Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: This book is so clever/funny/witty, I don't even know how to review it. But I'll try, for the sake of getting more people to read it.
First of all, poor Julie. Her family is crazy. I mean, everyone's family is crazy in their own way, right? I think most families have one or two "normal" people in them, but not Julie's. Or at least, those relatives never wrote her any letters. But she gets letters (e-mails in later years) from a wide assortment of other relatives, as well as from her boyfriend's dog, her dead grandfather and great-great-great grandmother, and her own IUD. These last are perhaps the funniest of the book. I was afraid these antics would get tired as the book went on, but they definitely don't. Fogel holds the book tightly together almost right up until the very end (which is part of the reason I only give this book 4.5 stars - the last few letters pierce the fourth wall too much).
But who is Julie? Well, we never really find out. And that's the other reason I give 4.5 stars. I kind of wanted to hear Julie's own voice, although I couldn't decide whether I wanted to hear her give her own explanations, or just hear her losing it with some of the nonsense her family comes up with. To do so would have totally destroyed the wonderfulness of this book, though, so I actually give Fogel credit for not giving us an easy way out of this book. But if a book ever cried out for a contiguous sequel, it's this one. Susanna Fogel - please write more! Please write from Julie's perspective. Or at least give us another compilation of letters from her family so we can know what happens next.
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.
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