Liv is surprised when she wakes in her brother’s room hungover and bruised. She was supposed to be sleeping over at her friend’s place after the party last night, she was supposed to be sticking to a two-drink minimum. Last night is a blank. Her mother tells her that they must never talk about what happened. There is a strong reek of bleach coming from her room which has been padlocked shut.
What happened last night? Her mother and father are both acting strange, clearly hiding something, and her friend won’t return her calls.
Her mother and father’s behaviour make it clear that something terrible happened last night and that they are trying to clean it up. Desperately trying to protect not just Liv but Casper, their son, as well. It is this enigmatic event of last night that starts the family on a spiral to implosion.
Although Liv is the primary character, the novel is about the entire family and told from four perspectives. Janus, the father is feeling guilty for moving the family from Australia to America when his novel is picked up by Hollywood. Kay, the mother, never wanted to move, and is questioning if she still loves her husband. Casper, the brother, returns from a swim camp to a family in disarray. He plans on finding out what happened.
Each perspective shines a different light on the crumbling family. Each member is being eaten away with guilt, a major theme of the novel.
The Ones We Love is an enjoyable novel that questions morality, love, and loyalty, the nuances of right and wrong, guilt and innocence, and that sometimes it is difficult to separate the two.
Reviewed by Neale Lucas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anna Snoekstra is an internationally bestselling author living in Naarm/Melbourne. Her novels, including Only Daughter and Out of Breath, have been published in over twenty countries and 16 languages.
She has written for many literary magazines and newspapers including The Guardian, Kill Your Darlings, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Griffith Review, and is also a profile writer for The Saturday Paper.
She has had video work exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria and has written audio novellas This Isn’t Happening and the forthcoming The End of The Ski Season.
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