The family upstairs by Lisa Jewell
B&B RATING: 3 / 5
MOOD: If you’re looking for a mystery masking as a thriller with cultish vibes but not really, yeah, this one is for you.
Synopsis
Libby works as a kitchen designer, loving her little life, living in her little basement apartment in London. She knew she was adopted and that her deceased parents had been rich, but unbeknownst to Libby, she would inherit an entire house in the fashionable upscale Chelsea neighborhood on her 25th birthday.
After visiting the house and doing some quick research, Libby learns a tragedy plagued the house and a suicide kool-aid pact had happened, resulting in three dead and her being left behind in her crib with a strange piece of memorabilia. Out of nowhere, Libby now has a torrid past that she is desperate to uncover, and is determined to do such with the help of one of her colleagues and an investigative journalist who had been digging for the scoop years ago.
What is Libby going to find? That she is the product of a cult? What happened to her glorious socialite mother and her bullhorn father?
Review
Uuuuuugggghhhhh. This book had so much hype surrounding it, and there was a lot of book-club vibes circling it in the Insta community. Everyone has their own style of books that speak to them, but if this one had a language - to me - it would be a mute.
The story was told from three separate points of view - Libby, presumably was the main character and was in present-day, finding out what was going on about the house (but told in a third-person narrative?). There was a second woman, Lucy, who’s story seemed pretty disconnected, morbid, also present-day, also third-person narrative, and took awhile to realize how she was related. Then there was Henry who was telling a first-person narrative about what it was like to live in the the mysterious house back when everything was changing and falling apart. The mixed points of view with the back and forth made it semi-difficult to keep me interested. I wanted to hear more about what Libby was going through, and I could really care less about what was happening with Lucy. The subplots surrounding Henry were mediocre at best.
The story itself had good structure and interesting details, but not enough to keep me going. It took me several weeks to finish it, and the book wasn’t interesting enough for me to take it with me on vacation. I kept having to remind myself to read it and unceremoniously watching more and more TV, having this book become a chore I kept procrastinating on.
I know there are very avid fans of Lisa Jewell, and that’s completely okay! There are authors I love that strike a shitty chord in others, and that’s also okay! It wasn’t a bad book in the end, it just wasn’t for me.
Drink Pairing:
Several Irish coffees to help you stay buzzy but awake, mixed with dry toast to match the flavor of the book.