There is a LOT that happens in this short and quiet novel. The seven Shaw siblings endure their mother's death as children and multiple tragedies throughout their adults lives but the theme running throughout the book is that they remained a close family no matter what happened to them. They go through periods of closeness with different siblings, and at times some of them do not get along well with some others of them, but ultimately this is a story about a family that sticks together through it all. I liked the book but felt the description was misleading because this really is more like a novel in stories rather than just a novel. It is a short story collection that together makes up the story of this family and their experiences. I had a difficult time with the non linear aspect of the book, and I wished to get to know some of the characters more, but other than those elements I did think the book was very good. I like Kauffman's writing style and will look into her backlist.

This well crafted novel moves back and forth in time and between members of the Shaw family to tell their stories. The death of their mother impacted each of the seven siblings and their father differently- and they all view events in their lives with different eyes. Know that the last cast can make this a bit confusing at times for a reader trying to remember who's who and where they fit in the continuum but you will see the beating center of the story. There are secrets and lies and things unsaid. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. It's hard to describe but an excellent read.

Family sagas are usually long and presented chronologically and they often rely heavily on the families' stories. In Chorus, Rebecca Kauffman has taken a much different approach, one that results in a beautifully written unforgettable novel that focuses on the lasting impacts of their mother's death on their father and on each of the family's seven children. From the moment the two oldest children find their mother's body, the family is divided about whether her death was accidental or by suicide. By probing each of the survivors' characters, Kauffman offers us their stories, not told in excruciating detail but rather through the subsequent events that shaped their lives. Chorus shows us the meaning of love - love for a spouse despite her struggles against depression and sibling love, as the siblings pair up to form special bonds. Secrets abound and no one escapes struggles and challenges. In the end, Kauffman tells us that Wendy, the oldest sibling, "knew life was not fair. Life just came at you, and kept coming. That was all there was to it. Anything beyond that, anything like hope, was just a guess." I strongly recommend this gorgeous novel.

I am LOVING these family dramas lately! While there are lots of Shaw children, I did not find myself getting confused, which is a testament to Kauffman's skills. The writing does a great job of getting deep into each person so the reader can really gain an understanding of how they react to both their mother's death and their sister's pregnancy/marriage.

My only issue is the jumping back and forth time-wise. If I wasn't actively keeping track, I found myself seeking it out due to confusion.

I love Rebecca Kauffman's previous works. The premise of this book sounded really good, as I love a good family story. However, I was confused by the non -linear timeline. It is such a short book that it left me confused as to why. Also the enormous amount of characters in so few pages was extremely hard to keep track of.

I talked to my 93 year old grandma the other day. I don’t call her as much as I should, especially now that she’s living on her own, since my grandpa died almost a year and a half ago. She and I were chatting about getting older and she mentioned that she still had an older sister who was living and about to turn 102. I was surprised because I didn’t realize that she still had a sibling that was that old and I didn’t know must about her family. I knew the basics but most of my family history is from my grandpa’s side. Family reunions and family lore is heavy on that branch of the tree.

Hearing her talk about her sister, as well as her two younger siblings reminded me of the Shaw siblings from Rebecca Kauffman’s Chorus. Reading every one of these stories, seeing how each siblings life was shaped by their mother’s death. Each of these stories have the same sort of theme—love, home, heartbreak. Everything is connected.

The jumping around, back and forth in the years was a nice touch. In fact, I quite liked it. It helped move the story along in a nice way, dragging out some of the “key element” of the “event” until the last quarter of the book. The chapters with Lane, Wendy and Jack were some of my favorites, but honestly this entire book was wonderful.

The stories themselves are so tightly written and just delicious little morsels of perfection. It’s been a LONG time since I read something that grabbed me the way that Rebecca Kauffman’s writing has, maybe the first time I picked up a book by Alice Munro? I just know that I have already ordered her other work and I’m anxiously waiting for it to arrive.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance of its release.

A saga focused on a Virginian family of seven siblings, we see the effects of their mother’s death on their lives through each of their narratives in this story. While some thrived, others didn’t and each held their own perception of this loss. This is a story about relationships within a family between brothers and sisters and roles that they take. It is about the concept of home and how it is deeply embedded and always draws you back. However, while engaging and character driven, there seemed to be too many stories being told and thus not so in depth to really get to know and understand each character. Just when you became interested in the course that a character’s life was taking, the narration would change. Told in a back and forth fashion throughout different time periods, the author thinks to give the reader a background on each sibling as well as a revisit to the past for the parents so that it may enable us to see how the family dynamics play out, but it gets confusing at times. Hang in there, though as it’s worth the read. The focus of the undeniable bond of family, love, and the presence of home is hopeful.

Many thanks to #netgalley #chorus #rebeccakauffman for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Chorus is a book about the intricacies of family relationships. It is about how each individual family member, when touched by the same events and conditions, handles and reacts so differently.
The seven siblings in the story all share in the same tragic event of their mother's death. We see how each family member coped with the event and the lasting impact it had on their future life.
This story began during the depression era and we follow the family through the years into the 1960s. The chapters are told from the individual Shaw Children's own unique perspectives, also that of the father. We get to see how one event can look and feel so differently from one family member to the other. This is a highly observant look at familial relationships, choices made, decisions made, secrets told and kept, and the individuality of each family member. Although they all came from the same place, shared the same experiences growing up, each approached, handled and was affected in their won unique, separate, individual ways.
This is a sad story, that does not really have a fairy tale ending, it shows a family with all their flaws and imperfections open for all to see. It does have a real life ending, one that any one of us can relate to I am sure. Uniquely insightful, I believe this novel is sure to become one of the top literary reads of 2022!
Thank you to Catapult, Counterpoint Press and Soft Skull Press and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

A sweet, light, and understated historical family drama. I liked the farmhouse setting, and I absolutely loved how the way many of the characters ended up back together. I anticipated more conflict from the premise in the marketing, which was that this is a story of a group of seven siblings working through the trauma of their mentally ill mother's suicide while they were growing up. It wasn't really that -- there was a little sadness about the mother, but there were too many siblings to really dive deep into any one of their psyches. On the other hand, this made the book an easier, happier read, which is what a lot of the readers I talk to are looking for. So this book will be very recommendable. Thank you so much!

A sweeping, well written saga that follows the Shaw family after the death of their mother. You will enjoy every word

I read this one in just a few sittings. I loved reading about the Shaw family, but I wish the story was just a bit longer - the narrative felt a little too meandering for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

CHORUS by Rebecca Kauffman is a very well-written, surprising novel about family, love and loss. CHORUS follows eight members of the Shaw family, spanning decades and exploring their connections and relationships. I appreciated the complexity of all the characters - no one was overly simple or one-dimensional - and their genuine interactions and ups and downs as a family. In all, I loved Kauffman's writing and character development, and will certainly watch out for whatever she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for my honest review.

Told through the eyes of eight members of the Shaw family and spread from the 1930's to the 1960's, this very unique novel investigates the effect of one tragedy that echoes through each person's life for decades and changes who they are in unexpected ways.

Rebecca Kauffman's "Chorus" displays her expertise with writing about messy complex relationships of friends and family after her fantastic book "The Gunners" that I really enjoyed. In her newest offering, we learn about the Shaw family, a large family of seven children who live on a working farm that skips back and forth in time with multiple sibling narrators conveying their memories of childhood and young adulthood. A consequential event of their youth was the death of their mother after a long bout of severe depression, with each child dealing and interpreting that different. Other important events include World War II and the Great Depression. The push and pull of the childhood home is strong. Each Shaw child is fleshed out pretty well and the reader gets insight into the mother's childhood and the father's relationship to both his wife and his children. It is all very affecting and one understands the ups and downs in the relationship between siblings.

Thanks to Counterpoint Press via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

I'm starting to think her books are for me. I always feel like I am held at arm's length with her characters and this was no exception. I wanted to know more about the Shaws. They have depth and a backstory but they still always felt far away to me. It's hard to articulate it. Lots of details and interesting interpersonal stuff but no connection. It's always weirdly empty with her. Like she's writing about people after studying them instead of actually knowing humans.

A decent read if not intend with a lot of sadness. A family is shattered with the sudden death of their mother and grapples with all of the consequences that follow. I did find the narrative a little slow at time and my interest waned and dipped toward the middle. It’s an interesting read of family dynamics amidst a tragedy.

4 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

Rebecca Kaufman has written a beautiful novel of family.We watch the siblings of the Shaw family over a span of decades.A close family who due to events that effect the family move apart but as years go by I was fascinated by their different lives and their connections to each other.I was drawn right into their lives another brilliant novel by this author.#netgalley #catapultbooks.

Chorus
by Rebecca Kauffman

Expected Publication Date: 01 Mar 2022

Synopsis:
"The seven Shaw siblings have long been haunted by two early and profoundly consequential events. Told in turn back and forth over time, from the early 20th century through the 1950s, each sibling relays their own version of the memories that surround both their mother's mysterious death and the circumstances leading up to and beyond one sister's scandalous teenage pregnancy. As they move into adulthood, the siblings assume various new roles: caretaker to their aging father, addict, enabler, academic, decorated veteran, widow, and mothers and fathers to the next generation.

Entangled in a family knot, each sibling encounters divorce, drama, and death, while haunted by a mother who was never truly there. Through this lens, they all seek not only to understand how her death shaped their family, but also to illuminate the insoluble nature of the many familial experiences we all encounter—the concept of home, the tenacity that is a family’s love, and the unexpected ways through which healing can occur.

Chorus is a hopeful story of family, of loss and recovery, of complicated relationships forged between brothers and sisters as they move through life together, and of the unlikely forces that first drive them away and then ultimately back home."

Review:
This is the heartbreaking as well as heartwarming story of the seven Shaw children told over a span of 30-40 years. The siblings, as well as their parents, are well-written though complicated - life has treated them all differently. Home and family in rural Virginia. Quick read and highly recommended.

I was gifted this advance copy by NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman follows the Shaw family throughout their lives. The two defining events in their lives include their mothers death and the teen pregnancy of their sister. Going back and forth in time, the reader follows the members of the family through their own lives with spouses, children, and each other. This was a great mix of historical fiction and literary fiction, with great character development and heartbreaking stories of the members of the family.