Friday, March 10, 2017

The Blessings by Elise Juska


When John Blessing passes away from cancer at a young age, leaving behind two young children, the loss is reverberated through the entire Blessing family. The Blessings are a close knit, Irish-American, Catholic family from Philadelphia, who take family and tradition very seriously, and with John's death the family comes together like never before. From big family dinners, Sunday Mass, and yearly vacations to the ocean, traditions are the glue that hold this family together amid cancer, death, marriage, eating disorders, babies, and divorce. Elise Juska's The Blessings is told in alternating viewpoints from various members of the Blessing family, with each chapter revealing deeper levels of the Blessing family while uniquely defining the characters of this story.