Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman

The story of seven siblings of the Shaw family following a life defining event. The book moves from their childhood on the Shaws family farm in Virginia and follows the siblings as they venture out into the world.

Wow what a fanastic book! I love the way the stories of each of the siblings were told, intertwining and moving back and to from childhood into middle adulthood. Their parents' stories also gave real insight into how the siblings grew up and negotiated adulthood. A very compelling book which I read in less than 24 hours - very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

The Shaw family live on a farm in Virginia in the early 20th century. Parents Marie and Jim and their seven children, all in pairs except for Lane.

Marie has always lived with a darkness, entrapping her in her room and away from her children. When she dies in ambiguous circumstances her life, and her death, have an impact on Jim and all of her family.

Traversing time periods from the crash of 1929 through to the 1950s and 1960s the narrative switches between time frames and points of view. The story of Marie’s life and death are revealed, as are the stories of Jim and her children.

It’s a beautiful character focused and observational narrative of a family impacted by mental illness and other traumas.

This family saga stretches fro the depression to the sixties. The family is huge so no shortage of happy events, sad times and hilarious episodes
I read it in one day despite the time span it covered.

A fantastic book. Following the lives of one family from Depression era America to the dawn of the 1960’s this quietly moving novel, comprised of the chorus of voices of the siblings, is totally absorbing. Kauffman controls the narrative perfectly and the slow release of information about individual members of the family reveals a whole which is at once totally heartbreaking and utterly joyful. With echoes of Willa Cather, Kent Haruf and Elizabeth Strout, I loved this book.

The story of a dysfunctional family of seven siblings who, following the death of their mother, experience events such as teen pregnancy, divorce, and dependency and are further burdened through deceit and guilty secrets.
Moments of joy, success, and cheer in their lives are few and far between, making for a rather melancholy and burdensome albeit realistic tale. It’s not entirely bleak, however; numerous characters are portrayed as striving for a better future.

It’s written in a non-sequential style where each chapter begins in a different year, which disturbs the rhythm and requires continuous focus and attention on the storyline.

Beautifully written and exceptional character portraits. A quick read at less than 250 pages – which only left me wanting more!

My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail/Viper/Profile Books for granting this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chorus is Rebecca Kauffman’s fourth novel, and the second of hers that I’ve read after enjoying The House on Fripp Island. I would describe Chorus as a more mature, assured work. It was close to perfect for me.

Chorus tells the story of the Shaw family in episodes spanning the first half of the 20th Century, moving seamlessly back and forth in time.

Jim and Marie Shaw are a farming family living in Virginia with seven children. The episodes paint a portrait of the family, in an honest and true way, not skirting away from heartbreak and disappointments but not ever over-egging the drama at any point. (I was reminded of the book Betty by Tiffany McDaniel a few times while reading Chorus - another tale of a large family and sibling relationships, and couldn’t help but think how much more meaningful Chorus was in all that is left unsaid.)

I was completely invested in the lives of the family and could easily have carried on reading for another couple of hundred pages but actually, the length was perfect (it comes in under 300 pages). It was so beautifully written and the story so well told and perfectly paced.

How do you know when you really love a book? Let me count the ways. There were spin-off novels that could be written about characters in this book (Marie, Thomas, Norma, Lane, Jack, Marie’s mother) and I would read them all. Kauffman is going on my auto-buy list. Honestly, just gorgeous. Buying a copy to hug it. 5/5 ⭐️

*Chorus by Rebecca Kauffman is out today, published by @serpentstail @viper.books @profile.books. I was very grateful to read an advance copy courtesy of @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*

Chorus came highly recommended to me and what a gem of a novel it is ! It's the story of the Shaw family and begins in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and moves on to the late 1950s. Following the death of their mother when they were children the 7 Shaw siblings navigate their lives with their different experiences of grief. The novel is structured around chapters focusing on each sibling, almost like interconnected short stories. It is beautifully written, a subtle, understated and immersive read and I was completely drawn into the siblings lives. A gorgeous book reminiscent of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout. Highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Last year I read The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman and while I enjoyed it, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t love it as I had high expectations based on rave reviews. It’s one of those books people seem to love but no one talks about much (like the brilliant Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai). Anyway, seeing another Rebecca Kauffman book come up on NetGalley I was definitely willing to give it a go.

Chorus is the story of the Shaw family: farmer Jim, his depressive wife Marie, and their seven children – all except one handily paired up with the sibling closest in age. There is no hook to the story, we simply learn how their lives progress and the events that made them who they are. In fact, it’s the unique format of this book that lends the story more interest.

This book has a very atypical structure, which could be off-putting but for the most part works well here. The story is not told linearly but rather unfolds in a series of vignettes that jump around in time from 1903 to 1959. Sometimes I was unsure whether events were taking place before or after others; it would have been better reading a physical copy to be able to quickly refer back to the contents and check the dates of each section.

I really enjoyed reading this book. There were some sections I enjoyed less – I didn’t find eldest brother Sam’s story very compelling, nor the parts that got a little too sentimental – but I found it easy to get absorbed whenever I picked it up. I liked Chorus more than The Gunners and I’d like to catch up now and read The House on Fripp Street.

Thanks, Netgalley and Serpent’s Tail.

One afternoon, in a little farmhouse in rural Virginia, the ailing Marie Shaw dies in ambiguous circumstances and nothing is ever the same again for the seven young children she left behind. Spanning from the Great Depression to the burgeoning of US counterculture in 1959, Chorus sensitively traces the divergent paths taken by the grieving Shaw siblings as they grow together and apart over the decades. Henry, Jack, Maeve, Lane, Sam, Wendy and Bette get married and divorced, go to war and give birth to children of their own, break down and pick themselves up again. I absolutely loved this! I read this book within a day, I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters and the way I had to keep asking myself if I was right in how I thought the plot was turning out.