What Happened to the McCrays? is a heartfelt and emotional character-driven story of tragedy, grief, and healing.
What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange
Genre/Categories/Setting: Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Complicated Family Drama, Marriage, Grief, Hockey, (rural) New York
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My Summary:
Kyle McCray is estranged from his family, divorced from his wife, and living out of state when he receives a call that his father has suffered a stroke. Kyle quietly returns home to care for his father, hoping to keep a low profile and leave as soon as possible. Life in his hometown becomes more complicated as people hear of his return. We don’t know what happened to cause him to leave, but we know it involved a great deal of pain.
This review contains spoilers that are hidden under a “show more” option.
My Thoughts:
It’s important to know that this story contains difficult and emotional content. To avoid spoilers, I have hidden the content warnings under a “show more” option under the next heading.
A Family Tragedy
The McCrays suffer a family tragedy (see content warning in the above paragraph). The event itself is a slow reveal. The present timeline is interspersed with flashbacks to introduce us to the main characters and allow us to follow their love story from first infatuation to the event that broke them.
Well-Written
The writing is beautiful, the main characters are well-drawn, relatable, and likable. The back stories are interesting and felt important to the present. With dual timelines, I often resent being taken away from the present to rehash the past. Or sometimes, I’m more intrigued with the past. However, I never felt irritated in the way the author gently and carefully unfolds this story. The past and present are well integrated into one complete and compelling story. The writing, the characterizations, and the structure are all five-star quality.
Admirable Characters
Kyle and Casey are lovely and likable characters. We cheer them on from the beginning. We admire their resilience as they live their lives the best they can under difficult circumstances. What happened to them could happen to any of us.
Themes
Compelling and poignant themes include grief, loss, family tragedy, depression, reconciliation, hope, family life, healing, understanding, compassion, forgiveness, community, friendship, youth sports, and second chances. After an intense and emotional story, the author gives us a hope-filled and highly satisfying ending!
Content Consideration: Serious trigger warnings. Please see content warnings above!
Recommending What Happened to the McCrays?:
As lovely as it is, it is emotional. I need to clarify that it’s not emotionally manipulative. It’s about very real people living very real lives. Please consider the content warnings. Even though I chose to skip over the chapter with the big reveal, I highly recommend this character-driven story for those who can handle difficult content. If I had read the content warnings first, I may not have read this story. If was difficult to give a star rating. Fans of well-written and thoughtful literary fiction will find a great deal to appreciate if the content is not a deterrent.
My Rating: 5 Stars
Meet the Author of What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange
Born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan, Tracey Lange comes from a large Irish family with a few secrets of its own. She headed west and graduated from the University of New Mexico before owning and operating a behavioral healthcare company with her husband for fifteen years. While writing her debut novel, We Are the Brennans, she completed the Stanford University online novel writing program. Tracey currently lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, two sons and their German Shepherd.
QOTD:
Have you read this author’s previous work?
I’m linking up with Deb @ Deb’s World, Sue @ Women Living Well After 50, Donna @ Retirement Reflections, and Jo @ And Anyways… for the April installment of #WhatsOnYourBookShelfChallenge.
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Nice post 🙏🎸
Excellent review, Carol. I also gave this one 5 stars. I agree, very emotional for sure.
Thanks! It’s one I would have skipped if I had known the content. Once I was into it, I couldn’t quit because the writing and unfolding was excellent. But I did have to skim over the emotional part! Oh….my review did force me to figure out how to hide a TW behind a “read more” block! I’ve always wanted to know, so that makes me happy!
There is that silver lining.
I enjoyed your review Carol. It sounds like a very good writing with, as you say, beautiful reading. I can’t always handle an emotional book. Usually I pick my time if there’s one I particularly want to read. Putting it on my list for the right time.
Thanks! I have a difficult time when children are involved!
Superb review, Carol. I have asked our library to by a copy. 💖📚
Thanks Sandy! 🌻
Hi, Carol – As you know, I love hearing about other people’s five star reads, esppecially ones with satisfactory endings. Thank you for sharing this one here. <3
My pleasure! 📚
Hello Carol you have really peaked my interest with your well written review of ‘What Happened to the McCrays’. I will take your advice on board but I think I will be adding this to my TBR list. Thanks so much for sharing with us at #WOYBS? Happy Reading, Sue L x
Thanks Sue! I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Carol, thanks for your sensitive and caring review. You did well considering the content and informed your readers of the sensitive topic. I also liked the way you managed to hide the information too. It sounds like a good read and the fact you gave it such a high rating says a lot about the writing! Thanks for joining us for #WOYBS this month.
It was a tough one to rate. Even though the content was hard for me, I had to reward the writing! The bright side is that it forced me to figure out how to hide spoilers but still give trigger warnings! I’ll be using that frequently!
It sounds like a difficult read, but they can be the most rewarding. I’m struggling with one at the moment that I’m continuing on with because while difficult its very good. I just have to be in the right mood to tackle a chapter.
Yes, I took frequent breaks!
Great review. Sounds like a heavy but good book
Thanks! Definitely well written!