“They say you can’t choose your family. What do they know?”

Untethered by Julie Lawson Timmer

About this book: (from the publisher) Char Hawthorn, college professor, wife and stepmother to a spirited fifteen-year-old daughter, loves her family and the joyful rhythms of work and parenting. But when her husband dies in a car accident, the “step” in Char’s title suddenly matters a great deal. In the eyes of the law, all rights to daughter Allie belong to Lindy, Allie’s self-absorbed biological mother, who wants to girl to move to her home in California.

While Allie begins to struggle in school and tensions mount between her and Char, Allie’s connection to young Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she tutors, seems to keep her grounded. But then Morgan, who was adopted out of foster care, suddenly disappears, and Char is left to wonder about a possible future without Allie and what to do about Morgan, a child caught up in a terrible crack in the system

About the author: Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Ontario and earned a bachelor’s degree from McMaster University before heading south of the border. She has a law degree from Southern Methodist University and works as in-house legal counsel in Michigan. She is the author of Five Days Left and lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and children.

Connect: website | Facebook | Twitter 

Genre: Fiction/Contemporary/Women’s Fiction/Book Club

If this book were a movie, I would rate it: PG-13 

Reminds me of: the novels of Randy Susan Meyers

[Tweet “Check out the latest from acclaimed novelist @JulieLTimmer #Untethered”]

Reflection: This has to be one of the odder reads that’s come my way in a while — not for content or tone, but for the way it defied my expectations.

So maybe I should start there, with my expectations, which stemmed from my reaction to this author’s debut novel, Five Days Left, which shredded me. {You can read that review here.} That one was so gripping, so masterfully done, it left me with a breathless wallop of a conclusion that reduced me to tangled mush. (Incidentally, those I’ve heard from who have also read that novel have expressed similar reactions.)

So. Right. That sets up some pretty high expectations for a sophomore novel. Untethered began well enough. I felt immediately connected with Char. I liked her, her brother, Will, and Char’s step-daughter, Allie. I could identify with their struggle, while Lindy, the ex, triggered the appropriate amount of antagonism. So far so good as I waited for the other shoe to drop.

And waited. Halfway through, still waiting…. Was there to be a conflict in this book? Other than the growing distance between Char and Allie, and something obviously brewing with Allie’s protegé Morgan, I couldn’t see it. I refrained from re-reading the back cover synopsis for a clue as to where this was going as I was still hoping for a juicy surprise. But when the big reveal finally did happen… splat. It fell flat.

Up until that point, I’d been willing to overlook the uneven narrative (some sections given too much attention to detail, others not enough) and lagging pace. And while Char and Allie made for sympathetic and credible enough characters, many of their fellow cast members did not. The rendering of Morgan’s mom, Sarah, was perhaps the most obvious example of this — one-dimensional stereotyping at best, discriminatory at worst.

While I appreciate the author’s good intentions in exposing a social problem, her execution missed its mark. Untethered did not match the sparkling potential Timmer showed in her debut. So if want to read her best work, stick to that one.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

After words: Have you read Julie Lawson Timmer’s Five Days Left? What was your reaction?