I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Hieroglyphics is an emotional read. It's characters are experiencing loss and what they think they know of their parents. Well written and incredibly real in it's dialog and character interactions.

Recommended reading.
4 out of 5 stars.

After reading the description of this book, I couldn’t wait to read it! Unfortunately, the book left something to be desired. The book centers around a retired couple, who are both looking back on what they didn’t know about their parents, and looking forward to what they want their children to know about them after they are gone. The book was slow, and I had a hard time getting into it.

Hieroglyphics is an emotional, powerful and moving story about ordinary people who are trying to make sense of life. It centers on retirees named Lil and Frank who are moving from Boston to North Carolina where their daughter, Shelley, and grandson, Harvey, live. Unfortunately Harvey is troubled and Shelley must work full-time. Told in multiple points of view, in a non-linear way. The story unfolds in much the way our own memories do... in snippets. It is deeply personal, intimate and immersive. I enjoyed it very much.

This was a tough read for me. I listened partially to the audio, but I believe it’s one that needs to be physically read to fully digest.

Hieroglyphics journeys through four main characters: Frank and Lil, husband and wife, and Shelley and Harvey, mother and son. Frank and Lil are retired and are on their own ways to finish their life stories. Lil uncovers some secrets while trying to develop a history for her children, secrets Frank may have wanted to stay hidden. Frank connects with Shelley, as she lives in his childhood home. His multiple visits trigger some painful memories for Shelley, ones she also didn’t want to remember. This story brings up the rough connections some family histories have and how younger generations use the information. It also covers the loss and grief that accompanies some memories, especially ones that can cut a family to its core.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars out of 5. I cried at the end..I felt so sad for Shelley and her kids. My only issue was the frequent POV changes, as it was hard for me to keep track of certain stories.

Thank you to @algonquinbooks and @jill.mccorkle for a gifted copy of this novel!

The story of Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle is like a memory. It entices and draws in with a glimmer here and a shape there only to slip away into the unknown. The idea of the book is very real and very much a part of every person's experience. That being said, as a story, the book is challenging to read because the struggles are individual and do not really come together. The idea is unifying; the fiction is not.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2021/05/heiroglyphics.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and a publisher’s blog tour.

Hieroglyphics, first published in July 2020, has a colorful, new cover! Thanks to @algonquinbooks for inviting me to be a part of the tour for this lovely book.

Jill McCorkle's novel is about communicating (or not) with your spouse, your children, your parents, your ghosts...

There's an old expression, "right in the kisser," and that's where Hieroglyphics got me. Despite the fact that I am not a parent and I'm not married, I can somehow relate to the worries and regrets of elderly married couple Lil and Frank and anxious single mother Shelley and her young, equally anxious son Harvey. The story alternates smoothly between the viewpoints of these four characters as it delves into themes of memory, loss, grief and love.

Lil and Frank both lost a parent when they were children. Now married for decades and entering retirement, Lil writes notes to remind her children of their heritage.
Meanwhile, Frank becomes obsessed with his childhood home. But single mother Shelley is not interested in giving this man access to her house where she's trying to raise two sons and survive her own trauma.
Throughout the novel, author Jill McCorkle weaves images or hieroglyphics into the life experiences and expressions of her characters. The book shows how signs offer insight into a person's life, hopes, dreams, traumas, wounds, and goals.
I kept looking for a connection between the storylines, but that never happened. This book is quite disjointed and unsatisfying.
The book opens up childhood trauma and wounds, too, that can be triggering to readers. But it also shares the importance of therapy and inner work to find healing.

“We are all haunted by something—something we did or didn’t do—and the passing years either add to the weight or diminish it.”

HIEROGLYPHICS is a deeply introspective, slow-moving novel about family history, memories, and the unknown, innermost parts of the people we love. Lil and Frank bonded over both losing a parent when they were children. years later, Lil is afraid of forgetting and is desperate to give her children memories and bits of herself that she never knew about her own mother. Frank has lived his entire life deeply rooted in grief and becomes obsessed with stepping foot into his childhood home, a house now occupied by Shelly and Harvey, who are each piecing together their own painful family history and memories. the book has some beautiful passages and the writing on the complex nature of emotions and memories was good. I found the story to be a bit disjointed and struggled to see how it all connected. if you like a character-driven novel with multiple POVs, this may be one for you! now out in paperback!

I've never read a book by this author and it turns out she's written many! I may have to check out some others of hers.
I am one of those people who loves looking through old photos and letters from people of previous generations, and then just wondering what their lives were like.
More thoughts to come.

After retiring to North Carolina, Lil is determined to leave letters, diaries, and notes to her and her husband Frank's children. While Lil is determined to do that, Frank is determined to find what has been left behind his childhood home which is now owned by Shelley and her son. These visits from Frank trigger memories from Shelley's own past with her family, ones that she doesn't want to surface.

I gave Hieroglyphics 3.5 stars, enjoying the way this story was told and the emotions of family that ran through each word. I enjoyed the story behind Lil's determination to leave her memory for her children and the future generations of her family.

I found that throughout the book, I just wasn't as invested as I was. I think that it tells the story of family so well and I really did enjoy that aspect, however, there were some parts that were kind of stalling a little bit. I felt that I was reading some parts that just seemed to drag on a little too long. However as a story, I think Hieroglyphics was really nice.

I liked reading about the relationship of the family as well as how Shelly came into the picture. I think that the representation of a not so perfect family is really important and Hieroglyphics really showed that not all families have to be perfect. I think that the development of each relationship, Lil writing the letters, Frank wanting to go back into his childhood home and search, and Shelley with her family and her past. Each of them had so much depth within the stories and that was really something that was written well.

Thank you again to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing me with and ARC of Hieroglyphics in exchange for an honest review.

Hieroglyphics is the story of four people, bound together by their pain and what they do not share. In this book, Jill McCorkle has spun an intricate and slow-moving tapestry of secrecy, trauma, love, and growth. Her gift for rich description and deft character development is fully on display in this moving portrait of life, love, and loss.

Hieroglyphics
By Jill McCorkle

Jill McCorkle writes a captivating story that is powerful, emotional and deeply moving, about ordinary people trying to make sense of their life, the stories that shape them, and what they leave as legacy to their children.

The story is centered on Lil and Frank, both retirees from Boston moving to North Carolina to be closer to their daughter, and Shelley a court reporter and her troubled son Harvey. The story is told in their POVs and just like our memories and personal stories, they are remembered sporadically and non linear. I thought this was really creative way of storytelling that is immersive and sentimental.

McCorkle is a brilliant writer and storyteller. I enjoyed this fantastic read.

Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle is a highly introspective story that blends the POVs of four characters. Frank and Lil are a married couple in their 80s who share the pain of losing a parent at a young age and are reminiscing on their lives. Frank fixates on visiting his childhood home where single mom Shelly and her son Harvey currently live.

The writing takes you deep into each character’s mind, all of them grappling with grief, mortality, and the bonds of family. It’s a unique style that bounces through time using real-time narrative, flashbacks, letters, and diary entries.

I really enjoyed how this style showed the nuances of two characters’ view of one event. The author also conveyed bruising and gut wrenching emotions very well. Warning: a few of the flashbacks depict violent, tragic deaths.

I very much struggled with the pace and disjointed flow. Typically I enjoy a slow burn and love multiple POVs, but I grew impatient with some of the detailed, scattered vignettes. I would have preferred a more cohesive narrative. I applaud the creative approach, but unfortunately these factors negatively impacted the reading experience for me.

Jumbled And Disjointed, Yet Somehow Works. This is one of those books that arguably *shouldn't* work, given how truly disjointed it is with its time period and character jumps, and yet as more of a meditation/ reflective work on life and death, it really does actually work. As we work through the various streams of consciousness of Fred, Lil, Shelley, and Harvey, we see each of their lives through their own eyes as they struggle with past, present, life, and death. We see the traumas large and small, the regrets and the victories, the confusions and the joys. Admittedly, the particular writing style will be hard to follow for some, and even I found it quite jarring despite my own abilities to largely go with any flow of a book. But in the end it really does work to tell a cohesive yet complex story, and really that is all anyone can ultimately ask of a fiction tale. Thus, there is nothing of the quasi-objective nature that I try to maintain to hang any star reduction on, even as many readers may struggle with this tale. And thus, it is very much recommended.

Shelley is trying to raise her son on her own but life is not easy for a single mom with a young son. On top of that her work as a stenographer can be difficult as she has to hear so many awful stories. Now her life has gotten a bit more complicated when a man who claims he lived in her house many years ago would just like to come in and reminisce.

Frank and Lil are a couple who married young. Their lives have gone through ups and downs like everyone else’s but they have moved back to their old hometown and memories keep surfacing. The narrative is hard to follow in this story because we jump points of view, there are flashbacks to different time frames and while I have really enjoyed McCorkle’s books in the past this one was hard to follow.

This book is a very emotional book, from different POV’s and each of them have a story to tell that will tug at your heart. Frank and Lil have been married for years but Lil admits in one of her letters that she has left behind for her children that they bonded over tragedy, they both lost someone who was very close to them at a young age. Then we meet Shelley and her sone Harvey and Jason. I wondered how she fit into this book, but I guess its because she’s a single mother trying to be a great mother, but struggling? I don’t know I found her to be confusing to have in the book.

In the whole book the one character that I adored to the fullest and is thee reason why I decided to even continue with the book is Harvey. He is Shelley’s youngest son, and he has the wildest imagination, I love it, and also watching or even talking about true crime is a no no for young kids for sure. He was so funny, but he will get in trouble in school for saying the wildest things, he made me laugh so much.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Hieroglyphics follow Lil and Frank who married young and throw decades. This is a book about loss, growing, family. Jill McCorkle writing is simple, it's not over the top, but it makes you think. It's also about memories, thinking about them and how they change over time; what memory is like depending on your age. I like how the characters are dealing and handly how the past affects the present. The read was slow for me, but I like the message it stands for. This is was a solid book, I wasn't dying to know what was going to happen, it was just a calm read for me.

Hieroglyphics is a story like nothing I have ever read before. A story told mostly in the past through letters and notes. This is told in multiple POVs. I loved how McCorkle told this story it really brought the characters to life and I loved reading about each of them However, I had trouble connecting it all together at the end to see the point of it all. It didn't feel complete to me. I did enjoy the story and would recommend this to someone who enjoys a character driven story.

There are so many things that I enjoyed about this book. Lil and Frank have had the same tragic event happen to them when they are younger and the book is told through a lot of memories. The way it was written reminded me a little bit of Daisy Jones and the Six (the format, not the story). Its a story about memories and looking back on your life. My heart broke for Lil and Frank and everything they were searching for.

This is not a light hearted fun book. Its deep. I would however suggest this for a book club read as I think it would generate a great discussion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the arc.

Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2020/09/hieroglyphics.html

Hieroglyphics are ancient Egyptian writings composed of pictures. One reads through the pictures to try to understand the message. The hieroglyphics in the book by the same name by Jill McCorkle are the attempts to piece together the message of the lives of four people, Lil and Frank, an elderly couple, Shelly, a single mother working as a court stenographer, and her young son Harvey, who is sure there is a ghost in their house.

Each chapter continues the story of one of the characters, each of whom have suffered from great loss in their lives. Each is in a constant struggle to create a life for himself/herself despite that loss. Lil and Frank have moved from Boston to the North Carolina community where their daughter lives, and where Frank grew up. Lil is trying to put together a journal for her children as a way of explaining how her life happened, how she and Frank forged a life together, and how she wants to find peace before she dies. Frank, on the other hand, becomes obsessed with the house where he grew up and the root cellar where he stored his treasures. Shelly and Harvey now live in that house; Shelly refuses to let Frank come into the house, and Harvey worries that Frank may be one of the ghosts that has been haunting him.

The review in the New York Journal of Books has an stunning conclusion to its analysis of the book: “McCorkle is an insightful, skillful writer and these characters have led complex lives. She takes her time and lets them unpack their baggage slowly, a piece at a time. So when McCorkle suddenly speeds to and through the finish, with Jason—our least known character—making and revealing a major discovery, along with Lil’s revelations and what some may consider the quick end of the novel, is McCorkle suggesting that this is what happens with our lives? We think we’ll have time to make decisions, to work something out, but then, surprise! it’s over and we’re gone. We can go back and reread McCorkle’s ending, of course. No such privilege with our own.”

I am shocked that I had such a difficult time getting through Hieroglyphics. I identified completely with Lil and Frank, in part because of their age, and also because of the grief they carried. The concluding thought tore me through to the quick. “We think we’ll have time to make decisions, to work something out, but then, surprise! It’s over and we’re gone.” I think that I identified too closely with the theme. I found myself underlining passage after passage—brilliantly conceived and written by McCorkle. Her insights into the aging couple, the secretive and flawed Shelly, and scared little Harvey enmesh the reader completely into the lives of these characters. Here are a couple of passages that I found particularly moving.

“And now Frank does see. He understands how memories of what was good can be so painful you might choose not to look.”

Lil: “Sometimes I feel like my life is all laid out before me; dots connecting, patterns shaped and designed, words naming and classifying me.”

I grew nostalgic as I read Hieroglyphics. I realized that I have always been an extremely forward looking person, always trying to move ahead. Even when my husband died leaving me with 3 children, I moved us forward. I never dwelt on my grief—and perhaps unfortunately, never dwelt on my children’s grief. I said to my 40-something son yesterday that perhaps we should revisit Daddy, and share some memories of that time in our lives. The incredible thing about Hieroglyphics is that it put me in touch with my own pain and longing.
Thank you Jill McCorkle with giving a moment with myself that caused me to reflect on my life’s path.