Reread this because I needed a dreary depressing novel to emphasise how terrible society is. I think if I'd read this for the first time today instead of when I was sixteen it would have impacted me less; nonetheless, it's gorgeous. ( )

A Seventh Day Adventist family from Tennessee faces financial and family problems, brought on by the very religious, strict father and his choices. He leaves his job to study for a PhD, leaving the family destitute, and disowns two of his children, leaving them to make their own way. ( )

I want to note how difficult it is to write a bad review about one of your most favorite authors. I love her work, her interviews, her blog, her Facebook posts, she's just an interesting person. Most of her stories fall into the realm of favorite books ever, for me. This though..

I feel like 3-stars is extremely generous of a rating. This book had a decent first half buildup and then fell flat on its face with a disappointing lack of character or plot "development".

The timeline is wonky, often jumping seemingly randomly. 5 years, 10 years, 10 more years..and it jumps character views very unsteadily and at really bizarre moments. It focuses mostly on Patsy, the youngest daughter. Who is excommunicated from her church (where her father is the pastor) for getting pregnant by her black boyfriend and subsequently having an abortion. But then, a few chapters later, she says she lost her virginity to her husband - a white church goer. This issue is never addressed again.

The oldest son, Vinnie, hates his father because of something that happened at his college graduation. Another issue that is never really addressed.

There is little to no plot development and absolutely not character development. Just a lot of "fast-forwarding" and nothing really changing. Many of the main characters are unceremoniously killed off at random, with no explanation and no focus at all.

The book has a credit card cover, (with a really poorly chosen family photo that doesn't fit the timeline or characters described in the book) and is described as being "The Hole We're In shines a spotlight on some of the most relevant issues of our day--over-reliance on credit, vexed gender and class politics, the war in Iraq--but it is Zevin's deft exploration of the fragile economy of family life that makes this a book for the ages."

The "gender politics" are just about non-existent. The war in Iraq and the soldiers characteristics were really poorly researched, there are no class politics and there's no "exploration of fragile economy of family life".

This book is more about Seventh Day Adventists and religious v. secularism struggles. The credit-card reliance isn't really explored, it's just mentioned that the mother has a horrible conscious and screws her kids up. But it's never fixed, the characters are never remorseful nor do they learn anything from their past.

I really did not like this book. Even a tiny bit, I just can't bear to give her bad star-ratings because I love her work so much..usually. ( )

I did not relate to the debt-ridden, God-fearing aspects of the characters, but I did find myself drawn into their world and the sometimes-we-are-not-in-charge-of-the-paths-we-follow lives that can apply to anyone. The story starts in 2000 and ends about 20 years later, so many of the issues are very much real world. Would make a good book discussion book ( )

I saw Zevin's movie "Conversations With Other Women" and heard the author herself during Spirit Awards season a few years ago. This novel is about the Pomeroy family, who struggle to make ends meet. I liked the beginning segment on the family's crazy debt more than the end focusing on the Iraq War-vet daughter. ( )