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The Names
Florence Knapp
Publication Date: May 6th, 2025
Penguin Group | Viking Penguin | Pamela Dorman Books
336 Pages
Amazon | Goodreads | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | Literary Fiction | Women’s Fiction
Oh my gosh, this book is an amazing debut. My sister’s family has John I, II, III and IV, so I totally get it. They all have different middle names, but the middle names all start with the letter M, so I found this book personal in that aspect. This story is about Cora, who needs to name her son, and she doesn’t like the decision her husband makes. I loved all the different points of view, getting into everyone’s head and reading their thoughts. Each character name was well defined, and it was clear which name I was reading about. It goes to show that even the most mundane decision of naming your child can influence a child’s life and those around him. Each one was complex and had distinct hardships, even though they all came from the same place.
This was a very unique book with different layers to each character’s story, and the timeline flowed beautifully as well, all 35 years. It is a wonderfully written and emotionally profound story, and what I took from it is what one choice can do to someone’s life and how that single decision can affect someone’s life for a long time. And we all must remember that even small decisions can have big consequences. This was a tough read, and it really got to me without a doubt.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
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