The Birthdays by Heidi Pitlor

The Birthdays Reviews

• 
  Lynn

  Reading about the Miller family gather together on an island off the coast of Maine was like witnessing a train wreck: you kind of want to look away but you can’t help looking. Everyone is a bit (or a lot) flawed in their own way and the family dynamics exacerbate the flaws. The adult siblings interact the same way as when they were kids, and the parents are off in their own worlds. Most of the characters are barely in touch with their own needs, let alone trying to cope with the needs of others. And a couple of characters are only in touch with their own needs, and have no idea how to relate to others.
  
  The story is told from various characters’ perspectives and sometimes its interesting to learn how different characters perceive the same event. The story takes place over a couple of days but a lot can happen in two days, especially when you get everyone’s reaction.
  
  The book was a little better than OK, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
• 
  Kathy

  I almost stopped reading this book a few times but kept hoping it would get better. It was a sad group of characters and the fact that their angst and self-absorption came to a boil at their father's seventy-fifth birthday dinner only increased my disgust with them. There wasn't a single character with which I could empathize and it was depressing to read about a family who were so separate from one another.
• 
  Juliet

  I really really liked this novel. A weekend in the life of a family on the brink of the new generation, it was sensitive, insightful, fun, traumatic, heartfelt, moving, difficult and above all an enjoyable read. I can picture myself alongside the family on their beach house. Just my kind of book.
• 
  Francesca

  Una rappresentazione realistica e attenta, intima e veritiera, di un week end tra familiari, in una piccola isola al largo del Maine. L’occasione per riunirsi è il settantacinquesimo compleanno del capo famiglia, Joe. Un omone americano silenzioso e affettuoso a modo suo, che si porta sempre dietro la sua cara amica tartaruga da terra. Poi abbiamo Ellen, sua moglie, affettuosa con i figli, soprattutto con i maschi, ma portatrice di un piccolo segreto di cuore. E poi ci sono Daniel e Brenda, coppia sfortunata, Jack e Liz, ricchi e in attesa di due gemelli, e Hilary, la sorella minore, incinta anche lei, non si sa di chi. Tra segreti e risentimenti, piccole acidità e forti dolori, perdite e speranze, il libro dipinge il quadro di una famiglia come ce ne sono tante, con le loro meschinità, le sofferenze e le piccole gioie del vivere.
• 
  Laura

  If I could, I'd choose three and a half stars for The Birthday because, though Pitlor's writing gets better as the novel progresses, it takes a while for her to find her sea legs. This is a family tale in an Anne Tyler vein, with believable characters who mistrust, misunderstand, misspeak, misstep---and who, in the end, love each other and show it.
  
• 
  Courtney

  This book follows a family who are reuniting to celebrate their father's birthday. All 3 children are grown, and all 3 are dealing with very different pregnancy situations. They have to try and get along with each other, while dealing with their own situations. I liked this one, although it wasn't the most uplifting of novels. The characters were very distinct and interesting.
• 
  Vesna Micic

  A truly gratifying read, one to add to the list of favourite contemporary family sagas. Thoroughly enjoyed its melancholic tone, and without overreaching for comparisons-its Chekhovian setting and direction of event that unfold over the weekend. Glad to have discovered Heidi Pitlor's talented prose, will no doubt look for her other novels!
• 
  Vicki

  Quite sad to start (for the first half actually!) Hoping it has a good lesson in the end?! Nope... not much. I didn't find much closure and I'm certainly not pleased with the book overall... oh well :(
• 
  Suzy

  I got through over half of this book and NOTHING was happening at all. I read as far as I could before I was so bored with it, that I just gave up. I have only given up in the middle of a book a couple of times, but I just could not finish this one.
• 
  Jane

  Just another typical family book where they get together for a special birthday for the father Joe, together on the coast of Maine at Jake and Liz's house. The families three women (2 sisters-in-laws and one sister) are pregnant at the same time.
  
  Jake (who is married to Liz) and Daniel (who is married to Brenda) each had their quirks and different personalities and Hilary the daughter was definitely different and didn't know who the father was.
  
  I wasn't a big fan of this family especially Ellen and Joe, the parents and she was annoying to me. You can tell she was annoyed with him a lot especially when he brought his turtle Babe to the celebration.
  
  The ending was not “tight” enough for me but everything can't always be black or white in an ending I guess.
  
  This book did not have one happy thing in it. It seemed that noone really "liked" each other, both siblings and parents alike.
• 
  Melissa Golus

  The chapters were way too long. It would have greatly benefited from more divisions.
  
  Also the story just didn’t go anywhere. It was about a bunch of self absorbed brats in one family that just sniped at each other.
  
  Nothing was resolved and I did not like that.
• 
  Mary C

  I thought this was just an ok read for me. A family gathering with a lot of underlying issues and three pregnancies, happy and sad. I think the author just tried to push too many things into the stories too fast.
• 
  Katie

  Amazon recommended this book to me based on my purchase history. I was glad I read it. Pitlor told the story of the Miller family 13 parents and their three children and a couple spouses, with all three women of the younger generation being expectant mothers 13 who spend a long weekend away together to celebrate the 75th birthday of the father. All three children and the spouses have various issues and challenges in their lives, while the mother is so absorbed in her personal exploits that she overlooks what's really important among her family. It is an interesting family dynamic to explore, and the book was well written, making the reader care about characters that at times didn't seem to have any admirable traits. The best thing in this story is the father 13 a laid back but warm, loving, supportive, gentle man who puts everyone and everything in his life before himself 13 no doubt, a truly noble life to live.
• 
  Michelle

  This book had some definite bright spots - some nice writing and interesting characters, although none of the characters were particularly likeable. It was a fast read, though, despite the somewhat aggravating characters. I probably would've given this a 3 but I was really bothered by how the writer handled the "miscarriage" scene. When you're well into your third trimester, you don't just start bleeding and then have a D&C with no attempts to save the baby or even see if the heart is still beating. It was a very WTF kind of scene for me. I was so distracted by that, it was hard to finish the book.
• 
  Cindy

  I plodded my way through this book all the way to the end, hoping for closure and/or some other revelation about what the characters learned through their traumatic experiences. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and I thought the ending was a bit abrupt in terms of the storyline, though appropriate given the nature of the events happening over the course of a long weekend. As others have said, I didn't particularly like any of the characters, and so I was a bit disengaged right from the start. Not a book I would recommend to others.
• 
  Erika

  Pitlor is certainly a talented author and the simplicity of the book was engrossing. There was a lot of depth to the characters yet they were easy to relate to. The story was great with the exception of the flagrant lack of resolution at the end. The only acceptable possibility is that Ms. Pitlor is setting up a second book, which I would personally look forward to, but I do not believe that that is the case. I crave more information about these characters and their future!
• 
  Megan Jordan

  This was an interesting book with a lot of depth of character. I felt the author was very authentic with how her characters would react to life changing circumstances, but some of their traits were a little over done. Much like life I suppose. I was a tad disappointed in the ending because I like to know what happens to all the characters, and I flipped the last page stunned to see I was at the end. What happened to everyone? Again, that is probably personal preference. Intriguing read.
• 
  Jane Sibley

  I thought this was going to be a quick light read but what I found instead was an intricate well thought out fascinating family with legitimate but interesting turmoil in their lives getting together at the family home for a long weekend in Maine. Never predictable and with a smatter of humor I was captured the whole way through. I felt sad to put this book down at the end.