The Salt House

3.5 stars

This is a lovely book about a family needing to overcome their grief. While I generally have a difficult time with Women's fiction, this book wasn't as bad as they usually are, for me.

The story is quite simple with little plot. The whole point of the book is the family getting past the grief or not, so this book is really more about the journey and not the destination. The multiple points of view allow the reader to look at each character from different lens, see how they are coping with the death and the turbulent home life, and what they are doing to reach a normal state. Through Hope we learn more about Maddie and her grief, while Jack is going through his own problems, feeling unable to tell his wife what is going. Kat, the youngest daughter, is more concerned with her parents not being happy and she deals with wanting to fix the problem, while Jess is trying to live her own life and once again feels alone, unable to communicate her problems. These different perspectives made the story interesting, instead of redundant.

I also enjoyed the characters who were full of life. All the characters were distinct in their own way and had their own voice. Hope's chapters could seem a bit dull to me, if only because continuing to hear about her grief was difficult, but even her stories had gripping moments when talking about what happened or how she was trying to move on. I did think her blaming people or not understanding why they wouldn't tell her things since she is so absorbed in her grief. Other than that, I liked the characters, especially Jess and Kat.