I thought I'll Be Right Here will be an epic family saga, spanning over a number of years and through various countries. But, unfortunately, what this novel delivers is more like a collection of vignettes, featuring the same characters, which presumably are part of the same blended family. The only progression here is temporal, as in the characters are presented to us at various times in their life and also more and more characters are being introduced, to suggest the passage of time. But no real depth and character development is ever present. Not to mention that, unfortunately, if feels that this novel servers an agenda rather than delivering a real story. Every single character is LGBT or incestuous or poly something or another...meh.

I'd not ready any books by this author before and I'm not sure I will after this. It sounded wonderful from the blurb but there were too many characters to get to know or care about any of them.

I understand that the author's writing is usually beautiful and lyrical but to me it just came across as a very confusing stream-of-consciousness style where I didn't get a grasp or anyone's thoughts or feelings.

I love Amy Bloom's work, her writing and sentence structure is a pleasure to read as is the case in "I'll be right there" but i struggled with the concept of this novel. It left me confused at times, i am still not 100 % certain whether i am completely correct about Samir and Gazala's relationship.
Not my book this time, i wanted to love it.

I’ll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom is a beautifully unconventional family saga that spans decades, following a group of friends-turned-family whose bonds run deeper than blood. From post–World War II Paris to bustling New York, Gazala, her brother Samir, and sisters Anne and Alma build a life together filled with love in all its varied and modern forms.

Bloom’s storytelling is rich with warmth, humour, and the bittersweet realities of life. The narrative moves in a deliberately disjointed way, circling back to people, places, and objects that gain new meaning each time they appear. This structure, paired with her poetic descriptions, creates a tapestry of moments that feel both intimate and timeless.

It’s a story about the families we choose, the loves we hold on to, and the ways we grow together through joy, mistakes, and heartbreak. Difficult to summarise, yet profoundly affecting, this is one to savour slowly.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

I’ll be Right Here by Amy Bloom

Second World War torn Paris, with it’s collaborators and resistance, its Jews and Germans, lays the foundation for the lives of young Gazala and Samir. But this is only the start of a colourful life, which soon takes them to America and acquaintance with the Cohen’s, especially girls Anne and Alma,all of whom become as family.

Told almost in episodic reminiscence form, this book chronicles the ups and downs of their lives together, the consequence of chance meetings, the true value of family, lifelong friendships and traditions.

It causes reflection on the fact that we all have life stories,have and have lost people around us, have cherished memories and some we may wish to forget. These stories make us who we are; evidence of our presence and impact on each other.

#docs.reading.room

PUBLISHED BY GRANTA BOOKS
€16.99

PARIS, 1930. A two-year-old child plays with her older brother as they wait for their father to come home from the bakery in which he works. It is Gazala’s very first memory and one she returns to on her death bed, many, many years later.
Soon it is 1942 and almost thirteen-year-old Gazala has become a companion for famous writer Mme. Colette. French born of Algerian parents whose religion was of no import to them until it was to invading authorities, Gazala, now an orphan, is getting used to learning the ways of the world, and how to play the game of life successfully.
Samir, her brother, has long flown the coop, taking on the mantle that their father bestowed to him when he died a young man of only forty. Their father was their compass in life, especially to Samir, who was taken in by him and his wife, Gazala’s mother, when his birth parents died.
In the pure interest of full disclosure, I have a complicated relationship with historical fiction. I have dipped my toe in and out of the genre with varying success, leaning towards, I’m ashamed to say, disinterest in the minute details that indicate meticulous research. It is not something I gravitate towards. A lot of the time it is because I find myself pausing to look up some figure mentioned or conflict noted, distilling the flow of the narrative.
However, on hearing author Amy Bloom talk about her new novel I’ll Be Right Here on RTÉ Radio One’s Arena show, my interest became piqued. That it is a relatively short book, while taking in a decades-spanning saga, was a plus. And the revelation that it is not really a historical novel at all, but a family drama told in vignettes, is what sold me.
Part one, focusing on Gazala, is a traditionally plotted story of a competent young woman making her way in the world, from lady’s maid to Resistance asset to shop assistant in a bakery in New York. It isn’t until the narrative shifts to her chosen American family that the more unusual aspect of the novel’s form, not to mention the book’s real subject, becomes apparent.
After Gazala, a woman named Honey takes up the story’s concern. In the prologue she, along with Anne and Alma Cohen are featured alongside Samir at Gazala’s bedside. Anne and Alma make their next appearances earlier on, when Gazala befriends them in New York as young women, but Honey’s pivotal part in the group is only revealed over a third of the way into the book. She is the wife of Anne, sister of Anne’s ex-husband and totally and indubitably the second mother to Anne’s daughter Lily.
Their relationship is charted through Honey’s eyes mostly, but it isn’t treated as a great, complicated, epic romance – even though it is. It, along with the other relationships featured; platonic, friendly, romantic, maternal et al, is documented as one of those everyday facts, things that just happen.
Perhaps it is the largely non-linear aspect of the novel that makes this approach to the narrative so successful. Gazala’s story is charted in leaps from her childhood to early twenties, when she is reunited with Samir after finding a new and forever-lasting bond with the Cohen sisters.
The other narratives are presented less obviously, and characters who are mentioned in some sections only get their due consideration much later. The Greats, as they are known to the next generation, are Gazala, Anne, Alma, Honey and Samir, with Lily and Bea following and Harry coming later. Each are important in their own way and have lives, though not particularly distinguished in terms of great public achievement, which are worth writing about.
In a way I’ll Be Right Here becomes an anthology, a study on interlinking lives that would never be the way they are without the others. It is non-judgmental of their choices and celebratory of many of them – if it had a tag line it may be living is more than just survival.
Sometimes funny, often astute, frequently moving, I’ll Be Right Here is an unexpected, captivating little treasure of a book.

An engaging and beautifully written story of family and connections. We delve into the backgrounds of family and adopted family members which takes us to the occupation in Paris, including a wonderful cameo of Collette, to post war New York State, and the lives of outsiders. The Parisian section is no exception, as it highlights the plight of Algerians there, forgotten after the war and trying to make a new start, likewise the Jews after the turmoil of losing so many to the holocaust. This makes it sound depressing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The characters are offered up, warts and all, with all the richness of their language and experience, often very funny and charming. We are treated to a rich seam of tradition, food and culture through this account of a group of people who form their own family. I would have liked more of the Algerian/ Parisian sections, and can’t get enough of stories of Collette, which I might have to do some follow up reading of.

A mighty history of found families and shared experiences over many years, involving a cast of hundreds but mostly grounded in following the story of brother and sister Gazala and Samir from war-torn Paris to Poughkeepsie today. We follow the siblings, together and apart, across continents and through life experiences until they settle with their chosen family, whose lives are also examined at length and with real feeling.

This is a massive book and the sheer number of characters means you need to concentrate to keep track, but you'll be rewarded with a sensitive and meaningful life exploration with plenty to think about right the way through.

I'll Be Right Here is a saga of found families, spanning time and place from wartime Paris to modern day Poughkeepsie.
Because it's an Amy Bloom book it is preoccupied with how we love, who we love, and how much of ourselves we show to other people (even those closest to us).

Told in three parts consisting of short vignettes that hop forwards and backwards in time, it can be hard to adjust to the ever-expanding cast of characters, but in a way that mirrors life. Who among us remembers our life in perfect chronological order, especially as we age?

Something, or someone, mentioned in passing pops up again elsewhere to be expanded upon. Developments that could be shocking are simply stated, once, and never mentioned again. You only need to be told such things once, after all, it's not like you're going to forget them.

At times the book feels like an oral history of "The Greats" (I mean this as a compliment) as Gazara, her (adopted) brother Samir, and Gazara's dear friends the Cohen sisters Alma and Anne are known. There's also Honey, Anne's ex sister-in-law turned life partner, Anne's daughter Lily, and a host of others. All of them are well drawn and distinct, and bring something (sometimes literally!) to the table.

I may have needed to reread passages, or flick back to make sure I hadn't missed an earlier reference to someone, but that's okay because it's what listening to someone talk is like ("wait, who?!") and I trust Bloom enough as a stylist to know this is all very intentional.

I would have happily spent more time with the greats and their extended family, and I'm grateful to Granta and NetGalley for the chance to spend the time I had with them in the first place.

Gorgeous cover - that was the first thing that drew my attention to “I’ll Be Right Here.” Next came the blurb, which sounded exciting, promising and intriguing (it also hinted at some humour, but I can honestly say I didn’t smile once while reading this book).

Ultimately, there are far too many characters (may I repeat: too many characters!), as well as lengthy descriptions of things - like certain shawls, food, jewellery - that surprisingly add nothing to the narrative. In this case, “rich, colorful language” fails to elevate the story and instead distracts from it. I often wished Amy Bloom had devoted more space to actual action, as well as to exploring the inner worlds of the characters and the connections between them, rather than merely describing objects and surroundings.

Aside from the two main characters, Samir and Gazala, whose relationship remains so ambiguous that I’m still unsure if I understood it as the author intended, there are simply too many people mentioned, some only in passing, to truly care about any of them. The disjointed, shifting timeline only made matters worse.

All in all, this book was disappointing and tedious. I regret spending hours with “I’ll Be Right Here” - and it’s not even a very long read! I really feel I was fooled here.

With many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

A n over years timeline, vividly depicting the characters and their involvement and relationships with one another. It jumps about a bit but overall is heartwarming a real indepth visualisation of the characters and how their lives evolve.

Sorry, but I really struggled with this book - the blurb sounded so promising, but the story jumped about too much for me to become involved in the characters. I found it confusing at times, the lack of quotation marks not helping. Not one for me, I'm afraid.

A mishmash of characters some who appeared throughout the book and some who for no reason were introduced and promptly vanished along with a jumping timeline meant that I had to turn back a page or two because I thought I had missed out on something, it was beautifully written and not having read any of the author's other books, wasn't sure if this is her usual style to as I have said to have a lot of characters , personally this is not a book that I would go back and read again and this is not a slur on the author as it is well written and there were parts when I could imagine myself in the background watching the events happen.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this. I was totally engrossed and could hardly bear to put the book down. I intend to re-read it very soon.

All the characters are so vividly drawn and their lives and interactions are interesting and believable. Most of the characters are unconventional people who go their own way. I liked the inclusion of real people such as Colette and Suzanne Belperron.

It is a very warm hearted, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and moving book about all the different kinds of love and "family" and human connections. It is written in quite a matter of fact way and, rather than being a linear narrative, it is like hearing various members of a kinship group reminisce about their lives.

The scope of the book is from Paris in the 1930s right through to 21st century America. There is also some information about the post war tensions between Algeria and France. I did not know anything about this turbulent time so that was something new to learn about.

I will say that I was a bit confused at times about the time lines, especially when the second and third generations were introduced but really the timelines don't matter, it is just so good to hear all the stories and experiences.

This was an excellent read and I am going to look for other books by the author.

I had great hopes for this book, but I found it hard going. It seemed in places disjointed and the dialogue was drawn out in places.

Sadly not a book for me.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book.

I loved the set up of this book. Two sisters, their friend and brother living in New York in the post World War II era. I usually love family sagas but this one didn't hit the spot for me. There are endless internal monologues form each of the main characters. This would be fine if they were interesting and helped the reader to understand the character's feelings and motivations or drove the plot along. However, the characters thoughts rambled on in meandering sentences that seemed to lead to nowhere. I found the plot moribund and it was all rather a slog.

oh this book warmed the cockles of my soul. how lovely to see this gorgeous family of not so family family still be just as family. haha(what? did you not understand that!?)
Gazelle leaves Paris for New York during the war. and it is there that she meets and becomes friends with sister Alma and Annie. over time her brother also joins them making them four bestest friends, four members of this new family. and what a family they are. over time we see them over lifetime and events within it, and wow, how they stood with,beside and behind each other was just beautiful. it wasn't always easy but this family stood fast. these were people going through things many could relate to. but even if you dont this look into the dynamics of a family and what people go through, and then deal with it like is such a skilled telling and great read.
Bloom took us into this fours world and made us care about them too. we got to know them both as individuals and how they were as a four. the characters leap off the pages to you and Bloom gives them such life, vibrancy and colour. our character are people, real people with highs and lows, loves and losses and it can sometimes be messy and they can sometimes be messy. but they are people that makes delightful read.
ill be right here i think was a brilliant title.i dont know whether i took it the correct way so i wont embarrass myself. but for me, the way i took it, it mean a lot.

I'll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom is about love and family and friendships and different relationships and the joys and pains therein.