Atmospheric, emotional and personal. Dug deep and intense. Brilliantly peculiar narrative - pulls you in, throws you out, pushes you to sides and rotates you! The Survivors tosses around time and secrets.

Thank you Little, Brown and Net Galley for the e-ARC.

It's taken me a couple of days to get my head around what I thought of this novel. Translated from Swedish, I did struggle throughout the book (not with the translation) but with the overall feel of the book.

Three estranged brothers return to the family cottage by the lake where more than two decades previous they left suddenly following a tragedy that changed their lives. They gather to scatter their mother's ashes - although only bound together by the event many years ago, and reflect on their youth trying to win their mother's love and fight for their fathers approval.


You go into this book blind - you know something has happened but you don't know what. I felt this book was quite disjointed and jumped all over the shop, at some points I had no clue as to what was going on. I felt the main narrator, Benjamin, tries to recall their final summer at the lake and the life changing event that happened, but in doing so bounces from one event to the next and back again and it's messy.

Unfortunately I couldn't connect with any of the characters, I found the parents disconnected, harsh, and somewhat emotionless towards their children. The boys; Nils, Benjamin, and Pierre, really got on my nerves - I know they're only young when the majority of the novel takes place (which you don't really know which time decade it is - I feel maybe the 90s but who is to know) but they don't redeem themselves when their older closer to the end of the novel.

If you enjoy Swedish noir and slow burning novels then this may be a book you love but for me, it fell quite flat.

In the wake their mother's death, three estranged brothers return to Lakeside cottage. where over two decades ago, an unspeakable accident forever altered the family. Nils, the oldest, couldn't escape his suffocating home soon enough, and Pierre, the youngest, easily bullied and quick to lash out. And then there's Benjamin, always the family's nerve centre, perpetually on the look out for trigger and trap doors in a volatile home where children were left to fend for themselves. But as the years have unfolded, Benjamin has grown increasingly untethered from reality. And between the brothers a dangerous current now vibrates. What really happen that summers day when everything is blown to pieces?

The brothers have come back home to scatter their mothers ashes. Their homecoming brings back memories of that fateful summer where we learn of their terrible upbringing and how neglected they were by their alcoholic parents.

I didn't like any of the characters in this steady paced book. You couldn't help bit feel sorry for the brothers for the way they were brought up, longing for their father's attention and their mothers love. Although this is a well written book, there was just something missing, it didn't quite gel with me. I'm sure I will be in the minority and lots more readers will give it a higher rating.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #LittleBrownBookGroupUK and the author #AlexShulman for my ARC of #TheSurvivors in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know how to write a review for this book because sadly, nothing really appealed to me about it.
I had no connection with the characters at all and I just didn’t really feel compelled to engage in the story.
The story seemed to jump all over the place within chapters and it made it feel disjointed at times. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe something has been lost in translation but I found the storyline weak and uninteresting unfortunately.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was not what I was expecting and was quite grim and depressing. The story was well told but did need some concentration because of the format which jumps between timelines and perspectives. I persevered with the read but can’t honestly say I enjoyed it. Maybe just not for me....

The Survivors by Alex Schulman was a dark, haunting and depressing read for me. Story of three brothers in childhood and adulthood struggling with the death of their mother. Growing up, the brothers family life was far from idyllic. The narrative jumps from past to present, which was confusing. I pushed myself to finish the book and even the ending, I did not feel I enjoyed the story.

I give a 2 star rating, as the book was not for me.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

I’m giving 4 stars to this purely because of the ending. I struggled with the way it jumped around in time to tell the family history as well as the present day. It did explain how each of the family members ended up the way they were and the relationships between them all. I pushed on reading based on some of the other reviews. I think overall it was worth it.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set in Sweden and has settings of forests and lakes which I found interesting. The descriptions of the settings and scenes of a country I am not familiar with I really enjoyed.

This follows the story of three brothers. The book explores relationships particularly between siblings and parents.

The narrative jumps from past to present and once I figured out the time jumps I actually really enjoyed the backwards countdown style as its different and I found it interesting having to work out what part of the story I was at, which doesn't always work for me. This did and I found this a really easy and enjoyable read. In fact towards the end I didn't want to put it down and found myself racing through the chapters.

This book centres on three brothers who meet at the cabin that has been in their family since they were children. There us a lot of going back to the past and then into the future with this book that does build up the tension a lot.. It is quite a short book and it was a little slow going a the start but now getting to the end it really did build the tension up and it understandable why it was written that way. It was a translation too which i did like a lot.

Scandi Noir Lit Fic : A story of three brothers, and a dysfunctional family

This is a beautifully written, dark and sorrowful novel, one I ‘enjoyed’ though that is probably not quite the right word, even if the almost final denouement of memory somewhat stopped my suspension of disbelief.

Three adult brothers, estranged for many years, gather after the death of their mother, to carry out her wishes for the disposal of her body. Theirs was a tempestuous and difficult childhood, one riven by parental alcoholism, but also, a certain freedom.

Each of the brothers had some kind of sense of being betrayed by the others. Nils, a fair deal older than the others, left home as soon as he could, and appears to have been the most favoured. The middle brother, Benjamin, whose particular story we follow most fully, seems the most sensitive and compassionate – but also the most unloved. Pierre, the youngest is unusually reactive and volatile, prone to cruelty and rages.

The structure is interesting. The opening of the book, starts at the end of the day of the mother’s funeral, and spools backwards, intercut with snapshot sequences from the brothers’ childhood, events which show the complex family dynamics.

This is a history of trauma, and the role of memory, elusive, tricksy, shadowy, not always to be trusted.

I assume that some at least of this is the author transcending his own experience into creativity – he is a journalist and TV/radio host, who has written acclaimed autobiographical books, one of which details his relationship with his alcoholic mother. This though, is his first novel

This is a story of Benjamin, Nils and Pierre. Three brothers that are part of a dysfunctional family. Told through flashes of their rather bleak childhood. Intermixed with them as adults dealing with their mothers death.

I found the book a real slog to read. The narrative jumps around chronologically, I don’t just mean between the brothers as children and adults. But then the last few chapters, the revelation and letter, were such a turn around for me. I’m glad I stuck with it.

So it came as a bit of a surprise initially that this book wasn’t a thriller, I’m not sure why I expected it to be, possibly the cover or the wording on the front. Anyway it’s literary fiction, which I like so I went with it.

It’s an uncomfortable read, it’s grim and gritty with themes of alcoholic parents, childhood neglect & childhood abuse.

I nearly gave up at 20% and then again at 30%, I persevered because it was short! All of the characters are either abhorrent and unlikeable or difficult to warm to.

There’s a major twist at the end but I’m not sure it added anything, possible it explained some of the behaviours of the parents, but not really, given that this behaviour was happening already prior to the ‘the twist’

Overall the writing was fine and the plot was plausible but I can’t recommend it as I didn’t enjoy it and the subject matter just wasn’t for me. I’ve given it 3 stars but really it’s 2.5 rounded up to 3.

Thanks to #netgalley for the arc of #TheSurvivors.

Oh boy was this book depressing. I persevered with ‘The Survivors’ by Alex Schulman but I can’t really say I enjoyed it. Sorry this was not one for me.

The Survivors by Alex Schulman.
The story line was captivating, it held my attention to the end, as I wanted to understand the secret.
There was a distinct lack of central character, and the story does flit about somewhat. I felt compassion for the brothers, at their obvious neglect, and Alex has done an excellent job at portraying this.
I enjoyed reading the book, the author did an excellent job of making the reader connect to the characters. By the end I fully understood what the family had been through, especially the brothers, and how they were brought up will never leave them, each finding different ways to be able to cope.

Not what I expected from a Scandinavian author but well worth the read. Three brothers return to a lakeside cabin to scatter their mother’s ashes and come to terms with events that took place decades earlier as children. Chapters alternate between current and past events but interestingly the current event is told backwards.
Some very good descriptive writing which draws you into the scenes with a twist at the end that I’m not too sure about. Had it been revealed earlier it might have helped make better sense of the characters and their difficulties. A short read and not altogether an easy one but a good one.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this novel and at first I struggled with it, but after a while I began to get used to its cadence and started to really appreciate the atmosphere of the book. The writing is masterful and the relationship between the brothers feels real. It’s not a comfortable book to read, but the best books often aren’t. I’d highly recommend it.

I thought this was an interesting book set in remote Scandinavia in a holiday house.
Three brothers are reliving their childhood after the death of their parents and very unexpected facts come to light throwing up major mental health issues.
The childhood experiences are unusual to say the least and describe harsh and unusual parenting alongside freedom filled summer holidays.
I found it difficult to relate to the characters apart from the main child/adult who had my sympathy.
Recommended

Three brothers return to the cottage by the lake where they used to spend their childhood summers. Back and forth in time, we slowly start to understand the dysfunctional relationship between them and their parents. Nordic atmosphere, raw feelings, melancholic story with an unexpected ending.

I loved aspects of this book - the time structure, the dysfunctional family dynamics, the characterisation, the setting. I found the final twist disappointing and a bit unnecessary, a sort of easy (though distressing) explanation for all that had gone before. It felt unsubtle in a book full of subtleties. Despite that, I would be interested to read more of Alex Schulman's fiction in the future.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
I have to say - it is the strangest book I have read in a long time. It took me a while to figure out how it was written and get to grips with it. An interesting story with some strong topics.
3 brothers live a strange, often deprived childhood filled with trauma. The story of their mother’s death causes the truth of their childhood to be uncovered