REVIEW for The Things a Brother Knows

A big thank you goes out to the people at Random House Canada for sending me this book!

TITLE:            The Things a Brother Knows

AUTHOR:       Dana Reinhardt

GENRE:          YA
RATING:         3 stars


In full disclosure mode, I have to say that author Dana Reinhardt has been a bit of a hit and miss author for me in the last few years. While I have found some of her books absolutely wonderful, others have left me cold and this one, unfortunately, falls into the "somewhat cold" category.


While, of course, the subject matter is timely - namely about a family that is deeply affected by a family member who does tour of duties overseas, the fact is that while this book should have felt compelling and engrossing, it simply felt "off" to me.

Having said that, I have to say that I am Canadian and while, of course, because we live in a global environment, anyone who chooses to protect our country or our neighbor's country - touches all citizens, I guess I haven't been exposed to just how difficult and challenging having a family member in the army, navy or marines can truly be.

In The Things a Brother Knows - the author focuses on two brothers, one who has stayed home and tried to live his life in high school, while his older brother is away for 3 years and, even when he returns, it feels as though he is still away.

The problem with the story is that it is boring. Lots of introspection on behalf of Levi, the younger brother and not much coming back from the older brother Boaz, until Levi decides to delve much deeper into who and what his brother is really about.

The rest of the family members kind of hover around on the sidelines - never really contributing all that much to the dynamics, all the while reminind us just how painful the entire situation can be.

I did not hate this book as much as did not really grasp the messages and the meanings - mainly because I could not seem to find any interest in discovering the messages.

In short, this book is a bit boring and this made the entire reading experience painful.