The Homemade God is the portrait of a dysfunctional family and four adult siblings who are learning to survive it.

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

Genre/Categories/Setting: Contemporary Fiction, Dysfunctional Family Drama, Italy

***This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links

My Summary:

Thanks #NetGalley @RandomHouse for a complimentary eARC of #TheHomemadeGod upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Four adult children are left to sort out their father’s affairs after his death, deal with his new wife, untangle their relationships with each other, and heal from childhood neglect and trauma.

My Thoughts:

Dysfunctional Family Drama

Although Rachael Joyce is a brilliant and gifted writer, dysfunctional family drama can be an enjoyable reading experience for some and a challenging and unsatisfying read for others. In most cases, it’s the troublesome content, not the writing or execution. Even though it’s real life, I’m not usually a huge fan of sad stories about unhappy people living unhappy lives.

Expectations

As a Rachel Joyce completist, I eagerly approached this new release with certain expectations. The amount of dysfunction and its relentless ramifications were unexpected. I appreciate the hope-filled conclusion and sibling reconciliation, but I was skimming the story at that point.

Strengths

The writing is the strongest element of the story. There are some beautiful and thoughtful passages sprinkled throughout. Rachel Joyce excels at complex characterizations, and I love that she honors the strength and bond of sibling relationships despite the chaos and dysfunction.

Content Consideration: child neglect, alcoholism, death of a parent, toxic relationships, grief, drug use, addiction, etc.

Recommending The Homemade God:

Fans of Rachel Joyce will want this new release on their TBRs. (keep in mind content warnings) If you love character-driven, dysfunctional family drama, The Homemade God has a great deal to offer. The brilliant writing earns this 4 Stars.

Please check out an enthusiastic 5-star review from Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog.

Related: My reviews of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, and Miss Bensen’s Beetle.

My Rating: 4 Stars

More Information Here

Meet the Author of The Homemade God, Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, the instant New York Times best seller Miss Benson’s Beetle, Maureen Fry & the Angel of the North and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her latest novel The Homemade God will be published in April ’25 in UK, and June ’25 in US and Canada.

Rachel’s books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold millions of copies world-wide. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The critically acclaimed film of the novel, for which Rachel wrote the screenplay, was released in 2023 starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton, and in 2025 the musical will open in Chichester Festival Theatre, for which Rachel also wrote the script. Miss Benson’s Beetle won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2021, Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards ‘New Writer of the Year’ in December 2012 and she was shortlisted for the ‘UK Author of the Year’ 2014. In 2024 she was given an honorary doctorate by Kingston University.

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QOTD:

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All books I review are purchased or borrowed from the library unless explicitly stated that the book is free (arc).

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