Book Review: We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: August 19, 2014
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Born in 1941, Eileen Tumulty is raised by her Irish immigrant parents in Woodside, Queens, in an apartment where the mood swings between heartbreak and hilarity, depending on whether guests are over and how much alcohol has been consumed.
When Eileen meets Ed Leary, a scientist whose bearing is nothing like those of the men she grew up with, she thinks she’s found the perfect partner to deliver her to the cosmopolitan world she longs to inhabit. They marry, and Eileen quickly discovers Ed doesn’t aspire to the same, ever bigger, stakes in the American Dream.
Eileen encourages her husband to want more: a better job, better friends, a better house, but as years pass it becomes clear that his growing reluctance is part of a deeper psychological shift. An inescapable darkness enters their lives, and Eileen and Ed and their son Connell try desperately to hold together a semblance of the reality they have known, and to preserve, against long odds, an idea they have cherished of the future.
We Are Not Ourselves is an epic novel, following Eileen Tumulty from childhood to her golden years. When her son Connell is born, the book follows his life as well. Eileen grows up the daughter of Irish immigrant parents and dreams of a better life. When she meets and marries Ed, she thinks her dreams will come true. He’s a very intelligent scientist who could go far in his field. Unfortunately for Eileen, he loves teaching at a small college and has no desire to advance and make more money. Later, Eileen wants to move from her neighborhood where she’s lived all her life because people of other races and ethnicities are moving in and that makes her uncomfortable.
Then something happens that forces Eileen’s focus from her dreams. (If you don’t want that something spoiled for you be wary of other reviews!) Her priorities are forced to become different. She wants Connell’s help but he wants nothing more than to get away from his family so that he doesn’t have to deal with their problems.
This book is beautifully written and doesn’t pull any punches. The story is told in alternating third person from Eileen and Connell’s points of view. they They’re multidimensional and have thoughts that make you upset with them and thoughts that make you sympathize with them.
We Are Not Ourselves is over 600 pages, which I was not aware of when I chose it. I was nervous that I would be wasting a huge amount of time reading such a long book. I had nothing to worry about. Even after 600+ pages, I was sad when it ended. I could have read even more about the Leary family. It’s well worth the investment of your time to read. Highly recommended.
(I received this book courtesy of Amazon Vine.)
