I found the content interesting and the writing good but she tried to do too much and nothing ever really developed except for the storyline that felt like she crafted without thinking of the actual story elements. Overall I definitely do see an audience for this and can imagine recommending it in the right instance.

I have a deep appreciation for the written word. I Love good writing. Poetic expression is one of my favorite forms of expression. What some people may label "overwritten novels" are some of my favorites. This was a book I felt I should love. The essentials of a great novel are all here. True family drama. Dysfunction. Religion. Agony of adolescence. Adoption across international borders: a traumatic experience. Abortion. Sadly, many marriages are unhappy.
But this author was clearly so desperate to demonstrate her better writing talents that she basically plowed over her story like a steamroller. The timeline is a bit confused at the beginning. The problem is solved by giving each chapter a name associated with a certain character. But there was so much superfluous stream of consciousness type stuff that I was left just wishing that I could grasp where we were, and what was occurring.
I especially appreciated Jane's (Mom) dedication to her catholic church and protesting outside of ladies' health clinics. Jane's daughter, Lauren's chapters were a touch tedious. Especially the full chapter allocated to early 90's heavy metal songs. TMI. The adoption of Mirella, the infant girl from Romania, was exciting and timely. I thought Jane's reasonable acceptance of what transpired at the conclusion of the book highly implausible.
I am a pro choice lady. I loved the mention of Dr. George Tiller, who was slain outside of a Kansas clinic some years ago. He was an extraordinarily brave individual. This provided some gravitas to this novel.
I can only suggest this book to individuals who genuinely like long disconnected and probably needless paragraphs. I felt like the author was trying to read my mind with this book.

I started reading this book several times, and kept drifting away from it. The writing is good, it delves into interesting topics: religion, abortion, the tragic story of Ceasescu's children (which I remember watching on the news). I would say it's a worthy book, but it's important go in knowing that there's a lot going on and it's all dreary and the pace is slow, so you should be in the mood for that type of book.

The Fourth Child by Jessica Winter is complex in how I feel about it. Several aspects I could easily relate to, while other things I did not like. I wanted to love the book, but didn't. Cassandra Campbell did a great job performing the book. I'm glad I listened to the book and took my time analyzing how I felt about it. Thank you #NetGalley and #Harper Audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook.

I just couldn't get into this one. I tried and tried and really loved that it was narrated by Cassandra Campbell. Unfortunately the story seemed to drag a bit too much for me and I had a hard time staying interested. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher though for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

I do love a good family drama however this one didn't do it for me, It was very slow and at times extremely boring.

This book seemed to be longer than it needed to be. The two view points of the narrators were interesting, but it just kept going and going. The family drama was interesting and kept me intrigued through some of the book, but the characters were hard to relate to. The narrator was wonderful.

I could not get into this book. I found myself very bored and never wanting to go read it. I ended up not finishing. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This book had the potential of being a good story; it had a good idea, but it did not have enough substance to hold my attention. One positive was the alternating point of view per chapter.

3 STARS overall
4 STARS narration

Narrated by a mother and daughter pair, Jane and Lauren, as they come of age 16 years apart, I liked Jane but did not understand why she stayed with Pat. I did not relate with Lauren who was a brat. I loved the adoption and abortion storyline, I thought it was thought-provoking and well done. There were long lengths of the book that were super detailed and irrelevant.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Lots of things i didnt care for, mostly jane is just the typical "prolifer", abortions and all. Thought it would be more than what a page or so of a single convo about choice? that honestly was just uh very negative and weird. Im assuming that was supposed to come off as a feel good, aw mom changed her mind, but like thats not really how it works and i know plenty of "prolifers" who've gotten abortions for a number of reasons and it just came off as off.

overall this book was horrible but it was long, and the timeline was odd, the adoption was always weirdly vague, had i liked the characters more it would have been different but they were odd and unrelatable, though i have met Janes before.

This audiobook was absolutely fantastic from the narrator to the plot. Winter creates an incredible story revolving around a suppressed teen bound by her suburban Christian upbringing who is trying to follow her faith, yet tends to overcompensate. The book presents piety in a whole new light and raises questions regarding parenthood, social hierarchy, and belief. The descriptions and imagery are immaculate and vivid. My only complaint is that there were a few moments where perspective or time period would shift and it would be a bit hard to follow. But overall this is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to in awhile

So much to unpack here. This book made me feel so many things: frustration, anger, sadness, gentleness, and a lot of both Catholic guilt, and Catholic frustration. There are times where I thought, "this is nonsense!"

The books is jammed back full of mental health issues, a devoutly religious mother, social issues, along with raising kids, and managing a terrible marriage. There is a full like here, filled with good, bad and boring moments.

The audio is very easy to listen to, and to get lost in. I will definitely chose more novels narrated by Cassandra Campbell in the future. .

Format: Audio
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Harper Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I almost didn't finish this book. I could have done without about half of the content. Honestly I could have done without the entire story about the 4th child. I had more interest about the other members of the family, especially the mother. Thanks #netgallery for the read.

I received an Audible ARC copy of The Fourth Child, for an honest review. It’s always a pleasure to get an arc from Netgalley. This book was a hard one for me. The story was slow and I really didn’t like the characters. I get that this is a literary style and I was glad I was able to read this story.. but I don’t get it. I don’t know why an entire book has to be so sad. The story revolves around a middle class family of 5. The mom Jane is a devout Catholic who is obsessed with Pro Life and most doctrines of the church. She finds herself at a crossroads in life and decides to adopt a child from Romania. Mirela turns this family’s world upside down. The angry father and Jane’s first daughter Lauren are the most affected. There are 2 other sons but there roles in this story is minuscule. The story goes back and forth between Jane and Lauren. They each tell their story. Jane, is a quiet wife, won’t rock the boat and honestly is treated very badly by her husband. Lauren is a angry teen and is desperately trying to find her way, in the family and the world. The back and forth broke up this story for me. The writing was good, very descriptive. This was a three star read for me. I just couldn’t connect with the story or the characters. Listening to the story didn’t change my review. The narrator was excellent. Cassandra Campbell did a great job, she always does. I look forward to hearing others reviews. Jessica Winter definitely has a talent for telling a story, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This was a really interesting study of intergenerational patterns of abuse, but from the perspective of repeated victims rather than perpetrators. Lauren, Jane’s daughter, ends up being abused in a way quite different to Jane but thematically (disenfranchisement, low self-esteem, fear) both instances are similar. I liked the drawing of the main characters, and felt the peripheral characters were nicely rounded. The hypocrisy of pro-lifers (e.g., no abortion but also no inclination to help orphans in Romania) was well demonstrated, as was the balanced view of who might join a pro-life organisation, without demonising those people. The first portion of the book, which focused on Jane as a child, felt distinct from the remaining portion; I find it quite difficult to reconcile young and older Jane. The story developed in a way that I did not expect at all based on the first few chapters. I listened to the audiobook and it was narrated very well. However, the text has many instances of the phrase ‘he/she said’ and it became quite jarring to hear, though this is obviously a minor issue. Overall, I would recommend this book to people that like literary fiction with beautiful prose and a focus on family drama and coming of age themes. I would give it a trigger warning for abortion themes (pro life vs. choice) and abuse.

I did not read or hear anything about this book prior to listening to it from #Netgalley. I'm not sure if I would have given this novel the time of day if I had, but I'm sure glad i did, especially since I was brought up in the Catholic faith. A great story about faith, family, friendships and understanding.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have just recently started audiobooks....usually I prefer holding and reading the book myself. I didn't really enjoy this book and to be honest, I didn't even finish listening to it. The narrator did a decent job, but the story was just odd. I had a hard time connecting to the characters. I thought I would really connect with Jane because I am also an adoptive mother, but that wasn't the focus of this book by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe one day I will pick up the physical copy of the book and finish it. I just wasn't super impressed with the portrayal of the Catholic religion and the entire family dynamic was just a turn off.

Thank you to Jessica Winter, Harper Audio and, NetGalley for the chance to check this one out!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced listening copy of this audiobook. Jane is a devout Catholic teen living in Buffalo, New York. She gets pregnant and married right after high school and has 3 children by the time most of her friends are starting their careers. Her husband isn't always kind to her but her faith tells her to hang onto him. As her children grow, Jane starts attending pro-life protests and adopts a young girl from an Eastern European orphanage. Her newest child comes with trauma which causes upheaval for the rest of Jane's family. When her oldest daughter gets pregnant in high school, it causes Jane to really examine her faith for the first time. The premise sounded interesting, but I didn't connect to any of the characters and it was very slow-moving.

he Fourth Child by Jessica Winter. Published March 9th, 2021.
Thanks to NetGalley @netgalley and Harper Audio @harperaudio @harperbooks for letting me listen to the audiobook version of this novel, narrated by Cassandra Campbell.
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The story centres around Jane, a devoutly Catholic teenager in Buffalo, NY, who has experienced emotional abuse from her parents and later her high school boyfriend, and is engaging in self-harming and disordered-eating behaviours. When Jane gets pregnant in high-school and marries her jerk boyfriend, however, her religious devotion becomes in tension with her new responsibilities as a mother. Later, when her three children are teenagers, Jane feels a religious calling to adopt a Romanian orphan after seeing news coverage of the conditions of the orphanages. Bringing home this fourth child complicates the family dynamic, particularly creating a rift between Jane and her eldest daughter, Lauren.
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Winter tackles a whole variety of heavy topics in this novel, including: religion, abortion, adoption, violent pro-life protests, emotional abuse, neglect, disordered eating, teenage pregnancy, and a teacher who is a sexual predator. Despite the heaviness of the topics, The Fourth Child ends up being a pensive family drama about motherhood, attachment, faith, guilt, and bodily autonomy. While the rest of the characters are a bit flat, Winter conducts an empathetic character study of Jane and Lauren.
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If you're a fan of Ann Patchett and/or Celeste Ng, you'd probably like this book too!
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#thefourthchild #netgalley #literaryfiction #recommendedread #recommendedread #2021reading #marchreading #harperaudio #harperbooks #adoption #familydrama #familysaga