If you like mother/daughter stories, this is the book for you. A reason to See You Again tells the story of the Cohen sisters who both chose very different life paths. When their father, Rudy, a Holocaust survivor dies, they split up and see very little of each other. Then they end up together for the holidays and try to reconcile and deal with their mother who is living her best life in Florida. Quick writing, great dialogue and characters.

A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN
BY: JAMI ATTENBERG

"A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN," was my first experience reading Author, Jami Attenberg, and it was a quickly read novel, that is Literary fiction, that although it was interesting, and kept me turning the pages, it explores generational trauma. I love this author's style of writing for many reasons. She does use foreshadowing a few times, which I don't come across too often, but I liked it. She is a great writer that I knew that I was reading the work of a sophisticated storyteller that gave me the impression that I knew comes from knowledge imbued with an understanding of life. She was able to hook me early, and I feel she is capable of tackling a dark theme, but does a stellar job at keeping me from feeling it's dreary. Generational trauma isn't something that is going to interest everyone, but she is skilled enough to capture a heavy subject, while keeping the narrative entertaining so you enjoy her presentation. I think it's a common part of life experience that has most people these days familiar enough to have an idea of what it means. This is the undercurrent theme that her early introduction of this family that is easily spotted by the beginning pages. By the end of the novel you can intuit that it can't be stopped by avoiding the family member who mistreated you. How if you don't address family dysfunction by passing it back up to the generation that comes before you, you're going to pass it down to your children. No matter how determined you are not to repeat it, without realizing it comes out in ways that aren't obvious. I am impressed how this story told by a less experienced writer wouldn't be able to address it, yet develop a lightness so except for a few scenes, it keeps your mood elevated. This novel is a great example of that. Rudy is the father who is a survivor from the Holocaust, and he was the glue that held this family of four together. He is frail from his years of suffering malnutrition, but had a heart of gold. He doesn't live long beyond the first chapter. You can't help feeling admiration for him by how he is the most lovable character in this novel. By no means do I want to imply that his past suffering is part of the generational trauma that his daughters act out as adults. Quite the opposite. He shows concern and love for his daughters and wife who he can see his wife's actions by how she treats their two daughters isn't productive. They are recipients of generational trauma. He's enlightened far beyond any of the other characters. The only thought of how his past suffering could be passed down by genetic means of which he can't control. Could their genetic inheritance have an influence over how they relate to the secondary characters that orbit the daughters lives? I thought it was due to their mother, Frieda's deliberate cruelty towards the two daughters which she is aware of which exemplifies unimaginable dislike and defies understanding. She turns her grief from Rudy's death, towards anger to her two daughters. Frieda, who he married young is competitive, while he's still alive, and during a family night of Scrabble with their two daughters, she acts like a poor sport. It is either gross immaturity, or self centered behavior by trying to win every game, when she is playing with her two teen aged daughters. As a mother I was appalled by her self centered attitude of not wanting to witness joy, by seeing her two daughters win. Most mothers instinctively put their children's interests before their own. It just is a natural behavior to want your children to feel as much joy and happiness as possible, and it's an automatic instinct to act to let them win and enjoy the game. Her oldest daughter Nancy, is the daughter blessed with beauty, but the younger daughter, Shelly is clearly more intelligent than her mother or her sister. This novel spans forty years, starting out in the 1970's, and moves throughout the years ending during the early part of decade of the 2000's.

Frieda is an alcoholic sneaking her secret stash of hidden liquor before Rudy dies. She continues after, by getting worse. She took out her grief in the form of anger towards her two daughters which was cruel treatment on purpose. She isn't physically abusive, but her actions towards both of her daughters, which is emotional and verbal abuse was appalling, and were as the author described it lands like blows. She ends up paying the price, because her behavior ended up causing many years of both her daughters to be estranged from her. Her two daughters can't move out of the house fast enough to go to college in different parts of the country. Nancy gets pregnant at 21, and marries. She has a daughter who she traumatizes during one Christmas holiday, when her daughter Jess is four. Shelly is visiting for the first time in years. Nancy makes a scene by scaring, and upsetting her young daughter by ripping the lights off the Christmas tree. It is the defining moment that her four year old daughter remembers as an adult. Nancy and her daughter don't have a relationship when her daughter grows up. You are aware when that unspeakable destructive behavior is due to her dissatisfaction in her marriage. It isn't just her, since her husband you can see later on why, but they both aren't healthy role models as parents to their daughter. There are other early signs that they both aren't likable for reasons I won't say which would be spoilers.

Jess, and her Aunt Shelly are close, but as successful career wise as Shelly is she seems to buy her way into her niece's life by over indulging her with purchasing her a car. Shelly is always trying to force her niece to accept money, she doesn't want to take. Neither, Shelly, or Nancy have healthy adult relationships that last. There are other people who they have in their lives, but I remember more of Shelly's life. It sounds depressing with my thoughts that I remember from reading this that by writing this review I included them because of the blatant dysfunction. It isn't easy to not get upset, but I include them here because they were the most difficult to read. To anyone reading this it screams the ways this cycle continues. I saw a pattern of turmoil, with these two daughters that aren't as obvious that are also sad. This sounds very depressing, but the author keeps it from ever becoming a downer. She balances out, the narrative by including humor, and lighter moments that make this enjoyable. Overall, I thought the author writes realistic depictions of how generational trauma handed down left unresolved continues to reverberate., and passed down to continue a vicious cycle. This was well written, and the author did a great job depicting how you must address trauma. It's never resolved by avoiding the family member who is responsible that caused it to begin with. However, most people don't know that it takes much more internal examination and self awareness that is a start at resolving the pain that you didn't deserve, but that many people repress and think that they can automatically fix their issues by avoiding the person who mistreated you.

I know this cliche from my education which I took psychology as a minor, as an undergraduate. I have observed many people who think that avoiding the family member who mistreats them ensures a life of happiness, and to choose healthy people that they relate to. I wish it was that simple, but seldom it just continues to live on, with the author's descriptions of the actions and her main characters like both Nancy and Shelly. Shelly was more likable, yet she seemed to be more similar to their father. There's a saying: Unless you hand the trauma back up to the generation that caused it, you hand it down. Again, the author depicts this by how these two sisters have unhealthy interpersonal relationships. She also illuminates how this continues by other ways less obvious. If you take away nothing else, it bears repeating this cliche. Unless you hand it back up, you hand it down.

I am going to add that so many people who suffer in their childhood trauma, think that the way to help themselves is to avoid the person who caused it. It doesn't work. There are cases where there are exceptions. There's a much longer explanation that I wrote, which took me a long time to review this very well written novel. When I hit the submit button, I knew that in my intuition that it would erase my whole review, which it did. I hate that when that happens, but it did. I just want to add that this author was very interesting in the way she wrote such a commonly well known situation, and most people know someone who, had a difficult time during childhood. They believe the way they solve it, and think they are going to have successful lives, by avoiding the person responsible. It takes so much more than that.

The author is talented by her understated style of making this point. She recreates the setting that these years take place by accurately placing the culture to be one that made me nostalgic. That time period was a simpler, gentler era. Today is much more complex and disturbing with how the world is so much harder to exist in with how the world seems to be more unstable. I'm not getting into it beyond saying one just has to watch the news for five minutes. Technology for better or worse has advanced so much with it being a good thing in ways. In other ways it has a negative impact on us.
Part of that is due to younger teenagers especially girls believing everything they see online that suggests everyone else has a better life. Most of it's fantasy, because everyone has their own circumstances that they will deal with at some point. It's sad, and one thing that could be why I didn't raise my rating higher is that although this author is one whose wisdom is apparent, it was hard for me to connect to any of the characters. It was better than I thought, but she does write well above average in how she kept the heartbreaking aspects to a minimum. I don't know how to describe it more than my intuition told me that she had written from having insight, but I'm happy that I took a risk by reading this by not knowing anybody else who has.


Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Jami Attenberg, and Ecco for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN
BY: JAMI ATTENBERG

"A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN," was my first experience reading Author, Jami Attenberg, and it was a quickly read novel, that is Literary fiction, that although it was interesting, and kept me turning the pages, it explores generational trauma. I love this author's style of writing for many reasons. She does use foreshadowing a few times, which I don't come across too often, but I liked it. She is a great writer that I knew that I was reading the work of a sophisticated storyteller that gave me the impression that I knew comes from knowledge imbued with an understanding of life. She was able to hook me early, and I feel she is capable of tackling a dark theme, but does a stellar job at keeping me from feeling it's dreary. Generational trauma isn't something that is going to interest everyone, but she is skilled enough to capture a heavy subject, while keeping the narrative entertaining so you enjoy her presentation. I think it's a common part of life experience that has most people these days familiar enough to have an idea of what it means. This is the undercurrent theme that her early introduction of this family that is easily spotted by the beginning pages. By the end of the novel you can intuit that it can't be stopped by avoiding the family member who mistreated you. How if you don't address family dysfunction by passing it back up to the generation that comes before you, you're going to pass it down to your children. No matter how determined you are not to repeat it, without realizing it comes out in ways that aren't obvious. I am impressed how this story told by a less experienced writer wouldn't be able to address it, yet develop a lightness so except for a few scenes, it keeps your mood elevated. This novel is a great example of that. Rudy is the father who is a survivor from the Holocaust, and he was the glue that held this family of four together. He is frail from his years of suffering malnutrition, but had a heart of gold. He doesn't live long beyond the first chapter. You can't help feeling admiration for him by how he is the most lovable character in this novel. By no means do I want to imply that his past suffering is part of the generational trauma that his daughters act out as adults. Quite the opposite. He shows concern and love for his daughters and wife who he can see his wife's actions by how she treats their two daughters isn't productive. They are recipients of generational trauma. He's enlightened far beyond any of the other characters. The only thought of how his past suffering could be passed down by genetic means of which he can't control. Could their genetic inheritance have an influence over how they relate to the secondary characters that orbit the daughters lives? I thought it was due to their mother, Frieda's deliberate cruelty towards the two daughters which she is aware of which exemplifies unimaginable dislike and defies understanding. She turns her grief from Rudy's death, towards anger to her two daughters. Frieda, who he married young is competitive, while he's still alive, and during a family night of Scrabble with their two daughters, she acts like a poor sport. It is either gross immaturity, or self centered behavior by trying to win every game, when she is playing with her two teen aged daughters. As a mother I was appalled by her self centered attitude of not wanting to witness joy, by seeing her two daughters win. Most mothers instinctively put their children's interests before their own. It just is a natural behavior to want your children to feel as much joy and happiness as possible, and it's an automatic instinct to act to let them win and enjoy the game. Her oldest daughter Nancy, is the daughter blessed with beauty, but the younger daughter, Shelly is clearly more intelligent than her mother or her sister. This novel spans forty years, starting out in the 1970's, and moves throughout the years ending during the early part of decade of the 2000's.

Frieda is an alcoholic sneaking her secret stash of hidden liquor before Rudy dies. She continues after, by getting worse. She took out her grief in the form of anger towards her two daughters which was cruel treatment on purpose. She isn't physically abusive, but her actions towards both of her daughters, which is emotional and verbal abuse was appalling, and were as the author described it lands like blows. She ends up paying the price, because her behavior ended up causing many years of both her daughters to be estranged from her. Her two daughters can't move out of the house fast enough to go to college in different parts of the country. Nancy gets pregnant at 21, and marries. She has a daughter who she traumatizes during one Christmas holiday, when her daughter Jess is four. Shelly is visiting for the first time in years. Nancy makes a scene by scaring, and upsetting her young daughter by ripping the lights off the Christmas tree. It is the defining moment that her four year old daughter remembers as an adult. Nancy and her daughter don't have a relationship when her daughter grows up. You are aware when that unspeakable destructive behavior is due to her dissatisfaction in her marriage. It isn't just her, since her husband you can see later on why, but they both aren't healthy role models as parents to their daughter. There are other early signs that they both aren't likable for reasons I won't say which would be spoilers.

Jess, and her Aunt Shelly are close, but as successful career wise as Shelly is she seems to buy her way into her niece's life by over indulging her with purchasing her a car. Shelly is always trying to force her niece to accept money, she doesn't want to take. Neither, Shelly, or Nancy have healthy adult relationships that last. There are other people who they have in their lives, but I remember more of Shelly's life. It sounds depressing with my thoughts that I remember from reading this that by writing this review I included them because of the blatant dysfunction. It isn't easy to not get upset, but I include them here because they were the most difficult to read. To anyone reading this it screams the ways this cycle continues. I saw a pattern of turmoil, with these two daughters that aren't as obvious that are also sad. This sounds very depressing, but the author keeps it from ever becoming a downer. She balances out, the narrative by including humor, and lighter moments that make this enjoyable. Overall, I thought the author writes realistic depictions of how generational trauma handed down left unresolved continues to reverberate., and passed down to continue a vicious cycle. This was well written, and the author did a great job depicting how you must address trauma. It's never resolved by avoiding the family member who is responsible that caused it to begin with. However, most people don't know that it takes much more internal examination and self awareness that is a start at resolving the pain that you didn't deserve, but that many people repress and think that they can automatically fix their issues by avoiding the person who mistreated you.

I know this cliche from my education which I took psychology as a minor, as an undergraduate. I have observed many people who think that avoiding the family member who mistreats them ensures a life of happiness, and to choose healthy people that they relate to. I wish it was that simple, but seldom it just continues to live on, with the author's descriptions of the actions and her main characters like both Nancy and Shelly. Shelly was more likable, yet she seemed to be more similar to their father. There's a saying: Unless you hand the trauma back up to the generation that caused it, you hand it down. Again, the author depicts this by how these two sisters have unhealthy interpersonal relationships. She also illuminates how this continues by other ways less obvious. If you take away nothing else, it bears repeating this cliche. Unless you hand it back up, you hand it down.

I am going to add that so many people who suffer in their childhood trauma, think that the way to help themselves is to avoid the person who caused it. It doesn't work. There are cases where there are exceptions. There's a much longer explanation that I wrote, which took me a long time to review this very well written novel. When I hit the submit button, I knew that in my intuition that it would erase my whole review, which it did. I hate that when that happens, but it did. I just want to add that this author was very interesting in the way she wrote such a commonly well known situation, and most people know someone who, had a difficult time during childhood. They believe the way they solve it, and think they are going to have successful lives, by avoiding the person responsible. It takes so much more than that.

The author is talented by her understated style of making this point. She recreates the setting that these years take place by accurately placing the culture to be one that made me nostalgic. That time period was a simpler, gentler era. Today is much more complex and disturbing with how the world is so much harder to exist in with how the world seems to be more unstable. I'm not getting into it beyond saying one just has to watch the news for five minutes. Technology for better or worse has advanced so much with it being a good thing in ways. In other ways it has a negative impact on us.
Part of that is due to younger teenagers especially girls believing everything they see online that suggests everyone else has a better life. Most of it's fantasy, because everyone has their own circumstances that they will deal with at some point. It's sad, and one thing that could be why I didn't raise my rating higher is that although this author is one whose wisdom is apparent, it was hard for me to connect to any of the characters. It was better than I thought, but she does write well above average in how she kept the heartbreaking aspects to a minimum. I don't know how to describe it more than my intuition told me that she had written from having insight, but I'm happy that I took a risk by reading this by not knowing anybody else who has.


Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Jami Attenberg, and Ecco for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN
BY: JAMI ATTENBERG

"A REASON TO SEE YOU AGAIN," was my first experience reading Author, Jami Attenberg, and it was a quickly read novel, that is Literary fiction, that although it was interesting, and kept me turning the pages, it explores generational trauma. I love this author's style of writing for many reasons. She does use foreshadowing a few times, which I don't come across too often, but I liked it. She is a great writer that I knew that I was reading the work of a sophisticated storyteller that gave me the impression that I knew comes from knowledge imbued with an understanding of life. She was able to hook me early, and I feel she is capable of tackling a dark theme, but does a stellar job at keeping me from feeling it's dreary. Generational trauma isn't something that is going to interest everyone, but she is skilled enough to capture a heavy subject, while keeping the narrative entertaining so you enjoy her presentation. I think it's a common part of life experience that has most people these days familiar enough to have an idea of what it means. This is the undercurrent theme that her early introduction of this family that is easily spotted by the beginning pages. By the end of the novel you can intuit that it can't be stopped by avoiding the family member who mistreated you. How if you don't address family dysfunction by passing it back up to the generation that comes before you, you're going to pass it down to your children. No matter how determined you are not to repeat it, without realizing it comes out in ways that aren't obvious. I am impressed how this story told by a less experienced writer wouldn't be able to address it, yet develop a lightness so except for a few scenes, it keeps your mood elevated. This novel is a great example of that. Rudy is the father who is a survivor from the Holocaust, and he was the glue that held this family of four together. He is frail from his years of suffering malnutrition, but had a heart of gold. He doesn't live long beyond the first chapter. You can't help feeling admiration for him by how he is the most lovable character in this novel. By no means do I want to imply that his past suffering is part of the generational trauma that his daughters act out as adults. Quite the opposite. He shows concern and love for his daughters and wife who he can see his wife's actions by how she treats their two daughters isn't productive. They are recipients of generational trauma. He's enlightened far beyond any of the other characters. The only thought of how his past suffering could be passed down by genetic means of which he can't control. Could their genetic inheritance have an influence over how they relate to the secondary characters that orbit the daughters lives? I thought it was due to their mother, Frieda's deliberate cruelty towards the two daughters which she is aware of which exemplifies unimaginable dislike and defies understanding. She turns her grief from Rudy's death, towards anger to her two daughters. Frieda, who he married young is competitive, while he's still alive, and during a family night of Scrabble with their two daughters, she acts like a poor sport. It is either gross immaturity, or self centered behavior by trying to win every game, when she is playing with her two teen aged daughters. As a mother I was appalled by her self centered attitude of not wanting to witness joy, by seeing her two daughters win. Most mothers instinctively put their children's interests before their own. It just is a natural behavior to want your children to feel as much joy and happiness as possible, and it's an automatic instinct to act to let them win and enjoy the game. Her oldest daughter Nancy, is the daughter blessed with beauty, but the younger daughter, Shelly is clearly more intelligent than her mother or her sister. This novel spans forty years, starting out in the 1970's, and moves throughout the years ending during the early part of decade of the 2000's.

Frieda is an alcoholic sneaking her secret stash of hidden liquor before Rudy dies. She continues after, by getting worse. She took out her grief in the form of anger towards her two daughters which was cruel treatment on purpose. She isn't physically abusive, but her actions towards both of her daughters, which is emotional and verbal abuse was appalling, and were as the author described it lands like blows. She ends up paying the price, because her behavior ended up causing many years of both her daughters to be estranged from her. Her two daughters can't move out of the house fast enough to go to college in different parts of the country. Nancy gets pregnant at 21, and marries. She has a daughter who she traumatizes during one Christmas holiday, when her daughter Jess is four. Shelly is visiting for the first time in years. Nancy makes a scene by scaring, and upsetting her young daughter by ripping the lights off the Christmas tree. It is the defining moment that her four year old daughter remembers as an adult. Nancy and her daughter don't have a relationship when her daughter grows up. You are aware when that unspeakable destructive behavior is due to her dissatisfaction in her marriage. It isn't just her, since her husband you can see later on why, but they both aren't healthy role models as parents to their daughter. There are other early signs that they both aren't likable for reasons I won't say which would be spoilers.

Jess, and her Aunt Shelly are close, but as successful career wise as Shelly is she seems to buy her way into her niece's life by over indulging her with purchasing her a car. Shelly is always trying to force her niece to accept money, she doesn't want to take. Neither, Shelly, or Nancy have healthy adult relationships that last. There are other people who they have in their lives, but I remember more of Shelly's life. It sounds depressing with my thoughts that I remember from reading this that by writing this review I included them because of the blatant dysfunction. It isn't easy to not get upset, but I include them here because they were the most difficult to read. To anyone reading this it screams the ways this cycle continues. I saw a pattern of turmoil, with these two daughters that aren't as obvious that are also sad. This sounds very depressing, but the author keeps it from ever becoming a downer. She balances out, the narrative by including humor, and lighter moments that make this enjoyable. Overall, I thought the author writes realistic depictions of how generational trauma handed down left unresolved continues to reverberate., and passed down to continue a vicious cycle. This was well written, and the author did a great job depicting how you must address trauma. It's never resolved by avoiding the family member who is responsible that caused it to begin with. However, most people don't know that it takes much more internal examination and self awareness that is a start at resolving the pain that you didn't deserve, but that many people repress and think that they can automatically fix their issues by avoiding the person who mistreated you.

I know this cliche from my education which I took psychology as a minor, as an undergraduate. I have observed many people who think that avoiding the family member who mistreats them ensures a life of happiness, and to choose healthy people that they relate to. I wish it was that simple, but seldom it just continues to live on, with the author's descriptions of the actions and her main characters like both Nancy and Shelly. Shelly was more likable, yet she seemed to be more similar to their father. There's a saying: Unless you hand the trauma back up to the generation that caused it, you hand it down. Again, the author depicts this by how these two sisters have unhealthy interpersonal relationships. She also illuminates how this continues by other ways less obvious. If you take away nothing else, it bears repeating this cliche. Unless you hand it back up, you hand it down.

I am going to add that so many people who suffer in their childhood trauma, think that the way to help themselves is to avoid the person who caused it. It doesn't work. There are cases where there are exceptions. There's a much longer explanation that I wrote, which took me a long time to review this very well written novel. When I hit the submit button, I knew that in my intuition that it would erase my whole review, which it did. I hate that when that happens, but it did. I just want to add that this author was very interesting in the way she wrote such a commonly well known situation, and most people know someone who, had a difficult time during childhood. They believe the way they solve it, and think they are going to have successful lives, by avoiding the person responsible. It takes so much more than that.

The author is talented by her understated style of making this point. She recreates the setting that these years take place by accurately placing the culture to be one that made me nostalgic. That time period was a simpler, gentler era. Today is much more complex and disturbing with how the world is so much harder to exist in with how the world seems to be more unstable. I'm not getting into it beyond saying one just has to watch the news for five minutes. Technology for better or worse has advanced so much with it being a good thing in ways. In other ways it has a negative impact on us.
Part of that is due to younger teenagers especially girls believing everything they see online that suggests everyone else has a better life. Most of it's fantasy, because everyone has their own circumstances that they will deal with at some point. It's sad, and one thing that could be why I didn't raise my rating higher is that although this author is one whose wisdom is apparent, it was hard for me to connect to any of the characters. It was better than I thought, but she does write well above average in how she kept the heartbreaking aspects to a minimum. I don't know how to describe it more than my intuition told me that she had written from having insight, but I'm happy that I took a risk by reading this by not knowing anybody else who has.


Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Jami Attenberg, and Ecco for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#AReasontoSeeYouAgain #JamiAttenberg #Ecco #NetGalley

This was a generational story featuring two daughters and their mothers. It follows them through 40 years. This was not what I would call a cheerful book but Jami Attenbergs writing really drew me in. These women had such a distinct voice. It just reminds you that the passage of time really is very short.

When the father dies, the mother and two daughters are send into disrepair. This book follows the characters through forty years, and explorers their lives and choices.

Gorgeous, poignant, deeply affecting story about how generational trauma unfurls itself in a family, and the ways we can heal each other. I fell in love with these characters, who are so flawed and so relatable and so deeply human and real. This book made me feel so seen in ways I couldn't possibly have predicted and struggle to explain with clarity. All I can tell you is, you have to read this book. You have to read this book.

The Cohen family is unlikable - Frieda is a difficult, and often cruel, mother to her daughters Nancy (the pretty one) and Shelley (the smart one). Neither daughter cares much for their mother, and all can go months without speaking. And yet. Attenberg skillfully builds their world and has us rooting for this multi-generational family of strong, confident and damaged women over the many decades of their lives. Indeed, we finish the book wanting more. Attenberg is so good at storytelling that our time with the Cohen women feels too short. She is such a good storyteller that we are immersed in their complicated, damaged and damaging interactions. She is so good that this book is bingeable and compulsively readable. Highly recommend. Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for the ARC.

Sometimes you read a book and you think this is one of the best books I've read in this genre. I just read three books that resonated with me in that way. The first is by Jami Attenberg and it is literary fiction (or Jewish Fiction, according to Amazon). It is newly out this week, but I was lucky enough to get to read an ARC last month.

Long-time readers know that I'm a huge fan of Jami Attenberg and her CRAFT TALK her on Substack. I've already written here more than once about her yearly event, #1000wordsofsummer, which was such a help to me in writing Honeymoon at Sea, and her new nonfiction book #1000words which I loved. The newest of her novels—it came out Tuesday—is called A Reason To See You Again and it's about a family.

The story is centered on two sisters, who we meet in 1971 when they are teenagers (or almost, the younger is 12). The girls were born to a Holocaust survivor who has secrets he doesn't try very hard to hide, and the wife who has cared for him for years, to the detriment of her own dreams, or the hopes of having one. The author follows both sisters through the years, through their relationships and careers, but never loses sight of the mother, a widow who eventually becomes somewhat merry. It's a story that manages to feel like an epic family tale and still be small enough to be incredibly intimate.

For those who've loved Jami Attenberg's other novels (there are a few you may have heard of, such as The Middlesteins) you'll be pleased to meet this new family. Those of you who haven't read her novels yet will want to read more.

This is my first Jami Attenberg novel so I didn't know what to expect. The book begins with a family game night, and shows the tenderness of the character of Rudy, the father. The story follows the characters of Frieda (the mother) and her two daughters, Nancy and Shelley. Rudy dies early on, and the novel explores the question of how these characters develop in a largely dysfunctional family. None of them are particularly likable but Attenberg brings a nuanced humanity to the characters. Recommended for readers who love character-driven fiction and stories of how families survive. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC. Pub Date: September 24, 2024.

#AReasonToSeeYouAgain

I’m not sure this one resonated with me. The Cohen family was beyond dysfunctional, with characters that were difficult to like. Nancy and Shelly are sisters, daughters of a Holocaust survivor and a difficult mother. I felt the Jewishness was seen more as a burden and didn’t seem to represent anything in their lives. All in all, it’s not something I would recommend but I know many loved the book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins Ecco for gifting me a digital ARC of the new novel by Jami Attenberg. All opinions expressed in this review are my own – 4.5 stars!

The Cohen family women – mom Frieda, daughters Nancy and Shelly – are dealing with the death of their husband and father, Rudy, and things begin changing quickly. Shelly leaves as soon as she can for the West Coast and the new world of technology. Nancy gets married early to a traveling salesman, who’s gone more than he’s home, leaving her with their daughter, Jess. Frieda heads for a new life in Miami. But running away doesn’t solve anything, and we follow along with these women over the coming decades.

I loved the way this book was written, starting in the early 1970s, and progressing slowly over the next 40 years, as each chapter gives us a peek into all their lives from one of their POV. There are even bits of the future interspersed in there, giving us hints as to what is to come. From their viewpoints, we see them navigate all the changes of the times, from motherhood to the workplace, the start of the tech, self-help and Me-Too movements, but always focused on their relationships with each other, themselves, and others. Would be an interesting book club pick!

Interesting, well constructed from a craft perspective. The characters felt real and well-rounded. The technology aspect and means of communication was intriguing. A book with lots of room for interpretation.

The best selling author Jami Attenberg returns with a domestic drama that follows three generations of a family over 37 years. The novel opens in 1971 on a cozy domestic scene where 16 year old Nancy and 12 year old Shelly play Scrabble with their ailing father, Rudy, a Holocaust survivor, while their mother, Frieda, makes popcorn in the kitchen while taking sips of slivovitz. The following year Rudy dies, and the foundation of the Cohen family crumbles. Frieda’s unwarranted anger at her daughters propels Nancy into a quick marriage to Robby and early motherhood. Shelly accelerates her education and receives a full scholarship to Berkeley. Frieda moves to Miami where she continues working at a nursing home although her roommate, Carolina, who generously loaned her money that she knew would remain unpaid, ultimately abandons Frieda because she neglects her obligations, “chipping away at the sadness with booze.” Nancy has a lonely marriage, although Robby pays the bills and is a good father to their daughter, Jess (but perhaps not to the other children that he fathered with women outside of his marriage). Shelly is succeeding in the male dominated tech sector, although her personal life is disastrous. She does forge a relationship with her niece when she recognizes Jess’s loneliness. Jess may have had food in the refrigerator and money on the counter, but she was neglected by her philandering father and her searching mother.

In vignettes that trace the trajectory of the Cohen family, we learn of the choices that the Cohen women make through the years, both professionally and personally. Ancillary characters pop in and out, including Margaret, the second woman hired at Shelly’s tech start-up with whom Shelly has an undercurrent of romantic love, and Lorraine, Robby’s second wife with the disapproving mother. Each of these minor players is as well drawn as the Cohen women. Attenberg brings the threads of these characters’ lives together when Frieda falls ill and the sisters must decide who, if anyone, will tend to her. Attenberg has created a dysfunctional, chaotic, but realistic family where the ties that bind often are suffocating. Her characters are intimate and human. She knows how abruptly love seems to boil over into hate and how quickly adults can turn into raging children. Thank you Ecco and Net Galley for this moving and wry tale reflecting the endurance of familial love.

A Reason to See You Again, introduces us to the Cohen family. A family that was happy to play Scrabble on a Saturday night while tucking into a bowl of hot buttered popcorn. Things roll along more or less smoothly until the untimely death of Rudy Cohen. A Holocaust survivor, gentle, quietly charismatic and grateful just to be alive, Rudy was the glue that held the family together. In his absence, Freida Cohen continues to work as a caretaker but soon goes from sneaking sips of slivovitz in the kitchen to messy alcoholic, and is angrier than ever. Shelly is the brainy sister and Nancy the beautiful one, each bides their time, and withstands their mother’s bitterness until they can leave home. Shelly takes off to the west coast to study math and makes a career in a nascent tech industry. Nancy takes a more traditional route, never finishes college, quickly marries and starts a family. The only thing the sisters seem to have in common is Frieda. We journey along with the Cohen women for four decades of heartbreaks, triumphs, resentments, and family secrets as they navigate the ever changing cultural climate.

Attenberg’s a wry wit carries the reader through the trials of these messy women who to seem to fail to connect at nearly every turn. And yet, despite their brokenness, mistrustfulness and lengthy absences, they yearn to reach out to one another, keeping the slightest flicker of hope alive. I recommend a Reason to See You Again to readers who like a complicated family, rich with references to the shifting cultural zeitgeist and a story structure that isn’t afraid to skip ahead several years at a time. Attenberg is a new to me author, and I’m eager to dive into her backlist.

⚠️ alcoholism, sexual harassment in the work place, infidelity


Many thanks to the author @JamiAttenberg, @EccoBooks and @NetGalley for the pleasure of reading this digital book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn’t deep enough to be a character study but it wasn’t really plot driven either. So the reader is left with characters they can’t really connect with and no real plot to follow. I don’t need both but I do need one or the other to enjoy a book. This felt like a rough layout of what could have been made into a good read. Just wasn’t there yet.

"Oh, the games families play with each other."

This one starts with Scrabble, and Ms. Attenberg sets the stage for all the idiosyncrasies that follow with the family of Cohens.

Such a good read, this messy novel about this messiest of families. Not to mention all the mentions of my favorite Stevie Nicks! I loved reading about the Cohens and all the people who circled in and out of their universe. Funny, crazy, sometimes dirty, these people were SO real it was painful at times.

"The headline read: the specter of terrorism. You know who the real terrorists are? Your family."

Highly recommend. Plus, love the cover.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

If you like dysfunctional family stories, you will like this book. Because of the dysfunction, the potential to be too depressing is there but the smart sarcasm and underlying humor make it so you can’t look away.

This book spans forty years while focused on three generations of women from the Cohen family. I loved how the story is propelled forward years at a time allowing the reader to infer what happened between those years. I hate when author spoon feeds me information and I found this to be a unique way to move things forward.

These women are hurt and broken and seeking fulfillment on their own. But they are also family and eternally connected to each other. I really loved their stories - together and apart.

This novel is told over forty years primarily from the POV of four women across three generations of a dysfunctional family. In addition to the main characters, I really enjoyed reading the perspectives from the supporting characters. This is very well-written and seamlessly shifts between characters while also offering glimpses of the future unbeknownst to the characters themselves. This is a short but mighty story that excels at character building and the nuance of family relationships.

I had high hopes for this book. I generally enjoy disfunctional family sagas, and when the book started out with the family's mandatory game night, I was hooked. Covering four decades beginning in the 1970s, the story centers around matriarch/alcoholic and at times, angry, Frieda; gentle and kind patriarch Rudy, a Holocaust survivor who has a deep secret; and their two daughters, smart Shelly and beautiful Nancy. It's not giving away anything to say that the women come together to mourn Rudy's passing, because the book is primarily about how the women deal with his loss over the years and how they grow as individuals over the years. Frieda was definitely not my favorite, but I was invested in Shelly and Nancy's storylines, although I felt like the book was more character-driven than plot-driven. I think there was a bit too much pain and adversity, yet I kept reading. Mixed feelings, but I am sure there is an audience that will love this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for the ARC, and the opportunity to review this novel.

A story about a mother and her two daughters after the patriarch of the family dies. Each daughter takes a vastly different path from each other and their mother.

A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg is a recommended dysfunctional mother/daughter drama spanning over forty decades.

After Chicago residents Frieda Cohen and her two daughters, Nancy and Shelly, lose their husband/father Rudy, a closeted Holocaust survivor, they slowly fall apart as a family under Frieda's sharp tongue. Nancy heads to college where she soon moves in with her boyfriend and future husband, Robby, and becomes pregnant at 21. They have a daughter, Jess. Shelly graduates early and heads off to the west coast for college and stays on the coast to work in the emerging tech industry. Frieda drinks, a lot, and eventually makes her way to Miami to drink some more. What follows is a portrayal of the women in a complex, troubled, unhappy family.

A Reason to See You Again is a character driven novel as it follows and develops the female characters who are members of this distinctly unhappy and dysfunctional family over a span of forty years. Chapters alternate between characters as they all experience resentment, unspoken anger, change allegiances, and hold grudges against each other. The male characters are basically despicable or irrelevant. Really, none of the characters are likable.

After a very promising start the narrative decidedly coasted downhill for me. There is no real, firm plot. As the chapters randomly jump ahead in time and follow a different character, I was often left wanting more as a reader. It also felt melancholy. I wanted to love this novel but ended up just barely liking some parts of it. Thanks to Ecco for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.