We Are Not Ourselves

Did not finish. Characters were flat and plot mundane. It was just unrelenting misery throughout the story - alcoholism, miscarriages, death, illness, bullying - and that was only the first quarter of the book! I know I am in the minority as most people loved this book - but I needed to see a glimmer of hope (or even a likeable character), and Matthew Thomas failed to deliver it.

It started out well. The plot moved me along. Our main characters are Irish immigrant parents and their daughter. The daughter is driven as a teen to rise above her drunken parents, but somehow ends up marrying a fellow with origins much like her own.

But I'd have to say I liked We Are Not Ourselves. Liked, but didn't love. It's a solid story of an Irish woman in NYC who wants more for her life than her drunken parents gave her. In spite of her dreams, she marries a man who is not ambitious and (BIG SPOILER ALERT) unfortunately develops Altzheimer's. Solid, yes, but also long. It could have (and should have, I think) been edited down to a nice three hundred page novel. But on and on it went. I was very, very tired of the storyline by the end.

It took me a little while to get into it, as it's more character driven than plot driven. But beyond the heartbreaking story, Thomas explored ideas about the things we think that will make us happy, the ways we feel our time should be spent, and how much of ourselves do we owe to others.
The way all of these ideas are interwoven throughout the book is just genius. Loved it!

Great book. Very long, and has some slow parts, but overall a really great read. Misha Collins explained it best with his wife's reaction. “ “It can't be as good as you're saying.” Fifty pages in she was still skeptical and said, “I like it,” in a slightly cavalier tone, “but I think you just read it when you were in a weird mood.” 100 pages in, she disappeared into her room and began ignoring me and the children. When she finished it she found me in the kitchen. Her glasses were wet with tears. She hugged me and said, “Beautiful. So beautiful.””

Read it if you have the time, and want to be blown away.