Our Love Could Light the World

Book Summary
You know the Dugans. They’re that scrappy family that lives down the street. Their yard is overgrown, they don’t pick up after their dog, their five children run free—leaving chaos in their wake—and the father hasn’t earned a cent in years. The wife holds them together on her income alone. You wouldn’t want them for neighbors—but from a distance, they’re quite entertaining.
You can tell from the empty bottles lying under the bush out front that alcohol is an issue in the household—and all things considered, you can hardly blame the wife for leaving one day.

Without her at the helm, the rest carry on the best they can. Their strong sense of family keeps them going. They help—and in some cases, rescue—each other as they struggle for a better life. And while they never follow the rules, or completely conquer the adversity with which they’re faced, they do manage to meet their challenges—and even earn some much-needed respect. Along the way, they might even make you proud.

Set in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, the twelve linked stories of Our Love Could Light the World depict a dysfunctional family that’s messy and rude, cruel and kind, and loyal to the end.


My Review

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. What a good way to get to know the Dugans. They are a dysfunctional family but hey what family is without their problems. Each story progressed the time line. I do have to admit that while I did enjoy reading about the Dugans, that the first couple of stories were kind of depressing. In fact, I had to put the book down for a bit and read something lighter before continuing on with this book.

So I guess you could say that I enjoyed the later stories better then the earlier ones. However the early ones do help to set up the rest of the ones nicely. This is one of those book that you can almost read continuously or one chapter a day.