[Review] A Likely Story - Leigh McMullan Abramson

Summary: Growing up in the nineties in New York City as the only child of famous parents was both a blessing and a curse for Isabelle Manning. Her beautiful society hostess mother, Claire, and New York Times bestselling author father, Ward, were the city’s intellectual It couple. Ward’s glamorous obligations often took him away from Isabelle, but Claire made sure her childhood was always filled with magic and love.

Now an adult, all Isabelle wants is to be a successful writer like her father but after many false starts and the unexpected death of her mother, she faces her upcoming thirty-fifth birthday alone and on the verge of a breakdown. Her anxiety only skyrockets when she uncovers some shocking truths about her parents and begins wondering if everything she knew about her family was all based on an elaborate lie.

Wry, wise, and propulsive, A Likely Story is punctuated with fragments of a compulsively readable book-within-a-book about a woman determined to steal back the spotlight from a man who has cheated his way to the top. The characters seem eerily familiar but is the plot based on fact? And more importantly, who is the author? (Pub Date: Mar 14 2023)

 

A story told from multiple points of view, we get to know the family of the famous author Ward Manning. In the present, his daughter Isabelle struggles to finally have her first book published—it can't be anything, or it would damn her career, but when nothing seems to satisfy her agent, it's like her career is over before it could start. However, Ward is also having trouble not only writing a new book, but also simply living now his wife has died and his daughter is living her own life. We've also got Brian, who has been in love with Isabelle for many years, and Claire, Isabelle's mother, who has helped Ward in the beginning of his career, but gave up everything so she could have Isabelle. Lastly, we see excerpts of a draft, but who is the writer?

A 3+ and a solid first novel piece.

I find it hard to evaluate this book. Despite being Abramson's first novel, she's a good writer, you know she was in control of everything, the kind of style you can trust the author knows what they are doing. Despite having to express the views of four characters, plus the character of the book in the story, she managed to make them all different and yet related, as they bond with each other. 

However, I felt that the story dragged. It didn't lack plot twists, it didn't lack action, but the excitement wasn't there. Sometimes, I felt I could like this or that character, or even hate any of them, but in the end I couldn't. They're not hateful, but they didn't invoke any passions in me. I can't blame on lack of depth, they were round and complex. Still...

Because it's a book that trusted heavily on the characters' deepening and development, the plot wasn't a big novelty to compensate the absence of catharsis for me. The story reveals itself slowly, but with a few words of it, I would have been able to predict it. 

Do notice those are my only complaints. It's a solid, well-written book that takes us through the history of the Manning family. And even if I couldn't love any of the characters, I did worry about where they'd go, how they'd end. I'm guessing writers will especially identify with the drama the family lives.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.