a nearly normal family reviews

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New York Times Book Review recommends M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a “page-turner” that forces the reader to confront “the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect”. (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)

M.T. Edvardsson’s A Nearly Normal Family is a gripping legal thriller that forces the listener to consider: How far would you go to protect the ones you love? In this twisted narrative of love and murder, a horrific crime makes a seemingly normal family question everything they thought they knew about their life - and one another.

Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost 15 years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?

Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?

Reviewer: Andrew
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Gripping Family Thriller
Review: When their small Swedish town becomes the scene of a murder, a family's life is turned upside down. Father and local pastor, Adam, and his wife, Ulrika, a defense attorney, are shock to find out that their 18 year old daughter, Stella, was arrested and under suspicion for the murder. What happened to lead up to this moment? Could they have done something to prevent this? Could their little girl truly be capable of murder?M.T. Edvardsson weaves a gripping tale of thrills and secrets as the story unfolds. Broken into three separate sections, experience the story from the perspective of each family member as the full picture of what really happened that night is revealed. Through this story, Edvardsson posses the question, 'How far would you go for the ones you love?'Personal Thoughts~What a great read!This story was a thrill ride from start to finish, Edvardsson style of writing was very easy to understand and made me want to never put the book down! I loved how unique each of the characters were in the story. Even though you are reading 3 separate stories the writer does an amazing job of making the story connect in so many different ways.It should be noted that this story does take place in Sweden, and while it is a legal thriller, it takes place in the Swedish Court, which operates in a different capacity then the court systems in America. But, if that sounds like a turn off for you, don't fret because Edvardsson does a great job of explaining anything that gets too complicated into the legal jargon. I enjoyed getting to read about a different culture and this story did a great job.Final Thoughts~While this story was technically a murder mystery thriller it delved deep into the psychology of the family dynamic. Great care and research seemed to be shown for each of its parts, and the pacing was fantastic. I was able to see the 'twist' coming a little earlier then I think I was supposed to, but the story is so much more than just that. I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of the genre. A great read!

Reviewer: MrsLeif
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good ending!
Review: What would you do for your child?Would you lie for her?Would you go against your principles to save her?This is the conundrum, Stella's parents will find themselves in M.T. Edvardsson's debut novel.Stella Sandell is not your typical teenager. Her mother is a criminal defense lawyer and her father is a well-known pastor. Stella has had problems since she was a child. She had problems with impulse control, explosive anger disorder, ADD, and she has dwelled for a little bit with drugs and alcohol.In Stella's mind, her father, Adam is too overprotective. When she was little she adored him but as the years passed, she started becoming annoyed by him. She plans to take a trip to Asia to be free of his constant presence. On the contrary, her mother, Ulrika was a workaholic and Stella felt she was never there for her growing up. For Stella, the only constant in her life has been Amina Besic, her best friend since they were in kindergarten. These girls are loyal to each other and they have each other's backs. Stella and Amina decided early on not to let any man come between their friendship. They have no idea that on this, their friendship will be tested.While on a night out, Amina and Stella meet an older man, Chris Olsen. In the beginning, it seems that Chris is interested in Amina but as the night progresses and a taxi cab ride later, Stella and Chris are in route to becoming a couple. What develops should be a romance, instead just a few weeks later, Chris is found murdered and Stella is the prime suspect.I enjoyed this Swedish novel. It's narrated in three parts. The first part by Adam, the second part by Stella and the third part by Ulrika.I got to be honest here, I didn't like Stella one bit while Adam was narrating his part and even at the beginning of Stella's POV. Yet, by the time I finished hers and began Ulrica's, I had completely changed my mind.The ending was just like I imagined it: Very satisfactory. I'm not sure what it says about me.3.5/5 Fangs

Reviewer: CB
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Why three stars?
Review: The first point of view narrative nearly made me want to give up on the book.I enjoyed Stella’s, which came right after and made me go through with the whole thing and then Ulrika’s fell somewhere in between.The story was interesting enough but I’m not too sure about the execution.It worked for the effect it caused but I fear the writing wasn’t up to it as it bores the reader for the whole duration of that (crucial) first part of the book.As so it kind of ruined the book for me, hence the three star rating.

Reviewer: Mary stoner
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well written
Review: Very good book.

Reviewer: Leona
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fast read
Review: The book goes fast, but appears not very thought through and unlikely.

Reviewer: Jean V.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An excellent mystery
Review: What would we do to protect our children? This book makes you think. The father I felt was devoted to Stella, but his calling as a pastor made him protect the family reputation above his parenting too often. Stella is an ADD child with her mind going too fast for her and she rebels early and often. I found her to be rebellious and disrespectful not to mention her behavior from age 14. I sometimes didn’t like her at all. I didn’t even want to read her mother’s section but I had to know what happened. I was surprised over and over at all she had done for Stella before and after the murder. I could relate to her more than I thought I would. There were large amounts of time Stella was unsupervised and the parents took for granted she was with Amina even after all Stella had done to lose their trust. I found that very odd. The parents kept so much from each other I found it unlikely that theirs was as good a relationship as they seemed to think. This is probably more like relationships we know in family and friends than we realize. The books makes you think about a lot more than what we would do for our kids.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Loved the book. Was recommended to me and I will recommend to others. Kept me guessing until the end. Will be reading more by this author

Reviewer: bea
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Me ha costado un poco entrar en el libro, pero lo he leído muy a gusto y me ha resultado ameno e interesante.Lo recomiendo

Reviewer: Basundhara Roye
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I really enjoyed the book. Loved the layers that every character had, which slowly unravelled as we progressed with the book!! Not so much a whodunnit rather I felt it was an interesting analysis of the human characteristics!!

Reviewer: thomas b.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Absolut fesselnde Geschichte über eine Vorzeigefamilie mit Spannung bis zum Ende und durchgängig unvorhersehbaren Ereignissen

Reviewer: Marina P.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: acquistato per seguire meglio audiobook in originale letto da richard armitage