Did You Ever Have a Family - Bill Clegg

Scout Press/Simon & Schuster, Sept. 1, 2015.

Four Stars

This novel is a meditation on the nature of family, and the many different kinds of families we can have. It is an exploration of the tenuous connections that sometimes evolve into real relationships, and the strangers that can make up a family. It also reminds us that the small decisions we make can have far-reaching consequences, and that silences can speak volumes.

 

The story is told from varying perspectives as it meanders towards a climax. It is ostensibly the story of June Reid, and the tragic night that she loses her boyfriend, ex-husband, daughter and daughter’s fiancé, the night before the wedding of the latter two. Everyone that she calls family is lost in one night, and she must go forth alone, as she escapes into the anonymity of a cross-country road trip. What she eventually learns is that a family is not just based on blood ties – people who come together form their own ties, and ultimately their own family. June and the characters she meets create a sense of community in a hostile world, in spite of the tragedies they have overcome, and this is the real purpose of the story.

 

The narrators of Did You Ever Have a Family are loosely connected to the events that cost June her family, but the ties that bring them together are not always obvious at first. The information that they contribute is slowly released, with some surprises, but even those are calmly stated. The mystery of June’s family’s death is really secondary to the emotional developments that take place beforehand. Even the final realization of what really happened that night is not overly shocking – the narrative just moves along, pulling all the loose threads together.

 

Some minor characters seemed unnecessary at the time, but looking back, even the outsider perspectives serve to make the families more inclusive and emotionally strong. However, it would have been nice to read more about these characters, and have them developed further. In other ways, they show how June has been displaced from her own life, as they try to capture her within their own stories.

 

Overall, this is a heartbreaking story in which we learn that there is always the possibility of hope and acceptance within a family. After an argument with her daughter, June rhetorically asks, “Did you ever have a family?” (p. 131) She asks out of pain and exasperation, but it inspires gratitude in other characters for the strength of their own family bonds. The balance of love and loss is a fine line, and the author does a great job of illustrating this with beautiful, poetic language and a touching story.

 

I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.