We Are Family: Ten Family Dramas to Get You Through the Holidays

I know many of you will be packing your bags this week to travel to spend time with families for Thanksgiving, so I bring you a list of ten terrific family dramas to help get you through the holidays. I also give you my holiday wish that your travels will be without delay, that your mothers don’t tell you that you are raising your children to be brats, that your brothers don’t bring scantily clad girlfriends to dinner, that your sisters don’t passively aggressively tell you how fat you have gotten, that your children don’t tell your hosts that their food is disgusting, and really that you make it through the week without tears.

My holidays will be spent at home this year, and I am hopeful for some relaxing reading days, some fun times cooking with my daughter, some new movies with my husband, and a lovely meal with the extended family. Happy reading!     

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

One chance encounter at a christening party changes the course of two families, and Commonwealth is the story of the next five decades following that chance encounter. Bert Cousins attends Franny Keating’s christening party, and before the party is over, he kisses Franny’s mother (Beverly), which sets in motion the dissolution of both of their marriages and the joining of their families. This is the story of four parents and six children. The children forge a lasting loyalty for each other, which is at the heart of this story. For those who have discovered Ann Patchett through her more recent novels, The Dutch House and the new Tom Lake (both of which are also excellent family dramas), I suggest checking out this earlier four-star gem from Patchett. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett | Goodreads 

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

This one is probably already on your radar, but at 724 pages, I know the size can be a bit daunting. The holidays are, however, a perfect time for a big fat book and a nice cup of tea, and The Covenant of Water may provide the perfect escape from your Aunt Mildred and her well-intentioned, but unsolicited advice. This is a multi-generational story about one family, their mysterious "condition," and the changes that they see in their family home and in their native area of India over a century. This is a book about doctors, about mothers, about fear and overcoming fear, and about family, born or discovered. It's just terrifically well done and engaging, and I found the characters rich and well developed. I will say that Dr. Verghese gets a bit in the weeds on some of the medical explanations, but that really didn't detract from the story at all. Highly recommend, five stars. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese | Goodreads

Finding Me by Viola Davis

This one diverges a bit from the family drama genre, but this is a memoir that explores the author’s family relationships, so I’m including it here. I listened to Finding Me on audible as read by the author, and I highly recommend the book in that format. Davis's rise from abject poverty, living in a condemned apartment with rats invading the kitchen, to super stardom is fascinating. The book is one-part super star memoir for those who are fans of Davis's movie and television roles, and one-part deep dive into various social issues (e.g., discrimination, poverty, and abuse). Throughout the novel Davis explores her own family relationships and the ways she and her sisters supported each other. This is not a light and flighty Hollywood memoir. Davis's life has been a STRUGGLE. I am certainly a fan of Davis's acting, but I thought her personal reflections on what it meant to be poor as a child and what it means to be black and dark skinned in Hollywood were the things that really pushed this book into the four, four and a half star rating area for me. Finding Me by Viola Davis | Goodreads

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The Godfather is another one that probably isn’t on your radar as a family drama, but this book is all about family loyalties and the struggle for one father’s love and trust. Ultimately, this book is about so much more than the mafia, and I didn't expect to LOVE this as much as I did. It's about family and friendship and loyalty and honor but also about brutality and crime and revenge. At it's core, it's about good and evil, but not in a simplistic sort of way. There is no black and white. That's what makes both the story and the characters so compelling and rich. And I imagine, it's also what made this such a sensation. How many writers are skilled enough to make criminals and murderers relatable rather than simply psychopathic? And before anyone puts me on any watch lists, I'm not saying that the crimes themselves are relatable, but rather, the motivations are human and are, therefore, relatable - protection of family, preservation of honor, forging of security - and not just mere moments of brutality (in most cases). Of course, there are also those bit players who just seem to be pure evil, but I don't think you could have a mob book without that element too.

I am always a sucker for a great character, and I loved that Vito, Sonny, Freddie, Michael, Johnny, Tom, and Carlo were all so different. It would have been easy to simply adhere to the mafia stereotype and generalize, but Puzo doesn't do that. Each character is 100% unique. They all have different things that motivate them, and at different times Vito, Michael, and Tom alternated as my favorites. I couldn’t choose. The female characters - Mama Corleone, Connie, and Kay - are a bit more one dimensional, but this isn't really their story, and the fact that they weren't more developed didn't detract from the overall story for me. This was a solid five-star novel. The Godfather (The Godfather, #1) by Mario Puzo | Goodreads

A Good American by Alex George

A Good American is the story of one immigrant family’s multi-generational search for home and a place to fit in. In 1904, Frederick and Jette escape from disapproving parents in Germany for the new world where they eventually find their way to Beatrice, Missouri and plant their family roots. Told from the perspective of grandson, James, this is a love story, a survival story, a heartbreaking story, and a redemptive story. It’s full of quirky and endearing characters, and it follows the family and the town through World War II, the Great Depression, and Prohibition, tackling issues of racial tensions and prejudices along the way. I loved this story and gave it four-stars. I also recommended this on my blog post on what to read in St. Louis. A Good American by Alex George | Goodreads

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

I don’t have any sisters, but I love my two sisters-in-law dearly, and ever since reading Little Women at age 11, I am a sucker for a great novel about sister relationships. This story has a lot of parallels to Louisa May Alcott’s masterpiece, four sisters, one boy, a beloved but absent father, but this isn’t entirely derivative. Hello Beautiful is the compelling story of four sisters, Julia, Sylvie, Cecelia, and Emeline. Julia is the responsible one who marries early. Sylvie is the romantic and the dreamer. Cecelia is the artist, and Emeline takes care of everyone. Parallel and intertwined with the story of these sisters, is the story of William, a boy who grows up in a silent household and finds his home on the basketball court and later with the sisters. This is a rich family drama, exploring family loyalties through a rift that changes their lives through multiple generations. I gave this novel four stars. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | Goodreads

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Memphis is a compelling and heart wrenching multi-generational matrilineal story about the power of family, the power of community, and the power of art. Narrator, Joan, retreats with her mother and younger sister to her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis and to a quieter life with their aunt. A life that is far away from their father’s explosive temper. Joan grows up and learns about her family and her community through her art. She is forced to face her family’s past, which includes her grandfather’s lynching, the family’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement, and a history and secret of violence that shakes the family tree. This is a moving story exploring family and part of our nation’s history, and I recommended this four-star novel in my blog post on what to read on a trip to Memphis. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow | Goodreads

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout is one of my favorite contemporary writers, and the Lucy Barton series really gets better with each book as Lucy ages. This is a series for people who love beautiful writing and aren’t just in it for the story. Don’t get me wrong, there is a story here, but the observations, the prose, and the quiet of this book are really the things that make this special. The story is set in a New York City hospital room and explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, poverty, and small-town life. This is a short little book at less than 200 pages, and I’m hoping that you will fall in love with Lucy just as I have. If you read the series, Strout will take you through the relationships of mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, husbands and wives, and mothers and daughters again. Four stars for this novel and the next in the series (Anything is Possible), and five stars for the last two in the series (Oh William! and Lucy by the Sea). My Name Is Lucy Barton (Amgash, #1) by Elizabeth Strout | Goodreads

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

I struggled a bit to identify what I enjoyed so much about this book. It moves at a glacial pace, and not a whole heck of a lot happens. It's a quiet book - the story of Quoyle, a man who has rarely ever fit in anywhere in life. After his horrid wife dies in an accident, he reconnects with an estranged aunt who encourages him and his two young daughters to join her in relocating to the family's ancestral home on the craggy coast of Newfoundland. A small-town journalist by trade, Quoyle secures a job writing the shipping news for the local paper, and he finally finds a place where he belongs and can build a life for himself and his daughters. That's it. There's not a lot more to the story. But the characters are well developed and motivated by unexpected feelings and memories, and we are constantly reminded that not everyone is as they seem. Proulx is also a gifted writer, building tension out of very little and really bringing Newfoundland alive. Sometimes you don't need a lot of bells and whistles to have a really great book. So it's decidedly not a daiquiri by the side of the pool kind of book. It's a snuggle by the fire with a hot cup of tea and leisurely turn the pages kind of book. Another four-star book for those who love beautiful writing. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx | Goodreads

Beezus & Ramona by Beverly Cleary  

And because it’s the holidays, I wanted to recommend one of my all-time favorite children’s books, which is, again, about sisters and families. I fell in love with Ramona as a little girl, and I fell in love with her all over again as a parent, reading this book to my daughter, and then we fell in love yet again when we downloaded the audiobook of the entire series read by the talented Stockard Channing. Talk about bang for our bucks, my daughter has listened to the audio of this at least 10 times (more likely 20+).

My daughter was 5 when we first read this, and she absolutely loved Ramona's naughtiness. She was scandalized by the incident with the purple crayon when Ramona marks up a library book. My daughter regaled everyone in the family with this most shocking of tales. We were both in stitches over Ramona's attempts to sign her name and the incident where Henry Huggins' dog gets locked in the Quimby family's only bathroom. We looked forward to hunkering down with this book at the end of the day to find out what mischief Ramona would engage in next. And, of course, Ramona’s naughtiness needs the foil of Beezus’s goodness. This is one the entire family can enjoy. Unequivocal five stars. Beezus and Ramona (Ramona, #1) by Beverly Cleary | Goodreads