I always enjoy a story centered around a family and the Family Tabor was no exception. The story centers around Harry Tabor, his wife, and children as he prepares to attend the ceremony for the Man of the Decade award. The narration switches between himself, his wife, and his adult children. Harry is winning the award because of his work in assisting Jews from countries where they are being persecuted. It's an honorable career and one he and his family is very proud of. Until secrets he's been keeping start coming to the surface.

I started out really loving the Tabor family. Then they started to feel too whiny and self centered and by the end I just wanted the book to end. The author has such a beautiful way with phrasing, but I wish she had used her talents to keep the story moving more instead of dwelling on ancient family history. Camille was my favorite of the children and I would have loved to learn more about her and how she coped with her depression. Instead there are pages and pages of Simon and his wife arguing over her being Catholic and Simon being Jewish. They have been together for quite some time and have two children so this point seems like it should have been more urgent sooner in the relationship.

The ending has a twist that I didn't see coming. However, it felt rushed and I would have enjoyed more time with the characters and their reactions to the twist. Overall the book just didn't hit the right notes for me, but I am interested in reading more of this authors work in the future.

Book was too heavy for me. Glad I got a free copy versus buying this one. I am sure some people will love it who love more back story than story. Thanks for the review. Opt.

I have always loved books about family dramas and dynasties, all the way back to when I was a (very) precocious fifth-grader, where I bit my lip as my body tensed under the disapproving glare of a public librarian, checking out Danielle Steel sagas (Zoya! Jewels! Message from Nam!) and yearning to read the latest on my then-hero, Jackie Collins’ Lucky Santangelo.
Cherise Wolas’ The Family Tabor is by no means a quick, dirty and trashy trip through the misdeeds and buried skeletons of well-to-do family on the West Coast à la that in Collins’ Chances or Lady Boss. However, it was the beginning of The Family Tabor, where Harry Tabor, family patriarch, do-gooder, founder of the mysteriously named CST, a non-profit that helps resettle displaced Jews into Palm Springs, reflects on his life and that of his ancestors shortly before he is to be named Man of the Decade at a gala, where I knew I was going to be drawn into some juicy drama.
Throughout the book, Wolas draws on themes that are familiar to many Jews, perhaps in both our collective and individual histories, and she covers ground in each of these areas. One idea is this notion of running from things; perhaps Roma, Harry’s child psychologist wife, articulates it best when she thinks about a young female patient she is treating, a girl who doesn’t want to eat or drink, but who leaves the house every morning to run seven miles. Roma thinks that she must be running from a monster in the house. Similarly, Harry and Roma’s married attorney son Simon, can’t sleep, and spends time running, which is just the newest distraction he’s picked up to keep himself busy. Their daughter, Phoebe, says she wants a relationship but seems to sabotage herself at every turn, while the other daughter, Camille, is a social anthropologist who ran to Melanesia, and fell into a deep depression upon her return. On a larger scale, it’s explained that Harry and Roma’s families left Europe due to the pogroms—just one of many monsters that have come to terrorize the homes of the Jews.
I have read some reviews that there are those who may have wanted a tidier, perhaps a more complete ending. I think, though, the fact that we are left wondering what happens is completely appropriate; like the Tabors, I believe we are still lost, wandering in this desert, sometimes searching for answers, sometimes seeking forgiveness.

This book is unlike any I've ever read. It seemed to me like every noun and verb had multiple adjectives and adverbs attached to it. I like description, but the story is lost in the descriptions given. I kept reading hoping to find some real action. I admit, I did not finish the book. Perhaps when I don't have a stack of books I want to read, I will return to it.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read it in return for an honest review.

The Family Tabor is a story biblical in its depth and breadth, biblical in its metaphors, and biblical in one man’s search for atonement; atonement for the sins of his father.

On the night Harry Tabor is to receive the honor of Palm Springs Man of the Decade, he disappears, having just recently begun a conversation with either God or his own conscience and subconscious. The entire family, wife, Roma, daughters Phoebe and Camille, and son Simon, his wife, Elena, and adorable daughters Lucy and Isabel, have all come to share this triumph with their patriarch. Yet barely beneath the surface for each adult simmers a restlessness, a secret, and, at worst, a lie, of life changing proportions. To reveal the details of this tale would reveal far too many spoilers. Suffice to say this is an intriguing, albeit periodically somewhat overly convoluted, tale, about torment, facing one’s demons, and finding resolution.

The Family Tabor is about fight or flight, at its core, and except for Lucy and Isabel, every character in this book experiences that primal conflict, including one of Roma’s young patients, herself a metaphor for the turmoil this family experiences. These characters are believable, but I certainly did not find them likeable, especially Roma, who struck me as too holier than thou for her own good. That I don’t find them likeable is not a criticism of the book - I think readers are not meant to like them, especially as the venality of Harry’s deeds before becoming a wonderful philanthropist unfolds and one wonders just how much of his secret has infiltrated the very bloodstreams of his family.

There is something rotten at the core of these two generations of what were, in the old country, Tiborskys, descendants of a famous, brilliant, but deaf, cantor. How quickly Harry rises from nothing and disgraces his ancestors is a story well worth reading.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity. Unfortunately, I could not get into this book. It really wasn't my style.

As much as I wanted to love this book, it left me disappointed in the end. So much time was spent getting to know these characters, Harry, Roma and their adult children and then at the end...nothing. We do get an idea of what happened with their son Simon, but the author leaves us guessing as to the what really happens to the rest of the family and the patriarch Harry? So confusing...you read one thing, then are told another in the last chapter. So disappointing in the end. I had such a hard time caring for these people until the end, then there was no closure for almost all of them. Wish I hadn't bothered...

I loved Cherise Wolas' first novel, THE RESURRECTION OF JOAN ASHBY, but this novel, on many levels, is even better! It is more accessible and more expansive. Joan Ashby is focused a single woman who must rebuild her life and find her identity, while this novel takes the reader into the arms of a family which must also point towards revising their identities. I am now re-reading it for the second time since I don't want to miss a single beautifully written word.

This is the story of a family in crisis, at the moment when the patriarch is being honored as the man of the decade in his posh community for all the good works he has done.

Wolas presents not only the cataclysmic secret which propels the novel, but also the turmoil in each of the lives surrounding Harry Tabor. It is done so well that the reader knows all of Harry's children and understands the multiplicity of pain that surrounds what appears to be the perfect, glowing family group. No, nothing is as it seems. There is a strong element of the Tabors' ignored Jewish identity and the novel brings the reader into their tribal history.

No, the Family Tabor is not what it seems on this night of nights and they must achieve a total rebalance after the disaster that is this crowning night.

Wolas takes us back to the family histories which propel the characters, written in a style that is absolutely spellbinding. Few writers can present such richness in a single novel, yet not overwhelm the reader.

I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel and to give praise to one of our finest writers, Cherise Wolas. I know that all my book clubs will love reading this novel and will spend hours discussing it.

Very descriptive and detail oriented. A father poised to accept a big award, his psychologist wife who seems to analyze everything, their children who are grown and each have their own issues. Secrets from the past will break this family wide open and make them see beyond the lies.

Some books feel too heavy. This was one of them. Where you can't see the story for all the muck hiding it.
Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Thank you, Net Galley, for allowing me to read and review this book. The family Tabor was okay.
The head of the family is receiving the man of the year award. His family all come together to celebrate.
They bring secrets and all sorts of back stories. I am not sure if there was much a story here. The writing was good, and I was able to keep all the characters straight.

I would say this was a nice read. I may have not been the right audience for this type of book.

The Tabors are converging on the family home in Palm Springs to celebrate patriarch Harry's Man of the Decade award. There's much introspection going on by each family member. Harry, who is of a mind to think of his life in titan and lionized terms. All three Tabor children bring secrets with them and matriarch Roma, intends to get some of her questions answered. But much like real life, the biggest secret and turn of events is the one no one saw coming and all are unprepared for. Harry Tabor has a secret too.

I was very interested in Roma's patient, Noelani as it gave insight often to how Roma's mind worked in times of calm and crisis. This is also true of Roma's recollections of her grandmother Tatiana that were so strong in adding to the patina of who Roma was and how she rooted herself in the world. There was sadness, sageness and strength tied together with love in those parts and I loved that. I dare say, I found Roma more interesting than Harry. Sorry Harry.

I very much enjoyed Phoebe and Camille. I felt for Phoebe and the loneliness she felt the need to lie about to cover up. Her unspoken dissatisfaction with her life was a bit heartbreaking and made me think about those who are single but not because they want to be. Camille's struggle with finding her next steps in her career and personal life were very well done, including the depression she fell into and the hospice work that wound up helping her. I can't dislike a woman who hearkens back to Malinowski during her daily thought processes. Also, one of my favorite passages in the book is an observation she makes of a group of women at the gala honoring her father (The Fluttering Women). It leads her to a research topic that was compelling and given the end of the story, I felt that it'd be even more important to her. I found Simon's story the least compelling of all the Tabors and the most cliche, which is unfortunate because it seemed to be rendered as more important and deeply sincere.

I was disappointed that there's no detailed recounting of what Harry did all those years ago for which atonement was being sought. There are some cursory explanations but no real answer to the central transgression that propelled this whole thing along, felt like a cheat. I could have used an Epilogue after Simon and Max have that beautiful moment at the very end. Like seriously, can I get Owen Kauffman's article or the details from Max?

There's very good and evocative prose here and I found myself highlighting some of those I wish most to remember (alas, I read an ARC, I can't quote them here). The Tabors were a relatable family and I was glad to have got to know them a bit. I must admit that a fair bit of the sibling angst in the beginning played as tedious to me but I am an only so I take that as a lack of what I'm bringing to my reading and not a failing in the work. Later on, that abates and what really shone through is that all the Tabors love each other and will go to decent length to spare one another knowledge that will be painful. That of course, has good and bad consequences. Themes of ideas of success, elements of luck, redemption, atonement and more all play out here.

This was a quick read for me and I'd definitely recommend it. I think it'll make a great book club pick.At the end of there's a mention of a Book Club Guide and I was even interested in that (I didn't find it on the website mentioned but we are several months out from publication).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

The Tabor family appears to have it all, at least on the surface. Harry Tabor, a man who has helped many immigrants settle into life in California, his wife, Rona, a psychologist and their two daughters, an attorney and an anthropologist, respectively, are attending a party where Harry is to be named Man of the Decade. But as in most family’s there are cracks in the perfect veneer. All of them are living with secrets, none more so than the man of the decade. The secrets don’t really seem that big to me, so this isn’t so much a suspense story as it is a story about family dynamics

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE FAMILY TABOR by Cherise Wolas in exchange for my honest review.***

1.5 STARS

Harry Tabor is about to receive a Man of the Decade award with his wife and three adult children in attendance. Each is harboring secrets.

I wish I had more positive comments about Cherise Wolas’s latest novel. I’m not a fan of literary fiction with more backstory than story. THE FAMILY TABOR is probably a better book than my enjoyment of it. The characters and plot had intricate details often going back generations. Harry’s wife Roma and her work as a child psychologist interested me more than the story.

None of the secrets felt original and not much happened until about 60% into the story, which held interest until the disappointing ending.

Readers of literary fiction and those interested in stories with Jewish characters will enjoy THE FAMILY TABOR more than me.