The Artificial Anatomy of Parks

I absolutely loved this book for its wonderful, moving writing and utterly believable characters, many of whom will stay with me long after the reading of their stories. I especially loved Tallulah's relationship with her grandmother. I love too that no-one is painted as all bad, they each have some redeeming qualities.

“People aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness all our lives.”

― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

A shoutout also to Simon Levy Associates for the beautiful cover.

Tallulah Park is living a stagnant life when she finds out her father has had a heart attack. Estranged from her chaotic family, she is forced to confront the relationships and the issues that ran her off years ago. Stuck with the foggy memories of growing up, she is left trying to make sense of the secrets that existed beneath the understanding of her young mind. Why was her Aunt Vivienne hateful towards her mother? Why was her father stony is his emotions and distant? Who is Uncle Jack and why does the family seem to run off track when he is around? Why does there seem to be another world only the adults understand?
The first tragedy strikes and she is forced into a boarding school where her cousin also attends, but they are drifting apart. All the love and stability she knew flew away with one accident- and who is to blame? Things only seem to worsen over time, and those who seem ready to give comfort may just be injuring her more. Too much happens too fast, poisoning her youth.
At the head of the family is their terrifyingly fierce Grandmother, whose own love life has been a dark cloud. But she just may come to be her one true friend. In fact, Tallulah's grandmother is the best character of the novel with her keen understanding and biting personality.

"It's a filthy habit, you know," she says.
"I can still quit."
"The folly of youth."

This is a coming of age that seems charmed with all the cousins and aunts, but also cursed with the skeletons dancing in the closet. Everyone is damaged, it seems, by the love they chose. And when we meet Tallulah she is bitter and jaded- understanding in reverse everything she didn't know.
The grandmother really struck a chord with me, it's always the cranky ones that I grow to love.
Sadly moving family tale.

The Artificial Anatomy of Parks is a beautifully written novel showing the effects of a terrible secret on one family and in particular on Tallulah. When we first meet Tallie as a young woman she is living in a damp, grimy room, working as a waitress and has just heard that her father has had a heart attack. We learn she has not seen her heart surgeon father for five years nor any of the rest of her family. She is persuaded to visit her father by her aunts and we start to discover more about this fractured family and the secrets it keeps. Tallie was sent to boarding school by her father following a family tragedy and has always felt very distant from him. He was always there for his patients but not for her.

Tallie isn't a character I initially warmed to, seeming cold and self-contained, rejecting friendship and her family. But as I learned more about her earlier life, I ended up just wanting to give her a hug! As a child she is aware that there is something to hide about her Uncle Jack, who she has hardly ever seen and who is mentioned only in whispers. She overhears snippets of conversations which don't give her the full picture of what is going on and she doesn't really understand. I'm sure many of us remember our curiosity being piqued by whispered or abruptly cut off adults' conversations when we were young!

For me the strength of this novel was in the character development. From her reserved father, to sensible Aunt Gillian, flighty Aunt Vivienne, her terrifying grandmother, Toby, Malkie and Tallie's various cousins, all are so well defined you feel that you really have an insight to them. Even those who seem to be unlikable at first are shown to have redeeming features. Tallie's relationship with her grandmother was one I particularly liked. Far from terrifiying, she becomes Tallie's ally when all is going wrong at school for her.

This is a stunning, quietly compelling novel, an exploration of the effects of secrets on a family. But it is also a novel about finally coming to know the truth, rediscovering love and how to love yourself. A brilliant debut - I will be watching out for more by Kat Gordon.

The Artificial Anatomy of Parks is the story of Tallulah 'Tallie' Park. After Tallie receives a phone call to say her father has suffered a heart attack it makes Tallie even more determined to resolve unanswered questions from her past.

The majority of the story is told in the form of Tallie growing up where we discover as with many families there are dark hidden secrets within it. I found the story to flow at a steady pace and even though I had guessed correctly what part of the secret was, I wasn't expecting the rest of it. This didn't lessen my enjoyment what so ever of the book though as I really enjoyed the journey that the author takes us on.

I really liked Tallie's character, I think she is very much misunderstood by family, teachers and friends alike, yet with her vulnerability there is also a great strength there. Uncle jack fascinated me and like Tallie was very intrigued to find out more about him. There are quite a lot of characters who I wasn't over keen on to start with, mainly in the form of Tallie's grandmother and aunties, even her father but as the story progresses they did start to grow on me.

This book is so well written and I easily lost myself in the story, I find it hard to believe that this is the authors debut novel and look forward to reading more by her in the future.

What a wonderful book- so exciting to have uncovered a potentially new favourite author- captivating from the word go!
Each character was beautifully drawn and utterly believable, creating an incredibly moving, web of a tale that had me hooked throughout. You know you have found and experienced something special when the story lingers long after the last page. Very well done Ms Gordon - look forward to more of the same and big thank you to NetGalley for treating me to this advance copy.

Review By Stephanie

I want to thank Kat Gordon, Legend Press and NetGalley for giving us this book for my honest review.

I am floored this is the debut novel by Kat Gordon! Her writing, character development and story telling were all on point. I was captivated by this family drama.

The story follows Tallulah Park who is estranged from her family. She is forced to confront her family demons after her father's heart attack.

I am not one to quote but this one hit me and has stuck with me! It's an amazing quote that really represents this book and life!!

“People aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness all our lives.”

One click this 5 star book NOW!!! It was amazing and I really look forward to reading more from Kat Gordon!

The Artificial Anatomy of Parks is a beautifully written and moving debut from Kat Gordon – a deeply intense family drama with some brilliantly drawn authentic characters and actually a really emotional read.

A coming of age tale where family secrets are rife we see Tally growing up amongst an eclectic and fascinating group of family characters, where she is today very much informed by where she has come from.

The author has a really great way of telling the story in a gorgeously readable style and engages the reader from the very first page – this is a novel full of depth of character, emotional resonance and very insightful observations, as such it made for an intriguing read.

Kat Gordon is a writer to watch – building the layers of her tale in a truly alluring way, keeping you immersed into the story of Tallie and her life this is a remarkably accomplished debut and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

Highly Recommended.

Uncovering Tallulah Parks' troubled past explains why she has not spoken to her family in five years. An interesting examination of how our upbringing and childhood influences affect us as we grow up.

The sins of the fathers?

Tallie is on the run from her family and the pain she have had experienced. The Parks are odd family of different personalities - yet every one of them is damaged (or better said hurt) in their own way. And they can not communicate well with the others - so they are just living with the shared secrets. But 10-year-old Tallulah is very perceptive.
So when strange Uncle Jack enters the scene, Tallie knows something is going on - with her beautiful, loving mother suddenly gets ill and her father is going colder and colder. And then her mother, the center of her universe, dies. And Tallie is sent off to the boarding school - hurt, alone and with scary suspicions clouding her heart. And The Park cycle continues with the hurt and the inability to share it.
So Tallie runs and runs from life - until her father gets seriously sick. And now maybe it’s time to find out about the secrets.

This is deep, touching story, packed with hurtingly beautiful emotions and tons of authenticity. It reveals its depths slowly, but the long read is very much worth it. And maybe it is so relatable because the Parks, this eccentric, odd pack, are really the every family with the closet full of skeletons and human, messy, embarrassing way of dealing with them. And while this is a deep book, it is also a very catchy read - not always the case, but here I went willing with the long ride and the truths which has been hitting close to home from time to time. Because I, too, can not always know how to communicate my true feelings and how to ask the hard questions while maintaining the open heart.

Recommended read.