What do readers think of The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell? Write your own review.

Ultimately a sad tale, but it kept me wanting to keeping reading it. I thought the ending was flat. Some characters didn't need to be in the storyline.

There is such overwhelming sadness in this story of a family destined for defeat. Beth said it best. "We're a badly planned dinner party." (p. 142)

As the years go by, the story develops around the Easter holiday at the family home. The symbolism is clear, that suffering evolves into forgiveness and reconciliation as the family, in the last few pages, comes together with hope and a new beginning.

The writing style is precious and the characters are well-delineated. I wanted to care about them all. Unfortunately, for me, the rush of missteps, impetuous decisions, and bad choices turned the players and events into caricatures of themselves.

I was relieved when the story was over and everyone could live happily ever after.

If you like stories about family relationships and how families deal with a crisis, you'll love The House We Grew Up In. Lisa Jewell creates characters that, in spite of their often dysfunctional behavior, are so appealing, so real. I sometimes could not believe their behaviors yet I accepted them because their reasoning and motivations were so well developed. She also does an excellent job of describing the addiction of hoarding, so much so that at times it was hard to read. I just wanted to put the book down and go clean a closet or pantry. The story of the Bird family, Lorelei, Colin and their four children is an excellent read. Based on it, I will seek out other Lisa Jewell books.

The House We Grew Up In was a book that was hard to put down. I loved the characters and the author did a wonderful job at developing all of them. The story is about a family that experiences a tragedy on Easter Sunday and how that changes the family dynamics. It was fascinating to see Lorelei (the mother) evolve from a collector of items to a hoarder and how it impacted the family home. A thoroughly enjoyable read, I highly recommend it!

This novel was an excellent read. It detailed the dysfunction of the Bird family--father Colin, mother Lorelei, children Meg, Bethann, Rory and Rhys--and all the fallout that stemmed from that dysfunction. Lorelei was a hoarder and her disorder got worse and worse as time went on and the children grew up and left the family home. The children were definitely not without their own issues and each character in this book was a complex one. The writing was wonderful; the characters described in such vivid detail that they were all larger than life. This was my first book by this author but I will definitely read more by her. I received a review copy of this book from BookBrowse in exchange for a review.

This novel introduces the Bird family, at first idyllic. Yet, as time progresses, each character and all their flaws are revealed. The House We Grew Up In kept my interest and the characters are well developed. A good pick for book clubs, as the novel opens many issues for discussion. Lisa Jewel brings family, life and all its messes together in one family. Maybe, at times a bit much for me. However, at other times an engaging novel that kept my interest. How the story was told and the pace of revealing the Bird's secrets worked well for me. The Bird's house became another well developed character, changing as the family changed. The perfect household becomes a prison , and the Bird family must break free and repair the damage. Lisa Jewel leaves the reader with hope and possibilities, and perhaps some understanding of people's choices.

The author grabs the reader's attention immediately by using an email from November of 2010, then a short passage from April, 2011 which is chillingly alarming before moving back in time to April, 1981 to introduce the Bird family. As the novel moves back and forth in time, often using Easter as the time visited you meet the family and watch as they begin to react in their own ways to the chaos that is the home they live in. After a tragedy occurs, each one spins away to try and find a different and better existence only to find in the end that the home they grew up in is the one uniting thing to bring them together again. This is a novel that will stay in the reader's thoughts for a long time. I highly recommend this book for individuals and book clubs- much to discuss about this story.

I can't believe that one family could have so many dysfunctions. It read like a social worker's entire case load combined. It's understandable that one problem could breed many but this many? That said I can't believe how much I enjoyed this book.

The style bothered me at first. The shifting from year to year from e-mails to actual events but I realized that this was a very clever way to disclose secrets that led up to important happenings.

Most of the book revolved around Lorelei's hoarding problem and the kind of person and mother she was, four children and four ways of dealing with it. Megan became a neat-freak, Bethan a weak child-woman. Rory escaped the house but not his problems with the help off a strong woman. Rhys escaped in his own way.

I found the book entertaining but a little over the top, and the title ending in a preposition made me cringe.