Heartbreaking and sweet novel about family, forgiveness, and love.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216522634

I loved this book about the Endicott family. A great ensemble cast, compelling storylines, and a tearjerking ending.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Extraordinary Endicott Family has a motto: No Endicott Left Behind--even though that is what their mother, Frankie, did most of the year when the children were young, except for a yearly road trip. After the death of their parents, Jude Endicott pulls her adult siblings together for a reconciliation weekend stay at a cabin in North Dakota. Jude is a successful actor who has received her first Oscar nomination; Roddy, Jude's twin, is a professional soccer player at the end of his career; Connor has won a National Book Award for a personal novel he has written about his family; Gemma is the caretaker of the group who is awaiting IVF results to see if she will have her own child. The novel is composed of then and now chapters outlining the events of their youth and their current disagreements about what really happened. Fun for the Whole Family is a funny, yet sad novel about families and adult children. Highly recommended for discussion groups.

It is a great story about family, relationships, forgiveness, and growth. Four siblings recount their past, growing up with absent parents and having to parents themselves. Going back and forth between past and present, these siblings have lost touch. You get to have POVs from each sibling, allowing you to decide whether you can relate to that sibling. There was humor, love, and sadness, but the siblings could bring themselves back together to forgive one another. I think this story will be a hit once it is realized, and I would read another one of Jennifer Smiths' books! Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-ARC!

This was such an incredibly profound read for me. The family dynamics and how the siblings navigate life were all beautifully written. The humor was great and as the reader I was feeling the same sadness and hope that the characters were.

This is a beautiful story of four estranged siblings who find their way back to each other. We take a deep dive into who each sibling is individually as well as their dynamics together. I normally don't like novels where there are flashbacks but the author does an excellent job of drawing parallels from the past to the present. Every chapter means something and not a word is wasted in telling this dynamic story.

I loved the family dynamics in this story. It was incredibly well written and heartfelt. The format was unique and entertaining. Great read.

This story grabbed my heart right from the start. Four siblings, two girls and two boys, that includes one set of girl/boy twins, Jude and Roddy, pretty much raised themselves with the love and attention bestowed upon them by the oldest sister, Gemma. Their dad wasn’t around much, and their mother left and only shows up once a year to take the four siblings on a road trip, marking off on a map all the different states they have been to. The four Endicott kids are very close since most of the time they only had each other.
This remarkable heartfelt story went back and forth between decades, when the siblings were growing up, to the present day. Despite how close they were growing up, now years have gone by without any communication. Connor, the oldest boy, grew up and first taught high school English, but his dream was to become a writer. He wrote a best-seller, however, although the names were changed and mostly the situations were changed, his three siblings were angry with him since they all recognized themselves. All of the siblings were successful in their careers, which included a professional soccer player and a movie star.
This is a story of perseverance, forgiveness and love, that encompasses decades. There are serious issues to deal with, a few secrets are revealed, however through it all, they remain family.
I enjoyed this heartwarming story very much; however, I would have been happy if the use of the F word had not appeared so often, or even at all.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

this book was great! it made me laugh and it made me cry. this family felt so real and each sibling was a truly unique and well-thought-out character. a constant back in forth between the past and the present in books is usually too much for me but it worked perfectly here. learning how different each endicott sibling is and the experiences that shaped each of them made it so much more compelling. just a fantastic depiction of family, love and forgiveness.

I am so glad that I got this ARC from Netgalley. I enjoyed it from start to finish. It is the story of the four estranged Endicott siblings. The author skillfully weaves their backstory and troubled present. Interesting, Smith, made me love each character. I usually balk at novels with too many people, but Smith proves to me that this can be done with clarity.

Much of the action takes place in North Dakota, with all its discomforts., GRRRR. The family is marooned in a cabin where they are forced to deal with years of crises. It is the invisible character of their absent mother who is the thread that pulls them together, in many ways.

I loved the adults, but I must complement Smith on her perfect portrayal of the 2 youngest Endicotts. I feel like she got them pitch perfect! They just added to my delight!

The plot is well divided into the distinct sibling stories. Thankfully, there is a very satisfying closure, which made this novel perfect.

I highly recommend this novel. Honestly, I think this will be a 2025 bestseller! Again, thank you Netgalley for a wonderful read.

Drama and family relationships explored in an entertaining way! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I was invested from the beginning of this book. The story was written well.

I love the cover of this book. This book was about siblings, family and of course secrets. I really got to know each of the siblings in this story and could feel for them. Each one was so different and I felt I like I wanted to keep reading after the story was over because I was so invested. I really loved this book and the journey these siblings took together both physically through the states and emotionally to bring forgiveness to each other.

I adored The Unsinkable Greta James and requested Fun for the Whole Family as soon as I saw it on NetGalley. This is a wonderful novel about family, motherhood, ambition, and the special bond between siblings.

The writing is warm and assured. I was immediately pulled into the story and loved every moment - the novel is full of humor, sadness, and lots of hope. There are several main characters and the author makes the Endicott siblings and company feel real and also easy to distinguish, which isn’t always the case with novels featuring multiple leads. The alternating points of view and timelines help keep things a bit mysterious as the story progresses. I cared about each sibling and their respective storyline, and was sorry when my time with them was over. Highly recommend!

Thank you very much to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy of this lovely novel.

When I first came across Fun for the Whole Family, I immediately knew I wanted to read it for two reasons.

Firstly, a couple years ago I read Smith's YA novel Windfall. I had gone into it expecting pretty standard fare for the genre, but it wound up being a total delight—by far one of the more engaging YA contemporaries I'd read. Now that I've moved onto reading adult novels, I was delighted to stumble upon a book by an author I already knew and loved.

Secondly, while they say not to judge a book by its cover, this book's dazzled me with its bright colors and lively cover art. What can I say? When it comes to book covers, I judge with the eyes of a toddler and/or a magpie. That is to say, I'm enticed by sparkly things and vivid colors.

So, suffice to say, my expectations for Fun for the Whole Family were high. Smith's novel not only met those lofty expectations, but soared above them.

As a kid, I spent many a summer in the car making the long (14 straight hours!!!) trek to visit my grandpa. Smith did a fabulous job capturing the magic of summer road trips, and I was sucked into the world of the Endicott siblings from the very first couple of pages. One of the struggles I often have with books that alternate perspectives or timelines is that one part of the story is more engaging than the other. Despite interspersing multiple POVs and timelines, I was equally invested in the struggles of each character and in the unfolding of both the past and current storylines.

On that note, Smith also did a beautiful job developing characters who were deeply real, flawed people who were still magnetic and likable personalities. Roddy, Jude, Gemma, and Connor all had their faults, and these were explored in-depth in each of their sections. But in spite of, and indeed, perhaps BECAUSE of this, I still wished I could tag along on an Endicott family road trip by the time the novel came to a close.

Overall, Fun for the Family was a touching reflection on family and forgiveness without being overly heavy-handed in its themes. It was also just an incredibly fun book, an invigorating romp through the United States as well as through the ups and downs of siblinghood. I'd recommend Fun for the Family for anyone who wants to laugh, cry, and restore their faith in humanity—so, basically any human being with a beating heart!

Fun for the Whole Family was a fabulous novel that highlights the power of family, secrets, and growth. This is a must read book.