Watching Glass Shatter by James J. Cudney / Books Teacup and Reviews

Watching Glass Shatter by James J. Cudney

Publication Date: October 8th 2017
Read Date: November 17th 2018
Genre: Fiction / Family Drama / Mystery
Pages: 278

Stars: 5/5

Synopsis

The wealthy Glass family lost its patriarch, Benjamin Glass, sooner than expected. Benjamin’s widow, Olivia, and her 5 sons each react to his death in their own way while preparing for the reading of his will. Olivia receives a very unexpected confession from her late husband about one of their sons that could shatter the whole family.

Prior to revealing the secret to her children, Olivia must figure out which boy Ben refers to in the confession he left her in his will. While the family attorney searches for the mysterious Rowena Hector whom Ben says holds the answers, Olivia asks her sons to each spend a week with her as she isn’t ready to let go of the past. When Olivia visits her sons, she quickly learns that each one has been keeping his own secret from her. Olivia never expected her remaining years would be so complex and life-altering, but she will not rest until her family is reunited after Ben’s untimely death.

We all need family. We all want to fit in. We’re all a mix of quirky personalities. Will Olivia be able to fix them or will the whole family implode? What will she do when she discovers the son behind Ben’s secret? Check out this ensemble cast where each family member’s perspective is center stage, discovering along the way who might feel the biggest impact from all the secrets. Through various scenes and memories across a six-month period, you’ll get to know everyone, learning how and why they made certain decisions. Welcome to being an honorary member of the Glass family where the flair for over-the-top drama pushes everyone to their limits.

You can see sample chapters and descriptions at: https://jamesjcudney.com/

Watching Glass Shatter was Family drama and full of secrets surrounding the Glass family telling the story of each Glass sons, their secrets, and their bond with each other.

Foundation of 40 years of marriage was shaken by heartbreaking secret that was revealed in letter, on the death of Ben (Benjamin) Glass that made Olivia Glass to get into depth of the secret. In solving the mystery of the letter Olivia decided to spend time time with her five sons that got her into more shocking secrets raised lot of questions. Some secrets devastated her, some made her furious, some made her question her bonding with her sons and some brought change in her own nature. It taught Olivia lot of things, being more humble and accepting the newer perspective, coping with loss and the most important of them was accepting the past, gaining the strength to accept the content of the letter Ben left behind.

Though I was familiar with author and his writing, have read many reviews of this book nothing could have prepared me for the exquisite, unique writing style. Book was steady pace, written in third person narrative telling the story of each Glass family members separately in each chapter titled by characters’ name that made it easy to follow characters separately without confusing reader.

It was character driven book with lots of characters in it. Story was focused mainly on 6 characters- Olivia, Teddy, Matt, Zach, Caleb and Ethan. Author did a fabulous job in narrating all of them with detailed description. They all were different from each other.

We get to know about Ben through the memory of Olivia and her sons that told their relationship with Ben and how great father and husband he was.

Olivia was old fashioned, controlling, arrogant mother that distant her sons from her. Both her daughter-in-law disliked her for this nature and so I but as story progressed she grew on me and I ended up liking her. Loved her development in the story, how she handled the problems in each of her son’s life and the way she brought change in herself. Diane, Olivia’s sister was side character but held important place in Glass family’s heart. I like her most in the book. She was loving and strong support of the family. I loved the way she kept them all together.

I didn’t like the extravagant lifestyle of Matt and Margaret and the way he kept pushing himself. Teddy and Sarah were another couple I didn’t like much. Teddy was closed shell and didn’t acted maturely being the eldest of all and though Sarah’s intention was good, like Olivia, I didn’t appreciate her approach. Caleb-Jack were my favorite characters. Jack was funny and the way he was introduced to Olivia was hilarious. Ethan-Emma were innocent of all and another favorite characters. They were the only one who didn’t keep secrets for years. All characters found solution to their problems at the end while it saddened me to read about Ethan and the way his story ended.

This book tells about the family values, importance of sticking together during ups and downs, accepting differences and forgiving each other no matter what. The secrets, twist and turns were shocking unpredictable that hooked me till the end of the book. I couldn’t guess who Ben addressed in his letters. I loved Olivia’s decision and Rowena’s confession. The book ended nicely, it was sad but satisfactory end.

Overall, it was captivating, addicting, emotional and juicy family drama with exquisite writing and quirky characters that I recommend o all fiction readers.