Review: The Embers

The Embers
by Hyatt Bass

"For the first time, the actual destruction of the house didn't have the feeling of something that had happened to her personally. It felt instead like an epic or a myth. And it was mythic, really, the way her father had destroyed everything: his house, his family, and of course most tragically, his son."

That's a good hook huh? Makes you want to read it to find out how her father could have destroyed so much. I was certainly interested when I read the blurb about it at Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.

The embers are what is left over when the tragedy has passed. This family of 4 minus 1 are left to put the pieces of their lives back together. Problem is that I didn't like the characters except for the one that's dead. The book is about how these living relatives blame each other and the things they tell themselves to avoid responsibility and/or grief. The selfishness and hatred are overwhelming, which may be the point, but the people don't change much at the end. I didn't really care if forgiveness and rebuilding of relationship happened by the end. There was too much self-indulgence and complaining. It got tiresome.

So my one word review:
Self-indulgent