Whenever I am asked to describe myself or something about myself (i.e. college/work) I always go straight to my various roles in my families:Daughter of ______ & _______Sister of ______&_____&________&______Mom to ______&_____wife to ________nieces to 20+ aunts and unclesetcIt is so rare that I see myself as disconnected to these roles. I'm old enough now to see my families many flaws, eccentricities, and annoyances. One sibling lives in Japan, I see another only a few times a year and my dad passed away 19 years ago but I still feel like every single one of them (including the "aunt" that turned out to not be biologically connected but rather a run-away that found permanent refuge amongst my grandmothers brood)is part of who I am.And I think that is why I this book captured my attention so strongly. I don't know what the author intended (or more likely didn't intend) to say about family but to me it screamed "you ARE your family - for better or worse...and it's usually worse". And I closed the book and I thought "yep, I totally get that".or maybe I just liked the cover a lot. Either way, I'm giving it 4 stars.
"People like the story up to a point, but they think the writing lacks the necessary poetry. And they say it lacks the verve for life, that it's life seen through a black veil of doom." (160)Very Old Bones was about an Irish American family suffers from trauma of past incidents. Following four different generations in Albany, New York, the author tells the story out of order.I liked this story up to a certain point. But it was the excess of poetic language tending to be philosophical that made this book a drag for me. It sometimes felt like it was trying too hard to be a deep read. The changing of place and time was confusing because there was usually very little transition from one time to the next. Once in a particular storyline, it was good. I liked learning about how life was for the different members of the Phelan family. However, the tone was so dark and gloomy, so demented, that it just weighed heavy. I will say that the narrator's voice was very clear and made the book sound as though it really were a memoir rather than a piece of fiction.
