Family Pictures

A Novel

Who can you trust if not the ones you love? That is the question at the heart of Family Pictures, an emotional, page-turning story about what it means to be a family from New York Times bestselling author, Jane Green

"Green's novels consistently deliver believable, accessible, heartfelt, often heartwarming stories about real people, problems, and feelings."-Redbook

Sylvie and Maggie are two women living on opposite coasts with children about to leave the nest for school. Both are in their forties with husbands who travel more than either would like. The looming emptiness of their respective homes has left them feeling anxious and lonely, needing their husbands to be home now more than ever. It isn't until Eve, Sylvie's daughter, happens to befriend Maggie's daughter that the similarities between these two women become shockingly real. A huge secret has remained well hidden for years until now-and their lives will be blown apart as dark truths from the past come to the surface. Can these two women learn to forgive, for the sake of their children...and for themselves?

"This gripping story is ultimately one of redemption."-Library Journal

good read

Good character development -- good story of these 2 women who find themselves drawn together unexpectedly.

interesting book of a family affair

good..kept my interest throughout and I do love anything Jane Green writes. another success

Unappealing narrator

I enjoyed the story, but almost quit listening in the first chapter, because the narrator’s voice was so annoying to me. Her inability to capture male and female differences was striking. Story was interesting, but there was one character towards the end who appeared (jewelry teacher) and seemed to signal something momentous, but then he disappeared from the story with no explanation or continuation of that line.

Predictable but Nice

Upon reading the summary of this book, I had a feeling how the plot would go. Let's just say I was right. As for you, whatever you are thinking this book is about - it is. Besides the predictability of the storyline, it was a good listen. It kept my attention throughout and it was a nice light listen, which is ironic because a lot of events in the plot are not anything to take lightly.

Enjoyed the story, but not the narration.

If you could sum up Family Pictures in three words, what would they be?

Predictable, with unlikeable characters, yet somehow engaging.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think I preferred Eve to them all. She seemed the most consistent. Though most of the characters were almost flat and felt somehow unrealistic.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It seemed like the narrator had an affected voice. This might just be her natural way of speaking, but I found it distracting. The only character that was okay with this way of speaking was Maggie, as her character was supposed to be affected.

Who was the most memorable character of Family Pictures and why?

There wasn't much depth to these characters in my opinion. The only woman who I enjoyed was Sylvie's friend. She seemed the most real.

Any additional comments?

Though I was anxious to hear how the story turned out, I was disappointed that we never got to hear from the character who the whole story revolves around - Mark. The story was hard to take not of the main plot, but because it seemed like the children were afterthoughts in their parents' lives. For Maggie this odd behavior had an explanation, but Sylvie did not seem involved with Eve at all either despite her setup as being a polar opposite of Maggie. Sylvie seemed content to just let Eve go to New York, disappear for a few days, and then ignored the whole anorexia thing for quite a while. It just doesn't jive with what the author seemed to want to portray about Sylvie's family v Maggie's family.