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“Engrossing, hilarious, and tender…I couldn’t put it down.”
— Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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“Narrator Therese Plummer shines in her entertaining portrayals of the Kesslers, a famous yet dysfunctional family…Plummer enhances the personality of each character and makes listeners feel as if they know each family member intimately. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“Tanen’s memorable wry humor (“I’m not inert, I just know my limitations”) and sharp dialogue will leave readers fully invested the rebuilding of relationships despite years of distance, trauma, and pain. Tanen’s refreshing tale of a nontraditional family legacy will appeal to fans of tightly plotted dramas in the vein of Maggie Shipstead’s work.”
— Publishers Weekly
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Engrossing, hilarious, and tender, this novel tells the story of how a family breaks apart and comes together despite years of mistakes and mishaps. I couldn't put it down.
— Gretchen Rubin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project
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Hilarious and touching.
— Wendy Goodman, New York Magazine
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Readers who miss The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg and the Lamberts from Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections will welcome the Kesslers. With equal parts humor and empathy, There's a Word for That employs multiple narrators and a skillfully drawn cross-generational family to examine how relatives impact one another.
— Tracy Babiasz, Booklist
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Often uproariously funny. Tanen's skill is that you don't laugh at the characters. They know how messed up they are. All you, and they, can do is laugh at the straits they find themselves in and soldier on.
— Arlene McKanic, BookPage
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Full of intelligence and charm...Though Tanten's delightful sense of humor infuses the plot and dialogue with sparkle..., along with the farcical situations come moments of real emotion and insight...As the characters weather tough times and deal with hurts old and new, love and humor light the way. Full of intelligence and charm.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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Tanen's memorable wry humor and sharp dialogue will leave readers fully invested in the rebuilding of relationships despite years of distance, trauma and pain. Tanen's refreshing tale of a nontraditional family legacy will appeal to fans of tightly plotted dramas in the vein of Maggie Shipstead's work.
— Publishers Weekly
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A joy. This is the novel for anyone who has ever had family. Oh, wait---that means everyone. Sloane Tanen deliciously skewers us all while she romps through the connections we make and trample in our attempt to stay related to one another. Hilarious, wondrous, and fun.
— Marion Roach Smith, author of The Memoir Project
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A high-stakes, hilarious novel thatshows us how, with time, even the most intractable relationships can soften and surprise us. Sloane Tanen has a sharp eye for irony and wields an even sharper pen. I laughed loudly, and often.
— Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised
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That rare mix of funny and gutting, a page-turner coupled with deep emotional resonance. The characters are so richly drawn and their journeys so absorbing that by the end of the book, it felt a real loss to let them go. A funny, moving, gem of a novel.
— Melanie Abrams, author of Playing