The Family Tabor by Cherise Wolas
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: July 17, 2018
Length: 400 pages
Amazon

{A Bit of Backstory}

Single Sentence Summary

On the eve of Tabor family patriarch Harry receiving a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the plight of refugees, each member of his family faces a crisis of conscience and none greater than Harry’s.

From the Publisher

…Set over the course of a single weekend, and deftly alternating between the five Tabors, this provocative, gorgeously rendered novel reckons with the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and our family and the price we pay for second chances.”

The Draw

• Palm Springs, California setting.
• Dysfunctional family drama set over a single weekend.
• From Bookpage’s list of 11 Women to Watch in 2018.

{My Thoughts}

What Worked For Me

The Tabor Family – Despite their many, many flaws I liked this family, a group of people who actually loved and respected each other very much. The three Tabor children, Phoebe, Camille, and Simon thought the world of both their parents and in a sea of dysfunctional families, their unity was refreshing. Parents Harry and Roma were still in love after more than forty years of marriage, adding brightness to a sometimes dark story.

Layering On of Problems – Cherise Wolas brilliantly chose to introduce her five main characters and their budding crises one at a time.

• We first meet Harry on the eve of being named Palm Springs Man of the Decade. He’s being recognized for his 30 years of bringing both Jewish and non-Jewish refugees to the United States to start new lives. Yet, on the brink of this amazing honor, Harry begins to be haunted by a crisis of conscience.
• Roma, a child psychologist, worries about her young patients, her own children and most of all Harry. She’s wondering if trusts she’s long held might be misplaced.
• Phoebe, their eldest child has great success running her own prestigious law firm, but love continues to elude Phoebe. She’s taken action on that, desperate action.
• Camille, their middle child, earned her PhD in social anthropology nearly a year earlier, and has barely been able to leave her apartment since.

“She’s been dispiritedly depressed, and being home means entering a special realm, a kingdom where all the Tabors shine incredibly bright, that blaze a distinguishing family characteristic. She’s one of them, but her filaments have always been of a different variety, and now she’s beclouded, bedimmed, the first among them forced to brake before burning out.”

• Simon, their youngest, seems to have it all: a successful law career, a beautiful wife, and two darling daughters. Yet, Simon feels the pull toward something more, something basic, a part of life he’d long abandoned.

With each new Tabor Wolas presented I found myself more and more invested in their stories. I wanted to know what would happen to everyone in this family.

Crisis of Faith – Both sides of the Tabor family had a rich history of remarkable Jews who had suffered, survived, and prospered, laying foundations for the generations that followed. With the passing of years, the strict adherence to Jewish traditions had waned until the children of Harry and Roma did little more than go through the motions. For a long time, the Tabors were comfortable with their culture, their limited practice and their relationship with God, but in rapid succession Harry, Roma and Simon each look to the generations before them and find themselves wanting. Their struggles with faith were at the heart of The Family Tabor.

Writing (the good) – Wolas’s writing about raw emotions and unsettled feelings left me in awe. She brought pain and joy to life in a way that made her characters relatable to all the rest of us who find ourselves flawed.

“They are all shaky, the firm ground swaying and threatening to give way beneath their feet. This is an earthquake for them all.”

What Didn’t

Writing (the bad) – At times I found the writing to be pretentious. Wolas could have simplified some of her wording. There were already many phrases and ideas having to do with Jewish culture that were unfamiliar, so the use of so many other complex words became a little annoying.

A Forgotten Past – Central to the storyline is a long buried event in Harry’s past. Wolas tried to explain how Harry and Roma could have obliterated this from their minds, but I still found myself doubting over and over. For me this was THE flaw in The Family Tabor.

{The Final Assessment}

While I think The Family Tabor might be a little spiritual for some readers, Cherise Wolas’s sophomore effort really worked for me. I fell a little bit in love with her struggling quintet, wanting each to find a place of contentment no matter what that might look like. Wolas delivered just that. Grade: A-

If you liked this book you might also enjoy:

• Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee – The lifelong struggles of two sisters, one living with mental illness, and the other in a constant search for ways to help. (my review)
• Before the Wind by Jim Lynch – A Northwest sailing family has drifted apart, but try to find a way to reconnect for one last race. (my review)

Note: I received a copy of this book from Flatiron Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks to them both.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Associate links included within this post.