By Larissa Page
The Relatives is the newest release from the Giller finalist and award-winning author Camilla Gibb. The Relatives tells three different stories from three different characters whose lives are not at all linked, but whose DNA or the DNA of their loved ones might be. Lila is a social worker dealing with her demons on her way to becoming a mother. Adam is an aid worker who is kidnapped and held captive in Africa and has his own demons to face during and after. And Tess is trying to manage her feelings around her ex Emily using their (biologically Tess’s) embryos to grow her family when Tess never identified with motherhood to begin with.
The Relatives is a short read, capping off at just over 200 pages, something I managed to read in a single (holiday) Monday. The stories of each of the characters and the writing itself move along quickly enough to keep the reader engaged. Each of the three stories is almost completely unrelated (except for the linking genetic material), but each also has its own story arc, and each of the characters is developed to an extent within their own storyline.
Personally, I found there to be a bit too much time given to the initial part of each character’s story and not enough on the end part or resolution. For example, I wanted the whole novel to be about Lila and Robin, or about Tess and her trip to Greece and the relationship she’d built with her son as a child when she didn’t connect with him as a baby or being a mother in that way. These storylines, along with Adam’s captivity, were the bulk of half or over half of the book, but then each story shifted onto a new trajectory that wasn’t unrelated to that initial part but also wasn’t completely linked to it or to the other stories.
Additionally, I do wish the three stories had linked up more at the end. I expected they would as they were so unrelated, and I assumed there would be a coming together, but there was not. Each story also felt unfinished and unresolved. I am someone who loves an open-ended story or an unfinished ending, a messy ending even, but I felt like this story just stopped with no conclusion at all.
All that said, Gibb’s writing is, without a doubt, incredible. Both easy to read and sophisticated with excellent descriptions of settings and feelings as well as relationships. This isn’t surprised considering she is a renowned author, so perhaps this novel requires a step back and a consideration that the important parts may not be the linked storylines but the statements made on what it means to be a family, what motherhood looks like to can look like if it is outside of the norm, and what it means to be linked to another person by genetic material or not.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.