Sometimes the shorter reads have the most thoughtful themes packed into them. The Relatives by Camilla Gibb is one such book. If you are looking for a quick thought provoking read that will help broaden your worldview, this is one to pick up! Focusing on three main characters, Lisa, Tess and Adam, The Relatives is a story that made me rethink what family is as well as become aware of new considerations. As the LGBTQ+ community grows and people start to live with the ones they truly love, not worrying about social images because times are changing, new questions start to come up.

There are three POVs in The Relatives and I loved how they are all connected. It took me some time to adjust to them but halfway through, this book hit really hard for a few reasons that I will explain below.

One of the protagonists is Tess. She is a university professor working towards her tenure when her partner, Emily, wants them to have kids. They reach out to an agency, get sperm from a donor and they start to try. However, Emily is unable to conceive and Tess has to put her career on hold for sometime so that she can bring the child into the world. Her struggles with IVF are concisely expressed and I appreciated the brutal honesty that they came with.

Motherhood does not come naturally to everyone and that is why I loved Tess’ narrative. She is a parent and maybe she is not as doting as other parents but she also has an identity beyond a parent. Her career means a lot to her and as I have often discussed on the blog through books like Queen of the Owls, this is another picture on how hard it is for women in academia and the choices we have to make.

Through Tess, The Relatives also touches on the newer field of rights of the embryo, and in conjugation with Adam’s side of the story, what rights come with being the biological parent, if any. See full review on Armed with A Book.

The Relatives is a good book. The protagonists are older. I pondered about topics like motherhood, career and more, and I liked how all of that was packed together in this book. The end was fantastic and it brought tears to my eyes. If you are looking for a short book, pick up this one. There are so many aspects and situations in life that we only interact with through fiction and this is one of those books that offered me a lot of food for thought.

Many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy via NetGalley.

Gibb was born in England but grew up and still lives in Canada. Her previous books include "Sweetness in the Belly", "This is Happy" and "The Beauty of Humanity Movement". This short novel tells three stories. Adam is being held hostage in Somalia and has befriended the young boy who brings him his meals. Tess is separated from her spouse Emily. They have one child and Emily now wants to use the embryos they have frozen to have another child. Lila is a social worker whose new case is a young girl who does not speak. These three stories explore family and the desire to have children and will leave you wanting more. This is a lovely recommendation for readers looking for a book club choice as the issues raised and the things not resolved would make for great discussions. I really enjoyed it.

Not sure how I feel about this book. Took awhile to get into the separate stories. It does come together at the end but kind of abruptly ends.
I feel there could have been so much more to this story. It was a quick easy read. And would still recommend it.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

Having read and enjoyed a couple of Camilla Gibb's previous books, I was intrigued by the story of The Relatives and was looking forward to reading it as well. This book was a very quick read and I felt that it could have easily been double its length, as I felt the the characters' stories fell a bit flat by ending with so much still unresolved. Or maybe that was just my take on them? I recommend this book, nonetheless. Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

A story of family and what it means in separate lives. Three storylines intertwine so beautifully in heartbreak and hope. Not often do I get emotional while reading but this novel pulled at my heartstrings. An engaging beautifully written masterpiece. This will sit with me for a while.

.The concept of family is told through the viewpoint of three main characters: Lila, Tess and Adam. The glimpses into each character’s life are very disparate initially. However,. as the story progresses, the reader gains more understanding of how the MCs are connected as well as how family dynamics can be deeply (and unconsciously) influenced by childhood experiences.

This book was not what I expected (in a good way!) based on the title and blurb. While initially frustrated with the jumps between characters, I was drawn into the story as it steadily gained momentum. Then suddenly, (and to my great disappointment) the novel was over!

Overall it was an enjoyable read and I’d recommend this novel to others.

Thanks ever so much to the author/publisher/NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this title. Up to this point, I had never read books written by this author and am glad I have had the opportunity to do so now.

Well-written novel about three seemingly unrelated storylines about women yearning to be mothers, IVF using anonymous donor sperm, and the links and connections that are created when children are born to different families but with the same biological donor. A number of ethical issues are raised including ownership of frozen sperm when couples separate, and the rights of children born from these sperm to know their half-siblings.

The story was well told from three different perspectives and the storylines do come together near the end. I did find the ending abrupt and some plot details were left hanging. Overall though, a quick but thoughtful read that raised a number of important issues.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

What does it mean to be a family? What are our responsibilities to each other? We meet a handful of characters who each tell their own story. Initially, I was lost because there didn't seem to be any connection. As the story progresses, they find themselves interconnected as they each grapple with life altering changes.

Three stories that seem to have no connection, no relevance or importance to each other.
A single social worker trying to help a child reconnect to the world through music. A newly divorced couple with a young son. And a man held captive on the other side of the world.

A beautifully woven story, that took a turn I did not really see coming.

The Relatives is a riveting story that captivates the reader’s attention. At the first, the book seems like three short stories and then the connection is made that links the stories together. The link is a man who has donated his sperm to help pay for graduate school. Many children come into existence from this man gift of himself. Families are formed and some of their stories are shared in this book. I would recommend reading this book. #netgalley

Canadian author Camilla Gibb might not exactly be a household name in her native country (yet), but if you have been around literary circles, you will have heard of her. Before she was being published by the likes of Doubleday Canada, I’m pretty sure she was a featured reader at the TREE Reading Series in Ottawa in the early 2000s — a series that I used to frequent and read at during the open mic sets. (I tried to verify if Gibb was a featured reader at TREE as fact and twig my memory, but when I went to visit the official homepage of the reading series to do some research, I was greeted with a warning from my web browser that to do so would be a major security risk — so I’ll just have to take my memory on faith.) Well, I have to say that her latest and forthcoming novel, The Relatives, is a firecracker of a read — one that should be destined to get her again to the shortlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in Canada, if not other awards.

I’d like to tell you what The Relatives is all about, but I want to do so with a caveat or two. For one, while this book is a novel, it is a noticeably short novel that clocks in at about 200 pages. You can easily read the book in one or two sittings. Thus, to say a lot about it risks giving away entire plot points or even the ending of the book! Two, this is the kind of book that might be best read by those who don’t have a lot of knowledge of what the book’s about — although it probably will endear itself to female readers best, as a lot of the book is about motherhood and being a parent. (It also seems to draw a lot on the author’s personal experiences, from what I can understand.) It might be best to do yourself a favour and steer clear of any review, including this one, until you’ve read the book, digested it, and are ready to have a conversation with it.

Having given away all of those warnings, I will say that the book is three novellas tied together by character and theme. The first of the stories involves a Toronto child social worker named Lila who is taken by her mute charge, Robin, so much so that she begins to have fantasies as adopting her as her own — fantasies that begin to take on a life of their own. The book is also about a woman named Tess who has come out of a toxic marriage with another woman she has separated from, and the point of separation is about what is to be done with some sperm and eggs that have been donated to and by the couple. The third story is about a man named Adam who is captured in northeastern Africa and held for ransom — and is the connective tissue, so to speak, between the first and second stories.

As the publisher would have you believe in press materials, and quite rightly, too, this is a book that questions the nature of what makes a family a family in this post-modern (or even post-post-modern) world. To that end, this short novel is about the fallout of the post-nuclear family and whether a family exists when it is missing a father hovering over the unit. It is a fascinating read, and even though the characters are not particularly likable, there is a sense of propulsion to this book that makes it read like a thriller or suspense novel. The only knock against it is that it wraps up a little too quickly and the ending is a little messy — especially given that, except in one case, we’re not given any timelines for when these stories or fictions are set. However, there is a lot you might be able to relate to with these characters, even if you find yourself not particularly liking them.

As someone who has not had alcohol for more than four years now (I found I was starting to self-medicate with it, so I quit it entirely), all of these characters have a complex relationship with booze — and if you’re anything a little like me, you might be able to see a bit of yourself in all of these characters, even if you don’t have kids yourself (procured either the old fashioned way or through sperm or egg donation). Since this was the case for me, I found myself wanting to know what would happen to these individuals, even if — sometimes — I felt that I wanted to throw a brick at them. The parenting angle is also interesting because it seems so novel and unpredictable. There’s a bit of philosophy in the read about the rights of donors and those who have received the donations, so there’s a depth that adds quality to this volume. Just about everything about this book is perfect, save, perhaps, for the very ending (which feels as though the author felt that she just had to stop and leave some questions and plot points dangling because she had run short of ideas).

To that end, I cannot be more effusive in saying that The Relatives is a mostly stellar read. I have been starved for Canadian novels, and The Relatives is that kind of Canadian novel that is a pleasure to read: urban (but not urbane) and sophisticated. This is the sort of book that will be talked about when it comes to drawing up year-end “Best of” lists, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it picked up a nomination for a major writing award, Giller or not aside. Even though I’m in my mid-40s and am single without children of my own (aside from having a cat who is active enough to be considered a child), I found The Relatives to be an absolutely compelling book. If you’re looking for something short that might keep you up at night between the covers (both on your bed and on your book), The Relatives is the rarity of being literary fiction that is also quite thrilling to read. Make no bones about it, The Relatives is exciting to behold. It marks the return of one of Canada’s great authors, one who has certainly come a long way from reading at a small literary event I used to frequent. The Relatives proves (once again?) that Camilla Gibb is destined for great things, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.