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Happy Family
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
21 posts | 13 read | 74 to read
In Tracy Barone's mordantly funny debut, a fiercely independent woman is forced to come to terms with the family who raised her, the one who gave her away and the one she desperately wants.Trenton, New Jersey, 1962: A pregnant girl staggers into a health clinic, gives birth, and flees. A foster family takes the baby in, and an unlikely couple, their lives unspooling from a recent tragedy, hastily adopts her.Forty years and many secrets and lies later, Cheri Matzner is all grown up and falling apart. Ironic and unapologetic, she's a former cop-turned-disgruntled academic, a frustrated wife trying to get pregnant, an iconoclastic daughter bearing war-wounds from her overbearing mother and the deeply flawed by well-meaning father who has been dead for several years. Thrust into an odyssey of acceptance, Cheri discovers that sometimes it takes half a lifetime to come of age.Written with a deep emotional intelligence and a biting wit, HAPPY FAMILY weaves together the stories of the beautifully damaged people who have shaped Cheri's life--often in ways she has yet to discover. Asking if we can ever really know our parents outside their roles as our parents, Barone brilliantly explores the often vast divide between our beliefs about our families and the truth.
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Of course I haven‘t read this yet!! Have you? 📚💚

#Family
#DivineDecember

marleed No but it look‘s interesting. 1y
Eggs Brilliant 💚💚 1y
55 likes2 comments
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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#Family
#ForeverNovember

I love the cover of this book!

78 likes2 comments
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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#Happyinthetitle
#MagnificentMarch

Anyone read this one? It sounds good!

Erinreadsthebooks That cover is a win! 4y
SW-T Love that cover! 4y
See All 7 Comments
OriginalCyn620 That cover! 😃 4y
Becker Fabulous cover. 4y
81 likes1 stack add7 comments
review
mrozzz
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Pickpick

This helped me figure out why I didn‘t love Evelyn Hugo. Evelyn's story lacked a certain control & an appealing aesthetic quality. Barone's prose here worked so well for this mini-epic. Cece and Sal, adopt Cheri, an infant who fills the hole made when they lost a son due to pregnancy complications. The following years display a turbulent relationship b/t parents & daughter as she recognizes how different she is, & they become more estranged 👇🏻

mrozzz Cont‘d: Most of the story takes place in Cheri's present day, as she approaches her 40th birthday and has to contend with charges of prejudice in her university classroom which threaten a last ditch effort to view sacred tablets in Iraq before the war fully commences endangering those and thousands of other artifacts and possibly lost. Her marriage is strained, her husband distant, her womb empty. Her husband‘s illness shocks the story into action 6y
Billypar Sounds intense and tragic- nice summary! 6y
cherinium I may have to read this just because there is a character named Cheri (my name). 😉 6y
mrozzz It‘s was cool. Sometimes these “epics” get so tedious but there were plenty of moments to bring it back to present, which I liked. Let me know if you give it a shot! @Billypar 6y
mrozzz Ha! @cherinium Maybe! The father had to name her Cheri instead of Cherie because the latter was the pet name his wife had for him pre-baby. It‘s a great story overall. I really enjoyed it. 6y
84 likes4 stack adds5 comments
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Kmmsellers
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Pickpick

This is a moving story about families, how they begin and how they are defined. Really great story that comes full circle.

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Kmmsellers
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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This book is breaking my heart. Where is the tissue box?

27 likes1 stack add
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Kmmsellers
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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It's definitely Spring. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, plants are thriving. Perfect day for a long walk and an audiobook.

17 likes1 stack add
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BookishMarginalia
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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I'm intrigued by the first page of #TracyBarone's Happy Family. #BackBayBooks

HannaPolkadots That is a good start! I look forward your review ☺ 7y
Cinfhen Ooooh, it does sound good!!! 7y
IamIamIam Lol, immediate add for the TBR!!! 7y
Sarahreadstoomuch My birthday (but different year) 7y
Kmmsellers I keep meaning to read this one. I think I need to move it up on my TBR. 7y
117 likes8 stack adds5 comments
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BookBabe
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Curled up by the fireside, coffee in hand, spending some quality time with @MrBook and family. 😊🔥☕️ #Thanksgiving

BookishMarginalia Nice! Enjoy! 7y
britt_brooke 💙 Dunkin. Happy Thanksgiving! 7y
MrBook 😍 7y
See All 8 Comments
BookBabe @britt_brooke Thank you! @MrBook and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! 7y
britt_brooke @BookBabe Thank you! ☺️ It was lovely. 💕 7y
Zelma Very cozy. We lit our fireplace on Thanksgiving too (well, before Mr. Z headed to work). I am super envious of that Dunkin Donuts coffee though! 😳☕️☕️☕️ 7y
LitsyGoesPostal 😎👍🏻 7y
169 likes1 stack add8 comments
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JenniferJR
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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MagdaRosol
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Privilege and disfunction can be fun to watch.

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JenniferJR
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Can everyone in my office just shhhhh so I can listen?! #audible #happyfamily #earphones

Varshitha This is exactly how I feel 😆... Thankfully I start my work early morning and my colleagues come around midday so I get some time to peacefully listen to my books.. 8y
JenniferJR That's awesome! I always listen on my long commute and then when I get to work I get so into the story that I don't want to stop! 8y
8 likes1 stack add2 comments
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MaryAnn1
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Ben gay, Advil, a heating pad and this. Not quite what the doctor ordered, but just right for now.

brendanmleonard Feel better! Love that cover! 8y
Megabooks Oh yeah. I've been there. Get better soon! 8y
CherylDeFranceschi Feel better soon! 8y
KellyKate Hope all is well and happy recoup and reading! 8y
33 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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MaryAnn1
Happy Family | Tracy Barone

Ben gay, Advil, a heating pad and this. Not quite what the doctor ordered, but just right for now.

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Hcb83
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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"Books. Cats. Life is good."

MrBook Lol 😹! Mine does the same thing to me when I'm trying to read. 8y
3 likes1 comment
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mrldg
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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"If you could pull back and up to see how it all connects to the ocean, if you could see the whole story of all of your parents and their parents, would it alter your memories of them? Would it change what you translate to your kids, what they then revise and tell their kids?"

4 likes1 stack add
review
Well-ReadNeck
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Pickpick

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel about one woman and all the different types of families (birth family, foster family, adoptive family, secret family, extended family, marriage without children - does that count as family?). Plus, I love this cover 😀 Solid summer read!

46 likes12 stack adds
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Well-ReadNeck
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Talking about a teen who gave a boy a BJ at his bar mitzvah ... "in about a minute, we've called this girl powerful ... A victim ... And a slut. ... Who knows what she would have been called in ancient Sumer? ...

A priestess."

shawnmooney Ooooh, you're reading it? How is it? I'm so curious... 8y
Well-ReadNeck @shawnmooney really good so far!! 8y
32 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Celiafae
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Bailedbailed

Happy Family started out strong so when it became boring in the middle I was disappointed. I have too many other books I want to read. I couldn't stick it out.

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shawnmooney
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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Because cover!

shawnmooney Ha ha. I totally blurbed it solely because of the cover; then, listened to "All The Books" and heard @Liberty waxing enthusiastic about it. Now I'm really really excited! 8y
BkClubCare That is a great cover. 8y
32 likes8 stack adds2 comments
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bookriot
Happy Family | Tracy Barone
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So excited about this book mail. Comes out in May. Anyone else have this on their list?

sruszala Yes! Many wishes for this on NetGalley 8y
39 likes17 stack adds1 comment