I enjoyed this author’s last novel, Flight, but this one didn’t really work for me. It’s a slow story of four siblings and their lives after their mother has passed away. This one was just too slow for me. There were a lot of characters none of whom I felt deeply connected to.

Pick this up for a slow character driven family story.

Lynn Steger Strong’s The Float Test dives deep into the messy, murky waters of sibling dynamics, grief, and generational tension, offering a character-driven portrait of a fractured family reunited in the wake of loss. Set against the oppressive heat of a Florida summer, the novel follows the Kenner siblings—each adrift in their own crises—as they circle and clash around the open wounds of the past.

The writing is undeniably intelligent and layered, with Strong's signature psychological depth and eye for nuance. Fans of Ann Patchett and Clare Lombardo will find familiar terrain in the emotional unraveling of a privileged but broken family. There are sharp observations on motherhood, professional burnout, and the limits of storytelling itself—particularly through Fred, a blocked novelist who questions the purpose of narrative even as she inhabits one.

Still, for all its thoughtful prose and thematic ambition, the novel sometimes drifts too far into introspection. The slow pacing and the interiority of its characters—while realistic—can make it feel inert, especially when the central tension between Jude and Fred is teased for so long it risks deflating. There’s a sense that Strong is less interested in resolution than in excavation, which might frustrate readers looking for a more satisfying emotional payoff.

The Float Test succeeds in depicting the tenderness and toxicity that often coexist within families. But while it floats—it doesn’t always land.

This book wandered between pace being too slow and then hurry up and finish. I got bogged down in some of the political business that felt out of place in this family drama. Just didn't do it for me.

My new favorite thing is picking up books that take place in Florida. ☀️

The way this book was written, it read like a memoir. All the references to the political climate in Florida were current, or as current as they can be when writing a novel and it’s making its way through the publishing process.

Despite the lovely writing, this book was heavy. The characters are all a mess, as a family they’re a mess, they’re relationships are a mess, it appears they’ve always been a mess and they have all these very kind people around them, people trying to be their best and grow, and they just mess everything up.

And I’m sorry the horrifying moment near the end?! COMPLETELY uncalled for. Dog lovers be warned 😂.

I had a hard time when reading this trying to figure out where it was going. The ending was sort of sweet, but after that scene, like I cannot get over it why would you put that in there 😂😂😂.

You need to make sure you’re in the right mood to pick this one up. Like in the middle of the summertime sads and you want to be more sad maybe. Also if you love messy families and lots of family and relationship drama. And Florida.

Thank you @netgalley and @marinerbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

A dysfunctional family and a few of their friends are trying to deal with changes in their life after the matriarch of the family passes away. The story jumps around and I had some confusion trying to remember who everyone was and their own family make-up. Possibly the best part of this book was the descriptions of the Florida climate and how they responded to it. There was a lot of swimming and a lot of angst. Very atmospheric and ultimately little hope. I'm glad that I was able to finish it despite wanting to give up on it a few times.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's a fine addition to the dysfunctional family genre.

Sadly, DNF @ 84 pages. I wanted to love this and really enjoyed the author’s last book. Unfortunately, I was just bored, for lack of a better explanation. I found myself not wanting to pick it up and avoiding reading because I just didn't care enough. Normally I don’t need a lot of plot, but then I do need the characters to be interesting - and these ones just, weren’t. Thank you for the opportunity to review.

2.5 ⭐️. This one wasn’t my cup of tea.
I hate Covid books, too soon.
And I really struggled to connect to any of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Mariner Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I did like this book even though I thought it was a strange one. I liked the characters and the storyline. I would definitely recommend this book.

Slow but compelling family drama. I always leave Strong’s novels a little unsatisfied, but in a way that feels like a testament to their veracity.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

The Float Test is an entertaining story of an American family, their dysfunction, and journey to reclaim a sense of home. I most enjoyed the Florida setting and layered inter-sibling relationships. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a family-centered story.

I really wanted to like this book. I love sibling stories set around a family secret or betrayal. However, this one started off confusing, and if I have to continually tap back pages to reread what I read or to clarify something (especially difficult on an eBook) I begin to get frustrated and lose interest quickly. I know that Lynn Steger Strong has been praised for her book, Flight, and it has been on my to-read list. However, this book seemed very disjointed. It is told from the perspective of Jude, one of the siblings but even when the perspective changes to a different sibling, Jude is still there using the "I" pronoun which becomes confusing. Also, one of the sisters is named Fred and a brother is named George. Again, every I read the name Fred, I thought of a man and then had to quickly remember, that she was one of the sisters. I think the author could have chosen different names for the characters. Overall, I gave this the "old college try" and got to 25% before deciding this was taking too much thought and not enough enjoyment to keep reading.

I've loved Steger Strong's books in the past but I just couldn't get into this newest one that felt like.a stream of consciousness diatribe without a clear plot. I did enjoy the Florida setting and many of the characters but the story itself didn't flow well despite having relatable characters trying to cope with life during and after the COVID pandemic. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and @librofm for a complimentary ALC narrated by one of my fav voice actors - however even Andi Ardnt's skills couldn't keep me invested until the end of the book. :(

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins | Mariner Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Lynn Steger Strong. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

The Kenner siblings are all at crisis points in their own lives, when they head back to Florida after the death of their mom. Jenn is the oldest, and struggling with her own family as well as feeling the responsibility of her parents as well. Jude is a corporate lawyer, single mom, and estranged from her once favorite sister, Fred. Fred is struggling with life and love and still finding her way. The baby, George, is estranged from his wife and having issues at work. They have never needed each other more or trusted each other less.

I love a well-written family drama! This story is told from Jude's POV, but we get all of the siblings' backstories as well, except for the reason that Jude and Fred are estranged. That reveal doesn't come until the book is almost over, which brought out an underlying tension through the entire book. The story felt real, with siblings taking their roles from childhood and feeling the pressure of maintaining those, as well as childhood resentments that we all hold on to. Everyone has secrets, including the parents. The hot Florida sun felt like another character as well. Another fabulous book from this author - and Luli had the perfect ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital review copy of this title. I stopped reading thoroughly at 43%, but I skimmed through to the end to make sure I didn’t miss any major shifts and could feel confident about giving it feedback.

My main struggles were that I didn’t feel connected to the characters or like them much. Past memories were shared in a way that felt jarring. The sentence structure and style was awkward at times. I had to reread sentences to understand them, and it wasn’t something I got used to over time. The pacing felt very slow and I couldn’t sense any momentum building. This definitely had potential to be a powerful story about grief and family, but there were too many style barriers for me personally.

I enjoy a good family drama and this was chaotic and dramatic in a lot of ways with a lot of Florida and climate change in the backdrop. I liked the sibling dynamics in this one and thought Strong did a decent job of establishing the why behind the tensions. This is definitely a very slow burn though and I thought about throwing in the towel multiple times, things come together in the end, and even though it wasn’t my favorite ending, I’m still glad I stuck with it. What Strong does differently is that all of the characters and events seem appropriately messy and mostly not very likable.The relationships are complicated, there are no neat resolutions or big character growths. All of this combined to feel very realistic, there are families and people like this. The omniscient narrator being one of the family members did throw me off a bit.

I didn't quite know what to expect from this book, and I enjoyed it a lot. The plot is definitely not the point of this book: four siblings deal with their mom's death, but really it's about their relationships and interactions. Jenn is the eldest sister who stayed in Florida with their parents and seemingly has it all together. Fred is the second-oldest sister who everyone thinks is "flighty" and "difficult." Fred and the third-youngest, Jude, were always close until an unknown betrayal meant they're no longer on speaking terms. George is the baby, and they treat him as such. After their mom's death, the siblings come home among personal turmoil.

This book made me think and feel a lot. It's a simultaneously beautiful and scathing portrayal of a dysfunctional family that deeply loves each other but doesn't understand each other. We get narratives from most of the siblings, which gives us insight into how they view themselves and each other. This book also explores what it's like leaving your hometown and coming back; how sometimes we only know our parents as parents and can't see them as real people; and how people don't always love us in the way we want them to. None of the characters are particularly likable, but they're not unlikable either - they're just flawed, scarred individuals. Florida is also its own character here, and I appreciated how the author wove in the oppressive effects of the heat and humidity, as well as the changing and deteriorating climate. This book also has some critique of white neoliberalism, which I always enjoy. But above all else, this is a moving family portrait.
 
Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

I love her work, but this book was very disappointing. I found it very difficult to stay engaged- it was a struggle to finish.

The matriarch of the Kenner clan, a driven litigator, dies of a stroke while running in the Florida heat. Her death is the catalyst which causes the four middle-aged Kenner children to return to their childhood home in an upscale enclave to commemorate their mother and to tend to their accountant father, a functioning alcoholic. The eldest, Jenn, the “meanest and also sweetest,” a married mother of six. Winifred, “Fred,” is separated from her husband, David, and is a published author of four novels that feature her family and her best friend, Maeve, but when we meet her she is no longer writing and feels too worn down and out of control to teach. Jude, the omniscient narrator, is a divorced attorney in New York who arrives with her teenage daughter Cass who connects with her aunt Fred despite her estrangement from Jude who finds Fred “petulant, performative, and absurd.” Lastly, is their brother George, who owns a $2 million home in Houston which is insufficient to keep his wife from walking out on him. He putters around his childhood home with his Lhaso apso, Libby, named for leveraged buyouts, in tow, and has a crush on Maeve.

The float test refers to the test that each of the siblings failed when they attended private swim classes. In Jude’s reckoning, “All of us were too obsessed with forward movement, with beating one another to some random destination. None of us had the patience, the ability, to lie back and be still like that.” Steger brings lots of swirling interpersonal drama to her novel, plus a Chekhovian suggestion of danger when Fred finds a gun in their mother’s closet and pockets it. Steger constructs vivid scenes and pitch perfect dialog in this engrossing family drama. The Kenner’s are an unusual family, and perhaps David sums it up best when he tells Fred, “It is so totally your family’s MO that you got a brand new car when you turned sixteen, but no one ever taught you how to drive the . . . thing.”
Thank you Mariner Books and Net Galley for a novel that reflects the complexity of the ties that bind families.

The Float Test is a complicated family saga of 4 adult siblings in the Kenner family, in the aftermath of the death of their mother. Filled with messy family dynamics, long standing grudges and hurt feelings, and an underlying current of family loyalty, fans of family dramas may enjoy this story. It took me a bit to feel invested in this tale, but I'm glad I stuck with it because I did enjoy it. Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Atmospheric and haunting, Lynn Steger Strong's The Float Test is a story of complicated families and the way that our obligations shape us. Brought back together to a sweltering Florida summer by the death of their mother, the Kenners must sort through their past to find a way to the future. A character driven story that will leave you thinking for many days after you have finished it.