Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

This was fun and funny but was very very self-conscious the whole time.

There is so much going on.

A whodunit mystery novel. A tale about family. A big loving pastiche of both of those. A novel about the rules of good mystery novels. A meta tale outside the tale of the author’s perception of their story. A lotta fourth wall breaking. Mini stories of how each family member kills someone.

This author is swinging for the parking lot! These bites are a bit big for them to chew though. The breezy tone and the constant chatter to the reader kept me from loving anyone enough to fear or care.

I thought of The Unworthy - i finished it recently. It was shorter but only had a few elements - it’s a brutal story told through hidden diary entries. And you care. Augustina Bazterrica gives you a focus to care about and leaves you wondering.

This is fun! But so scattered that it’s easy to breeze past the truly awful elements and not feel them.

There's a solid mystery underlying this novel, and as the title betrays, it also indulges in a meta-narrative that is delivered by the narrator of the story. The mystery/thriller that is the core of this book would work really well on its own with plenty of twists, turns, revelations, and clues sprinkled in so that the savvy can start to put together the picture, and yet it adds in more with interesting narrative choices, such as telling you near the beginning what chapters people die in and acknowledging the novel as an already completed, written work. There was a good deal more going on in this story than I had expected at the start, and by the end, I was really enjoying it.

I listened to the audiobook, and the 4th wall was broken a lot throughout and I'm not sure if that happens in the book as well because the breaking was all referencing listening to the audiobook. This is fully presented as an active telling of the story by the "author" Ernest. I really enjoyed this presentation of the story!

I kept putting this one off because of the hype, and I'm a little sad that I did, because I found this to be such a fun read! The comedic timing, the dry and dark humor, just everything was chef's kiss. I don't even know what else to say about it, I absolutely loved it and will be getting a copy to keep on my shelf.

Read it!