IT COULD BE WORSE
𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝙻𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗
3/12/24

🕎 𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚘𝚙𝚜𝚒𝚜:
Allegra Gil is a therapist, wife to a devoted (hot) husband, mother of two, and best friend. It would seem she has the perfect life. Or so it would seem.

Allegra grew up in a wealthy, picture-perfect household; well respected pediatric surgeon father, private school administrator mother, little brother, and even a dog. Weekend sleepovers and Shabbat with grandparents and Sunday brunch. Summers at music camp with her best friend in Michigan. It would seem she had the perfect life. Or so it would seem.

Allegra discovers a secret in a piano bench and while investigating that secret she discovers so much more. What part did her parents play in this secret? And can Allegra rebound from her discovery?

📃𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:

This was a pulsating story of love and pain, loss and forgiveness. We go back and forth in an ebb and flow with current day and flashbacks, in no particular order, to memories of her past. Some are touching and lovely, others are gut wrenching.

This was a fascinating look at families and the damage they can do but also how much support you can receive from those you love if you aren’t afraid to ask for it.

💜𝚁𝙸𝚈𝙻:
-Family drama
-Jewish rep
-Narcissist people
-Flashback scenes

This debut novel from Dara Levan was about motherhood and taking care of your own family while dealing with extremely challenging parents.
It took me a little while to get used to the writing style. At the beginning especially, it felt a little like I was just dropped into scenes with little context that didn't always seem to connect. It also felt like not a lot happened even though we are with this family for about a decade.
I really appreciated Dara Levan's portrayal of pregnancy and post-partum life. I found it really relatable.
I got so mad at Allegra's parents and the way they treated her. At times I couldn’t decide which parent was actually harder to deal with. As time goes on, we see Allegra becoming more confident in herself, with the support of her husband and children. I loved how supportive Ben was of Allegra but I wish we had gotten to see more of their relationship. I also know that Ben is a Jewish Cuban and I wish that had been explored more.
I feel like the shocking discovery that Allergra makes about her father wasn't really a prominent enough part of the novel. She only finds out about it about 60 percent of the way through the book and I think the effects of the secret could have been more fully explored.
Overall, a good debut novel from Dara Levan, but I think could have used a bit more editing and more detail in certain places. I really liked the Jewish representation and I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes next.

This was truly excellent, A fantastic telling of how those who we love could actually be the worst people for us, As a therapist myself, I loved the emphasis on how important it is to take care of yourself when you are in that role. This is not an easy read (lots of trigger warnings-miscarriage, body shaming, emotional abuse) but it’s an excellent and important one.

I enjoy reading authors debut novels. I like being able to see where their journey of writing goes. At times, this story was a bit of an emotional heavy bag that I wanted to put down. The main character is going through a lot of verbal and emotional abuse from her family and throughout the story revisits events from her childhood. I liked how the story felt real and raw and how relatable it was. I like stories that don't necessarily paint a pretty picture, but show life as its messy, scary at times, reality
I look forward to read more from the author