“Five estranged cousins are lost in a maze of their family’s tangled secrets. Their grandparents, former potato farmers Gottfried and Marla Hemmings, managed to trade digging spuds for developing subdivisions and now they sit atop a million-dollar bank account—wealth they’ve refused to pass on to their adult children or their five teenage grandchildren. “Because we want them to thrive,” Marla always says.

But for the Hemmings cousins, “thriving” feels a lot like slowly dying of a poison they started taking the moment they were born. As the rot beneath the surface of the Hemmings’ white suburban respectability destroys the family from within, the cousins find their ways back to one another, just in time to uncover the terrible cost of maintaining the family name.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book that I bought for my Kindle.

Thoughts: This is a weighty book (subject wise) and not necessarily a comfortable read. It also takes some time to process. The story follows five individuals (they end up being cousins but you don’t know that at the beginning of the book). Each of them lives in less than ideal situations; one has a dying father and no mother, one lives with a single mom who is obsessive about stealing, one lives with an abusive father, one lives with a very aggressively racist white pride mom, and one seems to be able to flit about the world at her will.

I just now read the synopsis here and it is kind of spoiler filled in my opinion. Part of the fun of reading this was the journey of trying to figure out how all these five teens were connected. At first the story seems a bit random, jumping from one character to the next, but I love how it all came together. Then there is the Freak, who is able to fade in and out of different locations at will; I love the magical realism this added to the story and found the premise behind this intriguing (although it remains a mystery for most of the book).

There are a lot of social issues tackled here too. Racism is the most prevalent theme, as is the ever present benefit that being a white suburbanite gives you in society. However, there are also strong discussions around abuse, anger/hate issues, mental health, and sexism. In addition to that this book takes a good look at that white privilege suburban culture and picks it apart. Is this class actually happier because of their privilege or are they as much of a mess as everyone else?

Through Gottfried and Marla we get a look at an older couple’s perspective as well; they made money and stability for themselves (not their family) their top priority. However, does that make them responsible for their kids’ decisions? Should they have supported their kids better in the past and can they make amends by supporting them better now? What about their mental health issues (especially Marla’s) and the way that is reflected in their kids?

As I said there’s a lot going on here. It’s very well written and very engaging. I had a lot of trouble putting this book down, I just had to know how things were going to unfold. The way the story came together was amazing. Given the nature of the story it is fairly open ended, however, I thought it ended perfectly. I have read almost all of King’s books (I haven’t read Switch yet) and this is definitely one of the strongest ones. It’s not as whimsical as some of her other stories and is less ambiguous as well.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I absolutely loved this. I am a huge A.S. King fan anyway but I thought this was one of her strongest novels yet. This takes a look at such a wide breadth of societal and mental issues and does it in such an engaging way. I loved how the whole story came together. This is an uncomfortable read at points (there is self harm, abuse, rape, hate crimes) but everything was very relevant to the story. I would recommend to those who don’t mind a heavier, thoughtful read that makes you take a hard look at our society.

Review – Dig by A.S. King (5/5 stars)

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