In The Homemade God...[Joyce] has not one but four protagonists ... This complex structure is somehow more satisfying and more frustrating to read than if she’d told the story in a more straightforward way ... Joyce has great fun in this novel ... Her descriptions of the Italian countryside are alluring ... But what makes this book so memorable is Joyce’s deep understanding of familial relationships and the stunted growth caused by a fraught upbringing.
Joyce thoughtfully mines the depths of both human frailty and resilience while playing with the passage of time and the pangs of memory ... A perceptive writer, Joyce’s wit and wordplay are fully deployed, too, creating characters that entertain as they evolve.
Moves between being a page-turning mystery and an astute study of family dynamics, and readers who like a book to pick a lane and stay in it may find this frustrating. But Joyce is a thoughtful writer, and the narrative gear-changes echo the novel’s concerns ... This is what Joyce does best ... Joyce is also exceptionally good at blending the big stuff of life with the small, showing how losing a parent is a surreal mix of gut-wrenching horror and banal admin, interspersed with hysteria and binge-drinking ... The close focus on the siblings can sometimes mean their respective partners and other secondary characters are less clearly seen, but this is a minor quibble in an otherwise sharp, absorbing and emotionally intelligent novel.
[Joyce's] gift at evoking a sense of place and her obvious delight in nature make the glorious scene-setting a delicious distraction ... There’s a new heft and grandeur, not only in the sophisticated characters and the fancy Italian real estate, but in the hidden darkness that can exist in a family ... There are big ideas in The Homemade God that are brought to life by a cast of complex, intelligent adults ... These are difficult, wealthy, loving and funny people with whom it’s a privilege to spend a murderously hot Italian summer. Rachel Joyce is firing on all cylinders with The Homemade God and I can’t think of a better holiday read.
Offers much to enjoy ... Where Joyce is at her strongest is in her depiction of how grief leads the siblings to re-evaluate their lives and relationships ... Overall...this is an intelligent and emotionally satisfying novel, with a heartening message that loss, however painful, can also be unexpectedly liberating.
It's hard to ask more from a summer read ... The novel marches ahead 10 years for a summation that is, although pleasing, a bit strained in its insistence that everybody gets a slice of happiness.
