This was my first book by Bell Clegg. He weaves an intricate story, weaving through six decades of history, all told within the events in one day. Family and friends all facing memories of betrayal, disappointments, heartbreak, secrets and lies. Five different people, from different walks of life, yet somehow they were all connected. Through the flashbacks we come to see how they're all connected: their lives and their stories.

The story follows 3 friends: Dana, Jackie and Lupia that have been estranged for 50 years, as well as Hap, a new father, coming to terms with his father's medical diagnosis.

I had a hard time keeping up with the various characters and their stories, past and present. Situations dragged on and I found that I wasn't invested in the characters as much as I had wanted to be.

Overall, it was well written, with many insights into the relationships we have in our lives however, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I like Bill Clegg’s writing style. I like that he uses multiple point of view characters. I like that his narratives go back and forth in time. I don’t need everything tied up neatly in a happy ending. I was really looking forward to reading “The End of the Day”, but I was ultimately disappointed.
This story hinges on secrets that have been kept for almost fifty years. There is a mysterious suitcase that holds all of the answers, or so we are led to believe. The first third of the book had me captivated with suspense. I love stories that build characters and backstory slowly, pull me in, so that I feel invested in the outcome. The back story in this novel didn’t mesh – instead there were long dumps of information summarizing years at a time, some of which was integral to the plot. As a result, the story felt less intimate.
When we do find out what’s inside the suitcase, much of it is confusing and needlessly complicated. There are multiple things happening at once, and I wasn’t always sure what one had to do with the other. I also didn’t entirely believe the motives of the characters – their reactions to these long past events didn’t ring true.
At the end of the day (wink), “The End of the Day” didn’t really work for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book hooked me in quickly, however, I just felt that it didn't go deep enough. I kept reading, hoping for more and for the story to push from good to great. Put simply, I liked it, but I didn't love it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

An interweaving of characters and stories, this is an interesting look at different people and how their paths cross through life. Sensitively written.

Like many people, I was first introduced to Bill Clegg with his wonderful debut novel Did You Ever Have a Family (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2016/07/review-of-did-you-ever-have-family-by.html), so I was anxious to read his second work of fiction.

Three women are the focus of the novel. There’s Dana who sets out to visit her childhood friend Jackie; after almost 50 years of estrangement, she wants to tell Jackie some truth about the past. Jackie, however, is bitter and resentful and wants nothing to do with Dana. The third woman is Lupita who grew up in the shadow of Dana and Jackie’s friendship because her family once worked for Dana’s parents; now living in Hawaii, Lupita receives a phone call that brings back difficult memories. The revelation of long-held secrets threatens to upend all their lives.

Various chapters repeatedly give the perspective of these three women, but other characters are also given some chapters. There’s Hap, a new father who should be spending time with his newborn daughter but is sitting beside his estranged father’s hospital bed. Alice, Hap’s mother, and Floyd, Jackie’s husband, appear as well. The lives of all six people prove to be intimately connected in surprising ways.

The duration of the novel is one day, but via flashbacks it covers 60 years. Some readers will probably not like the multiple points of view and the movement between different locations in the present and various times in the past, but this technique develops characters and creates suspense because information about a crucial event in the past is revealed very slowly.

Characterization is definitely a strong element. The internal lives of the characters are detailed; we learn their secrets, lies, desires, and resentments. Readers come to understand motivations for behaviour though they may not always agree with a character’s choices. Many of the characters are not likeable. Dana, for instance, is the spoiled rich girl who is accustomed to getting her way and does not hesitate to manipulate others. Jackie is correctly described as suffering from “titanium stubbornness and deep-rooted pride.” Hap is “relentlessly uncurious and absent of imagination” so the “great claw of regret . . . [holds] him without mercy.”

The book explores how decisions can have major impacts on the person making the decision and on others as well. A person can do what s/he believes is right without realizing the long-term repercussions. A youthful escapade may result in unforeseen trauma. Certainly Dana’s manipulations have unintended consequences for herself and for many people.

The novel also examines the concept of truth. One woman believes she knows the truth about an event that occurred 49 years earlier, but there are clear hints that she may not. There are, in fact, several characters who see something and make incorrect assumptions. Everyone has “bits and pieces of the story, but not the truth.” One woman knows what actually happened half a century earlier, but her knowledge of the full impact of her subsequent choices is lacking. There are many misunderstandings because people choose not to tell the truth and because people refuse to listen to the truth. But of course the truth can be dangerous. One person’s death, for example, brings “unexpected relief. Everyone was finally safe from the truth.” Certainly, there are times when unburying the truth will serve little purpose; one woman admits she would like to speak her truth but “to try would upend too much.”

Is it necessary or possible to know the truth? Hap acquires some surprising information but realizes that he can never know the full truth: “So much discovered in so few days, yet he’s never felt so acutely aware of his ignorance. The mural had come down, but only to reveal another less complete, but more complicated one; one that would surely fall, too, and be discredited or trivialized by the one that came after. And on and on. Life appeared no more than a long, bleak unraveling, a stripping away of layers, like the skins of an onion, one by one, peeled back to expose what? The truth?” At the end of the day, people may have to accept not knowing the truth.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy thought-provoking, character-driven literary fiction written in exquisite prose.

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley. This book will be released tomorrow, September 29, 2020.

2.5⭐️s

Thank you to Netgalley, Bill Clegg, and Simon and Schuster Canada for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is my first book by Bill Clegg and he has a great writing style. The flow of this story was good, it made sense, and it was well written.

Having said that, this book was just okay for me. It wasn’t bad, it didn’t suck me in, and I liked the characters well enough. I wasn’t super drawn to them, I didn’t find myself dying to pick this up in order to see what was going to happen next. Truthfully I was a little bit bored and underwhelmed. Sure there were some funny parts, I just don’t think it was really for me.

If you enjoy fiction stories that cross over many different characters (done really well, not confusing as to who you are with as I’ve found in some other books), and just reading about past and present of the characters regular everyday lives give it a shot.

Trigger warnings: adoption, sexual assault

This is my first Bill Clegg book. Thank you to Netgalley and SimonSchusterCanada for my review copy.

Right away, the cover grabbed me. It seems both magical and uplifting. However, that's not how I'd describe the book. THE END OF THE DAY is a deeply moving and emotional read about friendships. The connections. The complications. The longing. Breaking points. Forgiveness.

The story stretches over New York, Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Mexico and Kauai. The time line spans across six decades. The chapters are written from a many POVs. (Depending on what you prefer this could be a plus or minus for you.) Mostly the story focuses on 3 very different woman who become deeply bruised at some point. At times the story lagged for me. However, Clegg's writing is beautiful and I will seek for other books by this author.

Delighted to include Bill Clegg's novel in the Zoomer magazine Books section, Read & Recommended for September.

The End of the Day tells the story of three women. Jackie, a widow, who remains in the hometown in which she grew up in. She is surprised one day to see her childhood best friend, Dana, who has just returned to her family home after a forty-nine year absence. Lupita, our other main character, is a woman living in Kauai, settling on the island after fleeing her life on the mainland many years ago. We are also introduced to Hap, a new father whose own estranged father has come to town to meet the new addition to the family. Unfortunately Hap’s father collapses and is hospitalized before the visit even begins.

The book is told from both the past and the present and comes together with the eventual merging of the three women’s stories and how they relate to Hap. Impressively, sixty years of history are captured in the course of a single day. Where the book excels is in the beauty of the author’s words. This is especially true in his account of the similarities and differences experienced by characters within socio-economic classes over the course of multiple decades. The author delineates with compassion how decisions made by characters not only impacted themselves, but others . Having said that, I did not feel a real connection to the characters or what happened to them - an element critical to my enjoyment of any book. Moreover, I felt a large part of their stories were simply omitted and I closed the book wanting more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the ARC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

The End of The Day is not a plot driven novel and is one that did not engage me as a reader. As such, I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story and having a hard time remembering what was going on. The constant change in time periods was very confusing and could become frustrating trying to understand when the story is taking place.

Several of the characters were mere caricatures and never fully developed. Each of the characters were lacking in their own unique voice, and they all just kind of melded together and felt like versions of the same person. Don't even get me started on the character that uses the term "traffic-stopping breasts."

It was a shame to go through this novel feeling slightly bored at times because I couldn’t get over the feeling that I wasn’t truly connecting to anything while reading this.

This book is full of emotion with absolutely amazing characters. With various narrators I was able to get several views on each situation. It really shows us how we perceive something and can be completely wrong about what has occurred. I felt that this book is much closer to reality than other books I have read because everything isn’t all tied up in a nice neat package when it is over. Just like life, there are things left unknown and unsaid. The book had me from the very beginning and I like the setting of the book, where’ the majority of things took place. Just your average small town. There were so many emotional points in this book where I could feel my heart breaking for one of the female characters. It is a great story showing us a glimpse of how life is and how quickly we could change things if we spoke up and told people what had really happened instead of bottling it up and letting it destroy our lives. A truly deep and wonderful book. I thank Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

There are secrets that have been buried for decades. Friendships that have been broken over these secrets. Now Dana Goss is in her 60's and thinks the air should be cleared but maybe things should be left unsaid. Maybe no one wants to hear the truth anymore.

Dana has grown up incredibly rich. She lives in the big house with Mexican immigrants taking care of the families every whim. Dana is used to people agreeing with her. If she says a horse is a girl named Cindy then most don't argue. But Jackie, the girl next door, will let her know that horse is clearly a boy.

Although Jackie doesn't come close to the same financial status as Dana's family, her honesty binds the girls in an inseparable friendship. When Jackie is close to getting the man of her dreams But can a friendship withstand someone like Dana who knows no boundaries?

Hap is a proud new father. Hap has been raised by his single mother. His father swoops in from his job in journalism full of stories and excitement. Now he hasn't seen his father in years but he's in town and wants to meet his new granddaughter and connect with his son.

The End of the Day is full of good people that each made decisions that they question as years go on. How would things have been different if they'd chosen the other fork in the road but at the end of the day they've got to live with the choices they've made.

Bill Clegg is also the author of Did You Ever Have a Family which I reviewed previously on my blog. I really enjoyed both Clegg's books and look forward to reading more from him.

I requested this book because I enjoyed Clegg's previous book and was looking forward to another twisty, family drama.
And while this delivered on the twists - so many secrets/misunderstandings not cleared up/outright deceptions partaken in - the narrative fell apart at the conclusion.
Clegg's writing remains excellent, I enjoyed my time with all of our POV characters whether "good" people or not and read through pretty quickly to see what would unfold next. However, the lack of definitive conclusion made all the information gathering the reader does feel like it is all for nought.
I look forward to his next book, even though this one was a bit of a miss for me.
Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley for providing me with an arc for review.

The End of the Day is a rich and emotionally novel filled with intriguing characters. I love how Bill Clegg took the time to explore the stories and inner thoughts of each character involved. I was really drawn into each and every one of their stories. However, there were quite a lot of characters and with the chapters going back and forth in time, it made me want to draw a diagram just to keep track of everything. The stories of each character were so cleverly woven together and every chapter ends with a cliffhanger that compelled me to continue reading until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.