WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, Do Not Bother Yourselves

NY Times Bestseller, WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, by NY born Matthew Thomas is a novel to not trouble yourselves with reading.  Thomas' first novel has been listed for the Flaherty Dunchan Prize.  It is the story of a the Leary family, Ed & Eileen & their son Connell.  Eileen is the unlikeable heroine of the novel.   We disdain her racism & penchant for looking down on everyone.  Her  inappropriate behaviors & flawed decisions drive her family in a vortex of insanity.  At a young age, Ed suffers from Alzheimer's or more likely a nervous break down.  The reader gets mired in the ugliness of Ed's decline & its toil on Eileen.  All the sacrifices Eileen makes to provide Connell with the best opportunities are squandered & he proves feckless.  For all the novels' repugnance, there is a magnetism to Eileen's character that will drag you down with her.   I recommend NOT getting embroiled into the Leary's family dramas.  "Ed thought even minimal indulgences were best lived without." I think it best not to indulge yourself with this eerily crafted novel.