I had listened to Isola, which was also by this author, and when I read the description of this novel, I thought I would give it a try. I'm always drawn to stories about families and relationships and this book falls squarely in that genre.
This is the story of an extended Jewish-American family, headed by three matriarchs that are sisters. The book begins with the death of the youngest of the three sisters. The remaining two sisters become split not only by her death but also by a feud about, of all things, a cake (hence the cover) and which threatens to extend until the both of them die. Goodman tells the story from different viewpoints as each chapter focuses on a member of the extended family as they are navigating their own personal dramas. The power in this novel is in the small moments - the conversations between the characters, the setup - as opposed to the overarching novel (which I guess is what makes it literary fiction). She did a magnificent job of getting us into the weeds in their relationships and made her characters believable, although not always likeable.
I DID, however, find myself often trying to remember who was who and what their intricate relationships were. It was often confusing and disjointed in transitions, but once I got a page or so into each chapter it quickly smoothed out. There were so many characters it was almost too hard to keep track. In spite of this, Goodman does a masterful job in capturing messy and intricate relationships. Definitely worth the read~!
