Review: Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly

Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly
Published: April 5 2016

The Middlesteins meets The Virgin Suicides in this arresting family love story about the eccentric yet tightknit Simone family, coping with tragedy during 90s New York, struggling to reconnect with each other and heal.

Claudio and Mathilde Simone, once romantic bohemians hopelessly enamored with each other, find themselves nestled in domesticity in New York, running a struggling vinyl record store and parenting three daughters as best they can: Natasha, an overachieving prodigy; sensitive Lucy, with her debilitating heart condition; and Carly, adopted from China and quietly fixated on her true origins.

With prose that is as keen and illuminating as it is whimsical and luminous, debut novelist Christine Reilly tells the unusual love story of this family. Poignant and humane, Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday is a deft exploration of the tender ties that bind families together, even as they threaten to tear them apart.

*I’d like to preface this review with the fact that I had this book reviewed in early October, but I scheduled it with the date of 2017 by accident, and it was brought to my attention that my review still was not posted, so I’m so so sorry!

I was very lucky to have Christine reach out to me and send my a copy of her book to read and review and I’ll have to admit that I was a very bad book blogger/reviewer because it took me forever to gain the courage to step out of my fantasy zone as well as in between wedding planning to pick this up . But thank you Christine for being so patient with me and I’m so sorry this took so long!

I don’t usually read these types of books but honestly, this book kind of reminded me of Parenthood, the TV show so if you liked that I feel like this might be the book for you. Although I’m mostly a fantasy reader, this was a wonderful read!

I saw a lot of people talking about the writing style in this book, and I think that’s what initially made me pick it up, I love a good “lyrical” writing style which is what a lot of people were mentioning when I scrolled through the reviews, and that’s when I finally picked this up and had the confidence to read it. And everyone was right. The writing in the book is absolutely phenomenal, lyrical and utterly beautiful, almost hauntingly so when hitting home with topics like mental illness ( I have experience in this realm, so it really did hit me pretty hard).

I think this book really gave a different perspective on a familial story because it was really multi-generations in this book starting from one generation and really growing through other ones as well. And I really liked that growth and seeing that diversity and difference between everything. It made it much more enjoyable and I really felt as though I knew all aspects of this family. Especially since there were three sisters and I am one of three sisters, it made this book much more relatable I think.

I would most definitely say that you really have to pick up this book. It’s really wonderfully written and very impressive for a debut novel. I’d have to say that Christine Reilly is really an author to keep your eye on. I would gladly read and review any of her books for the rest of my life. I can’t even express how impressed and wonderfully pleased I am with this book (even though it made me ugly cry)