Rachel Joyce is one of my favorite authors and The Homemade God did not disappoint. The patriarch of a family, an acclaimed artist, is dying which throws the adult children in disarray with challenges when trying to deal with his valuable paintings and property in the Italian city of Orta San Giulio. A surprise announcement sets in motion key family dynamics and the three sisters and brother cope with this chaos in their own way. The character development is excellent, and the circumstances and personalities of the siblings is entertaining. This book was hard to put down when started and is a good summer read.

I DNFed this book. I didn’t really care about any of the characters and it felt very slow. Thank you for the opportunity to try it.

After sudden mysterious death of Vic Kemp, a semi-famous painter both reviled and beloved for his schlocky work, his four grown children gather at his old villa in Italy. All have lived in his shadow, and some from his largesse, and although they travel to Italy with the purpose of investigating his death and finding his "last painting," they end up having to reckon, finally, with the emotional inheritance he left.

My first Rachel Joyce novel & I really enjoyed it! Rachel has a true gift in her ability to bring the story to life in your mind.

The Homemade God follows four siblings dealing with the aftermath of their artist fathers passing. Each sibling is on a mission to find out who they truly are without their father around, leaving their relationships with one another in a tumultuous state. In addition, their father leaves behind a very young new and mysterious wife.

What I Liked:
- I really enjoyed the story-telling and atmosphere of Lake Orta. I appreciated that Rachel thought it necessary to keep the rich history and memories that the family had growing up at the Lake House. It adds depth not only to the characters but to their relationship and past.
- The siblings!! Writing sibling banter or even very normal generic conversations can sometimes feel too cheesy or forced but not here! I could really feel that sibling bond come through (having two siblings myself and being the middle child), I also really appreciated how each sibling was so different from one another but at the same time had similarities that connected them on a much deeper level (I think that's called trauma?)

What I Didn't Like:
- Bella-Mae...I know she was a necessary annoyance for the plot but I just didn't like her. Even though, in the end, you do feel for her and understand her and Vic's relationship in the end, I just didn't have enough to care about her.
- Vic Kemp, the artist father. I think it's meant to be that we don't like him but I really didn't like him. For some reason, I couldn't find a single redeeming quality for him but we also don't get a lot of interaction with him as a character.
- The lack of emotion. There is so much complexity surrounding these characters and what they're going through but at the same time there is little to no emotion. The only emotion we get to see come out in length is anger and while it certainly makes sense for this story, they are feeling so many other things that are only ever mentioned in passing.

Overall, good story and I enjoyed the journey it takes the reader on. At first it seems it may be a murder mystery but in the end it is a story about love, loss, sibling relationships and forgiveness.

The Italian setting was beautiful: so vivid and richly drawn, it made me feel like I was on vacation. The pacing, though, was a bit too slow for me. Still, Joyce captured grief in a way that felt intimate. I won’t give anything away about the ending (and can’t quote before publication!), but, despite Vic’s death being different from my own father’s in nearly every way, there was one paragraph that felt like it was both universal and specifically for me. The book was worth reading just for that and I bet you'll find a different paragraph that speaks to you somewhere along the way.

I read The Homemade G-d while on holiday in Vienna. I expected the book to explore who killed Vic Kemp but that was downplayed. The book was much more about siblings and relationships within a family.

The prologue pulled me right into the story. I could hear the "slapping of four sets of flip flops, at the policia, no less."

Losing their dad was making me relive losing each of my parents, which is not something I care to focus on especially while on vacation.

I enjoyed the beginning & ending of the book. I think it got a bit dull in the middle. It probably could have been shorter. I also prefer shorter paragraphs. Many were the full page. I did not down many passages that I enjoyed. I found it interesting to learn that autopsy came from the Greek word "to see for yourself."

Bics kids did not know who they were without him. He outshined them. "Nothing mattered more to Vic than to remain center stage." He really messed up his 3 children and son.

The Kemp's led charmed lives. They had a primeval sibling rivalry to be Vic's favorite.

The book is about what happens after "that big bursting life" filled with happiness fades and circumstances end it.

I enjoyed the alternate perspective at the end of part 2. Part 3 was unexpected and tied the whole story up well. I give this book 3.75 stars and again the drop from 4 stars is due to a slow-moving middle.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Four siblings deal with their father’s sudden death in Italy and suspect it may be attributed to his new wife. The story unveils secrets between the four siblings as they investigate their father's death.

Like any good domestic drama, the author explores the complexity of sibling relationships and the issues of jumping to conclusions. I found the disruptive sibling dynamics very relatable as well as their adjusting to life now after living such a flawed childhood by their father’s single parentage. Beautifully written literary fiction that had me hooked! 4 stars

This family drama novel took me a while to get into. I picked it up and put it down several times... It took me almost a month to get through but a speed read for the last 20% of the novel.

It follows four children who are brought together over the death of their father. The story unveils secrets between the four siblings and an investigation into the death of their father. This story explores the complexity of sibling relationships and the issues of jumping to conclusions.

Overall I give this novel a 3-3.5/5 stars. It is beautifully written and the language Rachel Joyce uses is simply poetic.

When artist Vic Kemp dies, his children return to their Italian villa to try to make sense of what he was doing in his final days. Who is this young woman that he spontaneously married? What was his final painting, and where has it gone? Why did a spectacular swimmer die by drowning?

As the four siblings try to come to terms with these questions, each in their own way, the family is torn apart. Their much-vaunted closeness had a price, and they are no longer willing to pay it.

The horrible dynamic between the sisters, and with Vic's wife, Bella Mae, was difficult to read, although depressingly familiar. Separation is liberating for each of the siblings, and it is abundantly clear that Rachel Joyce doesn't believe that family trumps self.

This book really woke up for me at about the 80% mark, when each of the children of Vic Kemp find their own way to ... As Joyce says, "You can't lose what happened simply by turning your back on it."

And the best of this novel is the last page.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved Rachel Joyce's Harold Fry Series (books one and two), so I jumped at the chance to read her newest release. This one takes us to Italy after four siblings lose their artist father; they travel there to help sort out his estate with his wife, who happens to be 50 years younger than him. Netta is the oldest and is a litigator, Susan is a stay-at-home wife, Goose is an artist like his dad (well, not like his dad as he is a failure) and is his dad's assistant, and Iris is a little daddy's girl and the youngest. Bella-Mae is the father's wife. She's 27, and he is 76. A mere 6 weeks after their wedding, he is dead, his will is missing, and so is the painting he was working on. the four siblings try and figure out what the heck is going on and who is this new wife really?

The Homemade God is a very slow-burn, character-driven story, and the premise was certainly a good one with the mysterious way too young window who can't find the will or the masterpiece her dead husband has painted. Rachel Joyce wrote the atmosphere very well, I could feel the tension, resentment and secrets. She also writes about Italy very descriptively, and it's a place that's always been on my bucket list. (The history, art, architecture, cuisine and fashion!)

I hated Vic so much. He is anything but a father. He is a great painter and has plenty of charm, but his kids have nothing but painful memories. He is Narcissistic, neglectful and selfish. I had a hard time believing in all the grief his kids were suffering from, or feeling sorry that he died. All four of the kids were wonderfully written, but the rest of them felt flat. And the plot is more of a did-she-do-it than a whodunit, and the pace was too slow. It was more psychological than mysterious and turned into a mess of confrontations that felt repetitive. Overall, this was just a mixed bag for me. It is a well-written story with some excellent insights into a family, but the slow pace and my hatred of some of the characters prevent me from rating it higher.

P.S. I love a good family drama and the toxic and complicated relationships that comprise a dysfunctional family. This one is about a Dad who was not a good man, and maybe it just hit too close to home for me, as my own not-a-good-man dad died not too long ago, and as much as I hated the step-mother Bella-Mae character, I hate my own (way too young) step-monster even more.

Hmmm. I enjoy a character-driven book, which this definitely was. But I also enjoy when characters can cleanly be put into categories of protagonist and antagonist. This story made it impossible to put most characters in one of those black and white categories. It dragged at times, and I felt like some of the art elements were above my head. I also found the story unrealistic - not many adults can put life on hold while they go exist in their Italian villa for months. But they all just wanted to be loved, seen, and feel secure in the world, which all of us could relate to. I also liked the clean ending.

5 stars. Four siblings cope with the suspicion that their father’s untimely death in Italy may have been attributed to his new wife. And with his death, disruptive sibling dynamics soon follow as does adjusting to life now after living such a flawed childhood by their father’s single parentage. Beautifully tragic, I had a time trying to keep my emotions in check as the story drew to a close. I’m telling you this will grab ahold of your heart and not let go. Am still reflecting back on this days after finishing. Pub. 7/8/25

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

A widowed father and artist meets a 27 year old online and decides they are getting married but the plans for the 4 kids to meet her keep falling through the cracks. He seems happy but is losing weight and wearing different clothes and says he's taking his career in a different direction and painting his masterpiece. They decide suddenly to go to the lake house and text them that they are married. The kids freak out but also become very hurt he didn't include them and has shut them out for this young woman so they ignore him and his erratic texts for a bit. Then they find out he has drowned -- they still haven't met the step Mom, the painting he was working on is missing and the Step Mom is suspect #1 for Netta. The other 3 decide they are unsure about that and she seems nice. They all have issues with themselves, with their Dad and with each other and during their grief it all comes to a head and the secrets come to light testing all their relationships and making them examine their lives.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book has all the elements I love - a dysfunctional family, beautiful scenery, decent dialog, etc. Unfortunately, the mystery is dragged out for too long and then questions are left unanswered. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

3.5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I suspect this would have been a solid 4 stars for me if I didn't have to strain to read it on my phone. I enjoy Joyce's writing style and thought the characters were very well described. I'd describe this as a family drama.

Please note that this ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled a lot with this book. It never truly captured my interest and I had a hard time finishing it. I found all of the siblings (except maybe Goose) to be impossibly irritating. It felt predictable and simultaneously silly. The best part of the book was part 3, but by then I was frustrated with everything I’d read before it.

I hate to leave negative reviews, but I really didn’t enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Unfortunately. this book was not for me. I really tried to get into it, but I struggled. I may try more books by Rachel Joyce in the future though.

3.75

This is one of those stories you've heard before. But Joyce manages to bring something new to the family falling apart after a death in the family story.

The Kemp siblings are all very interesting characters on their own; when they are brought together, they make a very interesting mix. Throw the unknown new wife, bella mae, and you just known the whole situation is ready to be lit on fire.

and you know that bella mae is going to be the thing that splits the siblings apart. Joyce sets her up as the one to poke and prod and open the eyes of the siblings to The One Thing they have never allowed themselves to think or see before.

Over all its a good story, but I do think it drags on just a little bit too long.

The writing is lovely, especially the descriptions of Italy. But the story moved really slowly, especially in the first half, and felt repetitive at times. It’s less of a mystery and more of a family drama about four adult siblings and how their relationships evolve after their father passes away. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I unfortunately did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would! I tend to really enjoy characters driven books about family drama/dynamics but the pacing of this story didn’t work for me. It felt very slow and I didn’t connect with the characters. I did enjoy the dynamic between the four siblings and enjoyed seeing how their relationship evolved by the end of the book. Although it didn’t particularly work for me, I can see other readers enjoying this story! A huge thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.