The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce has all of the elements of an engrossing family saga: deceased elderly father, young widow, four contentious adult children and a beautiful setting. Although I normally love this type of novel, this one just didn't come together as I'd hoped. I found the characters unlikeable, especially the father as we got to know him through his children's eyes, the children were incredibly self centered and the mystery just never came to fruition at the end, I felt there were too many questions left unanswered. The novel also felt very long, although at 336 pages, it's not long at all. Parts of it just felt like a slog.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

An absorbing family drama about grief, art, and all the fractured imperfections that we keep hidden. We follow four interdependent siblings dealing with the death of their father, an artist of some renown who had married a woman 50 years his junior before his sudden demise. Most of the story takes place at the family’s summer home on a picturesque Italian lake, as the siblings try to untangle their father’s last few days and figure out his enigmatic new wife.

While there are elements of mystery, this reads more as a work of literary fiction in the way it focuses on and peels apart the characters’ unique traumas and personalities; the resulting book is powerful, though not easy to read. I admired the sharp insight of the writing, which gradually revealed each sibling’s backstory and wove a compelling narrative with deep feeling, but I personally found the overall tone to be too overwhelmingly sad for my taste. This is undeniably a moving story that will resonate with lots of readers, and I appreciated the exploration of a very human situation, but I came away from it feeling pretty hopeless.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Contemporary Fiction | Adult
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“Family is everything. Even when it falls apart.” That little nub of truth is at the centre of Rachel Joyce‘s latest novel, a family saga packed with drama, anger, hurt, love, rejection and more. Oh, and not a little mystery. Four siblings, all in their 30s, are shocked when their famous artist father, solidly in his 70s, announces he has fallen in love with Bella-Mae, a woman nearly 50 years his junior. He’s also given up drinking, lost a ton of weight (too much?), and appears to have stopped painting. The siblings decide to ignore the affair; he will drop her as he always has. But no, a text arrives from the family holiday home in Italy. They are married. And he is working on his latest painting, a giant one, he tells them, his masterpiece. Just a few weeks later, the four learn he is dead. They all go to Italy to bring his body home, find his latest painting, and look for a will that may or may not exist. And finally meet the woman who may have killed their father. Joyce’s writing is, as always, perceptive and heartbreakingly honest: “She was beginning to wonder why, when you lost someone you loved, you started missing all the other people you’d loved. As if grief was a hole and, once it was there, any dead person could come along and jump into it too.” Her characters are deeply flawed and authentically portrayed; in fact, it is hard to like any of them at first, and I found myself completely lacking sympathy for any of them. The story drags a bit in the middle, but then takes an astonishing turn that made me glad I’d stuck with it. I enjoyed the ending immensely, though it does wrap things up a bit too neatly in comparison to the rest of the book. A solid four stars from me. This will be an interesting choice for book clubs – I can see great conversations ahead! And the cover is gorgeous. My thanks to Dial Press for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks (B.C.) pals will find a copy already on order at the library.
More discussion and reviews of this novel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219520756

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.

My thanks to Random House and Net Galley for this arc.

Very well written and interesting characters. Loved the setting of Italy. However this was a bit of a struggle. Too many different characters and personalities to keep track of. Death of the parent triggered my own experience .

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own. I wish I had liked this book more than I did. since I have enjoyed other books by the same author. I had a really difficult time connecting to the stories or the characters. Didn't love the omniscient narrator choice because I felt it was limiting. For me, the mystery was not engaging and it was tempting to DNF. The characters stayed very one dimensional for me which I think was part of the struggle.

Thank you to @RandomHouse and #NetGalley for the DRC of #TheHomemadeGod. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This is a dysfunctional family drama about 4 adult siblings and their aging artist father. Joyce has created real, flawed characters who are struggling to maintain their balance in the wake of their father's surprise marriage to a significantly younger woman and his unexpected death. The fallout from both events causes them to re-examine themselves, their lives and their role within the family.

While I enjoyed the story and the writing, it felt like there were some unanswered questions and I wanted closure. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Having requested an ARC of this book because the description seemed so interesting (and because I've enjoyed other books from this author), I was a bit disappointed to find it very slow to draw me in. Several times I put it is aside for a couple days to read something else, and to be honest, only picked it up again because I felt obligated to read and review it.

The Homemade God is the story of a family in crisis. Vic Kemp, the eponymous central figure in the story, is a 70+ year old widower, and the father of four adult children, all of whom appear to idolize him and crave his approval. When he suddenly announces that he's madly in love with a 27-year old woman, his children react with bemusement and dismay, and quickly conclude that the young woman, whom they've never met, must be after their father's money. That belief is solidified for at least some of the siblings when Vic and Bella-Mae leave London for the lake house in Italy where the family has enjoyed much time in the past, and quickly marry. Much debate ensues over how the siblings should respond to this unsettling event. At this point, the novel felt like a predictable mystery cum family drama; but it soon took a turn into a deeper exploration of the characters' memories and connections with one another as well as with their father that made the last several chapters far more engaging and definitely worth reading. None of the characters was especially likable, but the author managed in the end to give her readers reasons to empathize with and appreciate most of them.

Thank you to #Doubleday publisher and #NetGalley for providing a complimentary digital copy in exchange for an objective review. I can't say I loved this novel, but do recommend it to readers who enjoy a slow burning exploration of family dynamics.

Content Warning: parental death

+ I enjoyed the setting of Italy where this book takes place.

+ This story explores the sibling relationship and I find that very interesting because the personalities and lived experience in one family can be very different for each person. In this story we see how each sibling is different and the experiences they have with their father who has just passed away. I did like the sibling dynamics and family drama

~ Even though this book is just barely over 300 pages I had a hard time reading through it maybe because I wasn’t in the mood for it and it’s not the usual genre I read. But also felt disconnected from the characters. I liked learning about each of them but I never felt connected to them so I never felt invested in the story.

Final Thoughts:

I was not the right audience for this book but I did find the family drama and sibling dynamics interesting.

A moving family drama about four siblings unraveling secrets after their artist father’s sudden death. Set in Italy, Rachel Joyce explores grief, legacy, and complicated family bonds with emotional depth and subtle mystery.

I had some mixed feelings on this book which is a shame because I really wanted to like it wholeheartedly.

It is definitely a parent/siblings relationship book...mostly siblings but with the added father baggage added in. The artist father (Vic) is the homemade god while his three daughters (Netta, Susan and Iris) and son Goose have fallen in with the worship/image...and yes, this is a dysfunctional family with a capital D. The story is told from the perspectives of each family member, so we hear how each sibling has dealt with their own relationship to their dad (past and present).

The premise of the story is the Vic's remarriage to a much younger woman Bella Mae (70s/20s) and what that will mean for the family, inheritances, dynamics...not to mention the anger that his children feel at not having even met this woman until after the wedding. Following Vic's death (shortly following his marriage) the siblings fly to their family lake house in Italy to settle his estate, finally meet Bella-Mae and determine if he might have been poisoned by his new bride. As they all live together for a few weeks, tensions flare, secrets come to light, jealousies blow up...just general mayhem ensues.

In a very real sense this is a mystery disguised as a sibling narrative. The reader is asked to judge if the widow is guilty of hastening her husband's death...is she evil or did she really care about him? While the lake house is certainly up for grabs, it is their father's final "masterpiece" (which he had traveled to Italy to complete) that everyone is anxious to locate.

There was a dark feeling throughout the book for me. I was nervous and anxious for the other shoe to drop. However, when the denouement finally happened, I didn't feel the pay-out that I had anticipated from the build-up. Yes, there were surprises and big changes in everyone's lives, but I somehow felt that there were things not totally resolved even though supposedly in the end they were. If that makes any sense?

I think my overall caveat here was that I didn't like any of the characters, and since I am a character-driven reader that just didn't work for me. I didn't feel that I got a full picture of any of them so that when they supposedly evolved at the end it didn't mean that much to me. I felt sorry for their situations at times, but then again, I also felt at their ages (30s-40s) they should have been able to deal in more mature ways.

So, in the end it was well written with an interesting plot and the feel of a dark impending doom, and I may be in the minority here, but I just needed more.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House / The Dial Press for providing the free early arc of The Homemade God for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Rachel Joyce is a lovely author who does a nice job of getting inside the minds of people in difficult situations. Vic Kemp is a famous artist, but he was never a great father. When he dies, his children are brought together to confront their own issues and their complicated relationship with Vic (who has taken a much younger wife whom none of the kids have even met!). The experience impacts each child in different and profound ways that force them to examine their own lives and life choices. I thought this was a bit of a slow burn (a bit too slow for me), but it was a good story.

The Homemade God is the portrait of a dysfunctional family and four adult siblings who are learning to survive it.

Four adult children are left to sort out their father’s affairs after his death, deal with his new wife, untangle their relationships with each other, and heal from childhood neglect and trauma.

Although Rachael Joyce is a brilliant and gifted writer, dysfunctional family drama can be an enjoyable reading experience for some and a challenging and unsatisfying read for others. In most cases, it’s the troublesome content, not the writing or execution. Even though it’s real life, I’m not usually a huge fan of sad stories about unhappy people living unhappy lives.

As a Rachel Joyce completist, I eagerly approached this new release with certain expectations. The amount of dysfunction and its relentless ramifications were unexpected. I appreciate the hope-filled conclusion and sibling reconciliation, but I was skimming the story at that point.

The writing is the strongest element of the story. There are some beautiful and thoughtful passages sprinkled throughout. Rachel Joyce excels at complex characterizations, and I love that she honors the strength and bond of sibling relationships despite the chaos and dysfunction.

Content Consideration: child neglect, alcoholism, death of a parent, toxic relationships, grief, drug use, addiction, etc.

Fans of Rachel Joyce will want this new release on their TBRs. (keep in mind content warnings) If you love character-driven, dysfunctional family drama, The Homemade God has a great deal to offer. The brilliant writing earns this 4 Stars.

Thanks #NetGalley @RandomHouse for a complimentary eARC of #TheHomemadeGod upon my request. All opinions are my own.

I can't decide how I feel about this book... one moment, I hated the some of the main characters so passionately I thought I wouldn't finish the book, but then they would have a sliver of redeption (in my opinion). I did think this was a great portrait of a complicated family!

This book is an extremely slow burn, you have to commit, but it was very real, relatable and profound. If I didn’t do so much skimming (there’s a lot of long winded internal monologues) I would have given it a higher rating. Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley for my copy!

Families are complicated - especially relationships between siblings when their artist father has made their lives very complicated. He springs a new wife on them and leaves for the lake house in Italy to finish his masterpiece. Then he drowns unexpectedly. The siblings spend a heat wave in close quarters at the house trying to piece together what has happened to their father. They struggle as individuals and in their relationships, especially trying to deal with their step-mother. Emotionally packed and filled with twists.

Whimsical and reflective with a spiritual undercurrent. Joyce blends quirky characters and quiet wisdom in a story that grows on you. A few emotional beats felt muted, but overall, it was a tender, thought-provoking tale about belief, connection, and hope.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House | The Dial Press for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Rachel Joyce. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Famous artist Vic Kemp has relied on his four children since their mother died when they were young. Netta, the oldest, is a lawyer and pseudo-parent to her siblings; Susan, married with two stepchildren who cooks and cleans for both her husband and father; Goose, a wanna-be artist who is relegated to working a menial job in Vic's studio; and Iris, the baby, who will do whatever Vic asks. When Vic calls to announce he's getting remarried to a mysterious younger woman, Bella-Mae, things don't go well and he is soon found dead. The siblings gather at the house on Lake Orta to figure out what happened.

This is a multi-layered family saga that is touching, emotional, and familiar to anyone with siblings. It's a dysfunctional family, for sure, but I believe all families are dysfunctional in their own way. It explores the notion that are parents are always right and we are always destined to fit neatly in the slots allotted to us in childhood. It's a look at grief, in all its forms, and how we are always looking for answers when someone dies. The writing is wonderful and atmospheric, and draws the reader in to another world, with characters that began to feel like family.

The Homemade God is a striking and emotionally charged novel that delves into the turbulent dynamics of the Kemp family, brilliantly propelled by Bella Mae, a character who serves as both catalyst and antagonist. From the outset, Bella Mae's motivations are shrouded in ambiguity; her intent seems to harbor a mix of ambition and malice, leading ultimately to the unraveling of a family already teetering on the edge.

What stands out in the narrative is the tension surrounding Vic Kemp’s artistic identity and talent. Vic, once a celebrated portrait artist, faces a sudden crisis of confidence that feels jarring. Bella Mae’s claim to artistry and her dismissal of Vic’s lifelong work raises questions about authenticity and the shifting nature of talent—why does Vic lose his ability to paint, and how does Bella wield her relationship with Vic as a weapon? This contradiction adds another layer of complexity to their relationship and Vic’s relationship with his children.

Moreover, the symbolism of Vic as the “homemade god” weaves a rich tapestry of dysfunction. Is it Vic's quest for a museum-worthy painting that mirrors the chaos of their familial bonds, or is it Bella Mae's art—where her journey to fame results in the Kemp family's disintegration? Lazlo, the fellow grifter, adds to the chaotic landscape, illustrating how desperation can lead people to morally questionable choices, further complicating the siblings’ already fragile situation.
The siblings' turmoil in the face of Vic's last painting is heart-wrenching. The notion that time spent on his career feels wasted resonates with anyone who has grappled with familial expectations and the search for personal fulfillment. Vic’s egocentrism has molded his children’s identities to revolve around his needs, leading to a painful reckoning once he is gone. The poignant depiction of their unraveling relationships is powerful, evoking a deep sense of empathy as they confront their shared grief and disillusionment.

Netta, Susan, Gustavo, and Iris’s journey toward liberation, even at the cost of their familial bonds, reflects the harsh reality that sometimes, to grow, we must break away from what holds us captive. The metaphor of their "homemade god" being smashed highlights both loss and newfound freedom—an ironic twist, as it’s Bella Mae’s ascent that symbolizes their downfall. The narrative echoes with a palpable tension, leaving readers feeling as though they are witnessing a train wreck in slow motion. It is both sad and stressful, as the siblings spiral further apart in the aftermath of their father's death and betrayal. This poignant exploration of familial ties and the necessity of forgiveness challenges readers to reflect on their relationships with their own siblings, invoking a desire for reconciliation amidst past grievances. With an ending that encapsulates the tragic downfall of Vic Kemp and his family, the metaphor of balance and fragility resonates deeply. The line about “one false move” speaks not only to the Kemp family’s dynamic but also serves as a broader commentary on relationships, vulnerability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition.

In conclusion, The Homemade God is a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of family, betrayal, and the complexities of identity, leaving readers with a lingering sense of sadness and introspection. This novel masterfully unveils the intricacies of human connection while challenging us to examine our own lives closely. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a heartfelt yet painful exploration of family dynamics.

THE HOMEMADE GOD is an exquisitely written exploration of grief and family ties, set against the atmospheric backdrop of a European summer. With vibrant characters and complex emotions, THE HOMEMADE GOD is an engaging family drama shows what happens when family members confront the weight of the past.