Genre: Fiction
Length: 288 pages
Audiobook Length: 10 hours
First Published: 2024
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Rachael’s Review
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Cracks begin to form for a Brooklyn family as troubled husband and wife, Dan and Isabel, find they are both a little in love with Isabel’s younger brother Robbie, who lives in the attic. Meanwhile, their children try to navigate growing up while ignoring the strain between their parents. After Robbie moves to Iceland, the pandemic hits, adding even more strain as the family tries to figure out how to live together and apart.
Told as snippets of the same day, April 5, over a three year period from 2019 to 2021, Day is both beautiful and boring. Without much plot, Day is the kind of story that only English majors truly enjoy. All of the characters are all too in love with each other, making for an extremely dysfunctional family setup. Luckily it was short for its brevity saved it from feeling too pretentious.
Publisher’s Description
April 5, 2019 : In a cozy brownstone in Brooklyn, the veneer of domestic bliss is beginning to crack. Dan and Isabel, troubled husband and wife, are both a little bit in love with Isabel’s younger brother, Robbie. Robbie, wayward soul of the family, who still lives in the attic loft; Robbie, who, trying to get over his most recent boyfriend, has created a glamorous avatar online; Robbie, who now has to move out of the house—and whose departure threatens to break the family apart. Meanwhile Nathan, age ten, is taking his first uncertain steps toward independence, while Violet, five, does her best not to notice the growing rift between her parents.
April 5, 2020: As the world goes into lockdown, the brownstone is feeling more like a prison. Violet is terrified of leaving the windows open, obsessed with keeping her family safe, while Nathan attempts to skirt her rules. Isabel and Dan communicate mostly in veiled jabs and frustrated sighs. And beloved Robbie is stranded in Iceland, alone in a mountain cabin with nothing but his thoughts—and his secret Instagram life—for company.
April 5, 2021: Emerging from the worst of the crisis, the family reckons with a new, very different reality—with what they’ve learned, what they’ve lost, and how they might go on.
About Michael Cunningham
Cunningham was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. He lives in New York and teaches at Yale. Visit the author’s website →
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