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We all have a unique relationship with our family. Some of us get along really well, others not so much. Whether a fictional family feels familiar or foreign to you, family dynamics make for compelling stories. Here are some reading suggestions that represent a variety of family dynamics.<\/p>\n
Worry by Alexandra Tanner is a newer fiction book that takes place just before and during the time of COVID. A pair of sisters, both going through their own adulting journeys, end up living together and have to reconcile their expectations with the realities and limitations of their lives. It\u2019s darkly funny, with a dry wit that millennials and older zoomers will identify with for sure. Their mother flutters in and out of the story as well, and you can tell how the sisters are the way they are from how their mother acts.<\/p>\n
Visitations by Corey Egbert is also new: a graphic autobiographical novel of a time during the author\u2019s teen years after his parents\u2019 divorce when his mother\u2019s accusations against his father got more and more intense. The family ends up on a road trip, and the author navigates dealing with adolescence, his relationship with his parents and extended family, and how his religious faith factors into all of it. You really empathize with the young man and hope things turn out OK for him.<\/p>\n
Another memoir, Tasha by Brian Morton, focuses on the author\u2019s relationship with his aging mother as he takes charge of her care. He reflects on the trouble he\u2019s had with his mother, but also recognizes what a wonderful and vibrant person she\u2019s been \u2014 how she\u2019s the kind of teacher we all wish we had, or would want our children to have. His mother is a highly entertaining character, and it\u2019s great fun to get to know her as she and her son butt heads and figure out how to make each other happy in this stage of life.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re interested in how decisions made in the past affect later generations, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a perfect pick. It follows two sisters from Ghana \u2014 one who ends up in a life of privilege, one who is enslaved \u2014 and traces how past decisions reverberate across seven generations. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Amanda Ray is a librarian at the Iowa City Public Library. She loves to help patrons find their new favorite reads and learn how to use their smartphones. This article was originally published in Little Village\u2019s July 2025 issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all have a unique relationship with our family. Some of us get along really well, others not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[7103,223,88,27833,27834],"class_list":{"0":"post-33413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-book-reviews","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fully-booked","12":"tag-iowa-city-public-library"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}