3.75 stars

Mostly set in 1989, Janice and Harry have been married for 30 years, but Harry is an alcoholic and is abusive. They have seven kids, four who still live at home in their “double-wide” trailer (there’s a story there!), though two are in their late teens and close to leaving. Janice had to give up her dreams when she got pregnant young and still pines for what she gave up.

It’s told from a few different points of view: Janice’s, Harry’s, WJ’s (their oldest son who has problems of his own), and Carrie’s (their youngest daughter, who at 17, will be graduating from high school soon and desperately wants to find a way to go to college).

Really liked the story, but I thought the end wrapped it up too nicely; it didn’t seem realistic to me. It wasn’t enough to bring my rating down to 3.5 (good/liked it), as I really liked most of the rest of it, but it was just enough to bring my rating down that little bit from 4 stars. The abuse at the very start of the book was a bit tough for me, though. I think almost all the characters were pretty unlikable, at least in one way or another, but they were still interesting enough that that didn’t put me off. I guess most of them had some redeeming quality of some type and/or the reason they were the way they were was explained. I also enjoyed the 80s references! ( )