages. The characters are likeable, but I feel that they could have been developed more. I would have enjoyed the story more if the book had been longer and the characters delved into more.

Dark and disturbing. How secrets of a childhood lacking love and compassion of an impoverished family attempts to destroy a fulfilled and wealthy life in adulthood. It opened a can of worms for myself causing internal conflicts. A great read, although disturbing and truthful.

This book took me a bit to get into but it was a lovely spanning story with two timelines - Elin's childhood and Elin as an adult - two stories that she severed long ago and never let mix. My heart went out to the childhood Elin had and the adults, particularly her mother, and the way the acted/cared for her. But the adult Elin I was slightly annoyed with - she seemed so removed and unattached to her world, her family.... but as the story went on, I grew to enjoy her and could see why she was the way she was. I really LOVED this ending - it was not really what I expected throughout the entire book and thought it was more than perfect.

A Question Mark Is Half a Heart was a beautifully written study on family struggles and how the events of one's childhood can impact them as adults. This story is told with a dual timeline. It goes back and forth to Sweden in the late 1960's/early 1970's and 2017 in New York City.

The main character, Elin is experiencing what appears to be an emotional breakdown in 2017. Over the course of the novel, we go back to her life as a young girl growing up in a small village in Sweden. Her childhood was less than ideal. The only shining spots for her were her two younger brothers and her best friend, Fredrik. The events of her childhood traumatized her to the point that she appears to have blocked out a great deal of her past. The real question is did she block things out or simply hide them. It was hard to tell. Either way, the events are coming back to Elin and her life is in chaos. She's forgetting things and isn't there for her loved ones. It's damaging her relationships with her husband, Sam and daughter, Alice. Even though work has always seemed to be her main focus in the past, Elin is also starting to forget things at work and is missing appointments - - all of this is damaging her reputation..

This wasn't a fast-paced novel. Things unfold gradually and although there is a relatively big moment from her past that comes to light later in the book, the storyline has a fairly steady flow. I enjoy books like this that demonstrate how we are often a product of our pasts. It's heartbreaking when you see that assumptions and fears can make you miss out on opportunities. But then making those choices opens other doors as well. After all, that is life....making decisions and living with them.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

The title to this book caught my attention and my interest. Such a strange sentiment - but it well describes this book.

I felt so sorry for Elin and her brothers growing up with nothing and with such a mother. I rejoiced when life hot better and was sad when the good times left. But the wasted life - all the missed years and lies - what a lesson.

Good book - fast read and held my attention throughout.

I have been approved for a while before picking up this book, and decided not to reread the synopsis so as to not have any expectations - which I found to be a good decision for me personally, as the reveals later had more of an impact. We're immediately introduced to Elin, a successful photographer who's good at her job, but seems to be using her work as a distraction. When she doesn't quite want to head home, she grabs her mail and walks to a nearby bar, and while sifting through the envelopes comes across a letter from someone (Fredrick) in her past, a past she has been concealing for years. Then we are catapulted back 30 years, where the pieces of Elin's childhood start to fit into place. I thought that that the author did an incredible job at depicting just how much your past can affect your present and future. While Elin refuses to acknowledge it, she gets many of her coping mechanisms from her own mother, while manifesting in different ways to account for the change in time and location. As we as readers start to unravel Elin's childhood, we come to understand why she behaves a certain way, and while we may not agree with her decisions we can see why she makes them. I will say that I felt the pacing was a bit off at times, as we get so much buildup to about 70% and then something extremely important is revealed, which causes the plot to just pick up speed until the end. Sometimes I thought there was imbalance between past and present day - I would have preferred to something specific in Elin's present day remind her of her past, and then jump into that period of her life, and I felt some of the chapter breaks just felt a bit disjointed. Elin also comes across a bit apathetic - when Sam or Alice compliment her, or do nice things for her, she doesn't seem very thankful, and when they confront her about it she says she appreciates them, but her actions tell a different story. And lastly, I wish there was better closure in regards to Sam - we do see some really good develop towards the very end of the novel (most prominently the last "now" chapter), but I wish we could have explored his and Elin's growth together a little more.

In conclusion, I thought this was a great novel exploring how your past, or rather how you perceive your past (as perception can become cloudy), can affect how you respond to events in your present and future. The writing style is certainly something that will keep me returning to Sofia Lundberg's work, if I am interested in the premise. I'm interested to see what other readers will think of this release. *Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*

The past she strove to leave behind catches up: very moving😔

I loved this book! The author does a super job with a story dominated by frail family relationships and a dreadful, guilty secret in this mesmerizing tale of a women troubled by her past and barely able to function in the present.

Elin Boal, the main female protagonist in this novel, is career-driven, exhausted and pretty messed up. The world sees a successful photographer but her thoughts are scattered and her home life is a wreck. And thanks to an unexpected card from an old friend she's inundated with memories of her childhood that she's kept locked in and hidden from even her nearest and dearest. Mother-daughter relationships are the key focus and it takes a long while for Elin to do something about confronting her issues instead of running from them by losing herself in her work.

To be frank, the first glimpses of Elin and the way she treats her NYC-based family are not endearing. But then author Sofia Lundberg weaves in the story of Elin's impoverished childhood in Sweden and another gentler, sensitive, caring side to her is revealed. The contrast is startling and the reason for her transformation comes out eventually. I found the journey there kept my full attention. I wanted to stay with Elin and her family longer though the story did end on a positive note that promised better days to come.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

This is a DNF for me, but not for any issue with the book. I typically don't read too much Women's Fiction, but I was intrigued by the summary so I decided to give it a shot thinking I would enjoy it.

I am still intrigued but I don't think the book is fast-paced enough for me. That being said I have enjoyed what I've read so far, I'm just not entirely sure I can finish it soon. I am interested in finishing it, but at the moment I can't bring myself to dedicate the time to it. I do appreciate the opportunity to read it and if I do end up completing the book, something I think I will eventually try to do, I will most definitely leave an honest review on Goodreads, one I hope and anticipate with get more than three stars. I also enjoyed the writing style, drawing the reader in by revealing bits and pieces of information from one time period before jumping into another, while not revealing too much to keep the reader guessing.

I will give the book a three star review because I am genuinely interested and have a desire to finish it, but it's just not the kind of book I want to read at the moment and I thought it would be unfair to not leave a review with you as soon as possible. Further, I did like the writing style so props for that.

Ever since fleeing Sweden as a teenager, Elin has had a difficult time connecting with even her closest family, husband Sam and 17 year old daughter Alice. She's a workaholic and uses that as an excuse to shield herself from deep emotions as well as the guilt she feels about hiding the truth about her childhood from well, everyone. What is she hiding and why?

"You're just one big question mark. To us and to yourself. A question mark is always just half a heart, have you ever thought about that? You can't love someone whose heart is full of secrets. You just can't."

Alternating between Elin's childhood in Sweden in 1979 and Elin's current life in NYC in 2017, the story begins with Elin's obsession with her work as a well-known photographer and her marriage in shambles. Often aloof and distracted, I couldn't help but wonder why she was acting like that, and I just knew here had to be more to her story. Thanks to her dysfunctional childhood, she was very mature and responsible in some ways, but yet also immature emotionally.

My favorite part of reading this book was reading it at the same time as my book buddy, Tina, because we had so much fun analyzing Elin as if she were a real person. True book nerds haha!

While I enjoyed this story about second chances, facing the past, and letting go of guilt, The Red Address Book (5 stars) remains my favorite book by this author.

"A home without books is like a body without a soul."

Location: Sweden (Heivide, Gotland), NYC, and Paris (a tiny bit)

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Told in dual timelines – Elin in the past, the oldest of three children in a struggling family after the dad goes to prison: and Elin in the present, the distracted, somewhat standoffish wife to Sam and mother to Alice. Elin is more focused on her career as a photographer than her family which leads to her daughter moving into the dorm and Sam moving to an apartment. It is then, that in order to save her family, Elin must confront the past for the first time in 30 years. Once I found out more about what happened in the past, I was more empathetic to Elin in the present.

"You're just one big question mark. To us and to yourself. A question mark is always just half a heart, have you ever thought about that? You can't love someone whose heart is full of secrets. you just can't."

I felt like this book was very different from the author’s previous novel, The Red Address Book (5 stars), but is packed with just as much emotion.

My favorite thing was reading this book with my book buddy, Becky, and analyzing Elin’s character both as a child and an adult. This helped me see the transformation in Elin from being a little broken and not deserving of love to opening herself up to loving and being loved.

A beautiful cover and enticing story promise drew me to A QUESTION MARK IS HALF A HEART. Genuinely skillful prose and descriptions kept me going long before I abandoned this story long before I finished. The devices and swift, inexplicable dynamics between characters baffled me while the long slogs through a truly horrific upbringing and ultimate transformation to an adult hellbent on replicating misery with different names and faces. I hope the protagonist Elin finds her way, but I won't be with her. I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my unbiased review.

Elin, a famous photographer living in New York, has lied to everyone about her life, including where she was born. Now, in 2017, she's an empty nester and her husband is frustrated with her inability to connect with him. Then a letter arrives which opens a door to her past and sends her spinning. This is told in two time frames- 2017 and Elin's teen years in Sweden. It was not an easy life, vastly different from her elegant present. Lundburg has created a fascinating character. I was especially struck by the contrast in Elin in the past and her detached present-I'm not sure how she pulled that off but I actually felt it. I can understand why some readers might find 2017 Elin unappealing but the 1970s Elin, well it's hard to be anything but sympathetic to her. I found myself wrapped up in the story, more than I expected to be. There are indeed some surprises here, so no spoilers from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's an indelible portrait of a woman who pulled herself out of poverty without a glance behind finally confronting and dealing with her past. Great read.

This was the book that I didn’t realize I need to read, I loved it so much. The story of Elin Boals, a career driven women, recent empty nester and struggling with her marriage is so beautifully told with a story that you can absolutely not put down.

When we meet Elin, she has received a mysterious envelope, that really throws her. The book written in 2017 and with memories of her past starting in 1979. This is absolutely not a high point in her life, but when her husband forces her hand she starts to re-evaluate her past which is absolutely threatening her present and future.

This was a beautiful novel, and I found myself rooting for Elin the entire time. She will make you angry, but when you realize she is struggling with her past, you will totally want to help her move on from whatever is haunting her. Simply, just read this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this one. I loved The Red Address Book but I could not connect with this story and found my wind wandering. Not sure if it was the slower pace or my current mindset, but I was no engaged and struggled to finish it. It is clear, though, that the author is talented. This one just didn't capture my attention.

Elin is a famous photographer living in New York with her husband and daughter. One day she receives a letter from someone in her past. This letter sets in motion some deep and introspective musings about her past life. The life she's kept hidden from those she loves. But now that things have been let out Elin will be faced with things she has done in past and if her family with come to see her in a different light, a light that will reveal a the dark shadows of who she once was.

This book goes back and forth from Elin in the 1970's early 80's to Elin in 2017. Of course there is a big secret that she has been holding onto all these years. I found that the book dragged on a bit too much so when we finally get nearer the end everything feels a little anticlimactic so the impact is just not there.

Overall a fairly decent read but by the end it was all just falling away from me and I was ok to see it end.

** Received ARC through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed **