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There are currently 26 member reviews
for Fatherland
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Lani S. (Narberth, PA)
Family abandonment
Victoria Shorr's Fatherland is a slender, deceptively swift novel whose modest length conceals a deep reservoir of emotional complexity. Set in mid-1950s Cleveland, the book initially presents a carefully burnished tableau of postwar domestic prosperity: Martin Brier, a successful physician; his devoted wife; and their three children ensconced on a leafy, respectable street. Yet this polished surface fractures abruptly when Martin abandons his family without warning, leaving not even a note behind—simply decamping to a new life with another woman. The shock of his departure reverberates outward, exposing the fragility of the American family ideal and the quiet endurance demanded of those left behind.
The novel's emotional center of gravity rests largely on the shoulders of Josie, the daughter, whose consciousness becomes the primary lens through which we experience the aftermath of abandonment. Shorr is particularly adept at rendering the ambivalence of a child caught between loyalty and rage, longing and self-protection. Josie's yearning for her father's return—despite his unforgivable betrayal—feels painfully authentic, as does her gradual recognition that love does not guarantee reciprocity. Some of the novel's most affecting moments unfold in silence and stillness: the children waiting outside in hope, scanning the street for a figure who never arrives; the mother's relentless, almost delusional faith that tomorrow might bring restoration. These quiet details accumulate into a powerful emotional reckoning.
The mother's character, with her almost willful self-effacement and determination to mold herself into whatever version of woman her husband desires, provokes understandable frustration. Her devotion—so emblematic of the era's constricting expectations for women—can feel infuriating, even tragic. Yet Shorr resists caricature, allowing us to witness the slow evolution of the family in Martin's absence. Over time, the mother hardens into a quieter strength, the sons detach, and Josie learns to sever emotional ties in order to survive, arriving at a state of reluctant sympathy for her father's diminished, almost pitiable circumstances. One wishes, however, that the novel lingered longer on the mother's interior life as she grows and changes; her late-stage resilience feels earned but underexplored.
Ultimately, Fatherland is a restrained, reflective novel that lingers long after its final page. It is less concerned with dramatic confrontation than with the slow, interior shifts that define how people endure loss and disappointment. Shorr offers a meditation on abandonment, gender roles, and the quiet recalibration of love when illusions collapse. It is a novel that rewards patience and contemplation, asking the reader to sit with discomfort rather than resolve it—and in doing so, captures something profoundly human.
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Lynne Z. (San Francisco, CA)
Feelings of Abandonment Never Go Way
Victoria Shorr does a superb job of describing what abandonment does to a family. Martin Brier is a despicable character from the very first page. A narcissist, a serial liar, and a womanizer only begin to relate his vileness. The aftermath of his actions have lifelong effects especially on Josie, his daughter. Although she manages to go forward and have a meaningful life, the scars remain. When Marin dies, Josie believes she has moved beyond the pain of abandonment, but in a dream she realizes he will always be there. She will always be "the bereft child running to him and he would always be the sovereign father, shoving her away."
Other than Josie, the characters in Fatherland were undeveloped. How Lora moved forward, raised three children alone and remarried were never explained. Martin abandoned his family and remarried three times, but how he was able to have a successful medical practice with all his character faults didn't ring true. Despite this criticism, Victoria Shorr has written a gripping novel that will remain in the hearts and minds of her readers.
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Janet M. (Greenwich, CT)
1950's Ohio; a Lifetime of Longing for a Lost Father
Victoria Schorr recreates the 1950's in suburban Ohio with live- in help, country club dinners, department store shopping and the awful conformity of fitting in. When Lora Brier realizes her husband Martin has left her without any money, she tries to cover it up. For weeks she lives with pretenses, anything rather than acknowledging abandonment. Schorr shifts POV from the help to Lora, to her eldest child, Josie. As Lora's parents move in to fill the void created by Martin's absence Lora takes a degree then begins life as a teacher.
The author describes Martin, who having abandoned his wife, forges her name on documents using the family house on which Lora's father has made the down payment to buy a house for his new wife. Josie's growing awareness of her father's serial lying, along with her fervent wish that he love her as she longs to be loved by him form the basis of this story. The occasional literary references are a bit forced.
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Donna W. (Wauwatosa, WI)
Fatherland
I got attached to the characters, and story, very quickly. It was more a story of a time and place though, and gave a great feeling of the 50's and 60's. It was also a look at the world of divorce through the children's eyes. Each chapter was written from a different character's perspective, and it blended the story together very well. The writing was great!! It left we with much to think about.
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Jan
Fatherhood
This is the first time reading this author, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed. I felt the characters were not fleshed out and after finishing the book, I felt like I wasted my time. The father character wasn't truly addressed fully until the end of the book and even though he was a cad, he deserved more than one chapter. Lori, the mother was the main focus of the first part and then dumped until the end. And, Josie, she was a hurt young woman whose life was marginalized by the author. Just not my cup of tea.
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Ilene M. (Longmont, CO)
Description on cover doesn't match what I read
Although I enjoyed the writing style, I found that the book was mostly about the father of the family rather than about how his actions affected his daughter, son and wife. I expected more than I got from this book. I grew up in northern Ohio in the time period of this book, so I was familiar with the surroundings and the way in which families lived in this time period.
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Patty K. (Pleasant Hill, CA)
Unpleasant Tale of a Father's Abandonment
The synopsis for Fatherland says it's about the American dream gone bust due to a father's infidelity and the effects on his daughter across decades and milestones. Technically, that's true but I had no feel for why Lora, the aggrieved wife, adored Martin, how a 1950s housewife survived such abandonment, not exactly a time of personal or financial independence for most women. Nor was there much believable delving into why Josie, the daughter, was motivated to keep in touch with him when each meeting leads her to be more disillusioned and distraught than the last one.
Author Victoria Shorr is an acclaimed author and many like her unsentimental style. But for me, it created a barrier making it difficult to connect with any of Fatherland's characters. I also found Shorr's frequent use of pronouns confusing, you'll need to read carefully whom the "she" and "he" is referring to.
If you are looking for a nuanced exploration of a family grappling with a father's betrayal, you might be better served by the emotional depth of Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Or if you want to better understand an irredeemably cheating husband, read any of John Updike's Rabbit books.
