The Two-Family House

I just finished reading the last page of The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Logiman.  I am still wiping away the last tears from my eyes as I start writing this review.  It is surprising that even though the secret that occurs early in the novel and that is supposed to have a suspenseful build up throughout the novel was not really a surprise ( I had it figured out right away),  I still could not put the book down and was waiting to see how Logiman would use it at the end.  Also I was so caught up in the characters and plot line that even though I knew what would be revealed I could not wait to read about it and I was so emotionally moved by the ending.

This a story about family, love and loss, selfishness, greed and longing.  The classic, "the grass is always greener in someone else's yard" plot line runs through this book.   This book illustrates how jealousy can not only tear apart relationships, but can tear a person apart inside themselves.

Logiman follows the lives of two brothers who work together and share a two family house with their wives and children.  For a while I thought about how much fun it seemed to be sharing your children upstairs and down, sharing meals and having coffee with your sister-in-law whenever.  But of course life does not always follow a perfect course.  We see how misperception can start to naw away at people when they think things are better in another person's life.   We see how secrets and deception can unravel relationships.  It does not always work out for the best when you alter the course of destiny.

The two brothers have issues they have never been able to discuss and come to terms with.  One is envious of the other.  One is intimidated by the other.  The two wives who seem so close make a decision that will tear their relationship apart.  So many people living under one roof and in the end it shows how little they all know and understand each other.  As readers we are almost privy to a secret, but we are on the outside hearing the story of life in their Two-Family House from the perspective of each different family member.  So the suspense is built as time goes by and we find out the outcome of the secret when the members of the family do.

Logiman has written a terrific plot that grips the reader from the beginning and makes you wonder who are the good guys and who is at fault.  Are there evil characters in this novel or are all the family members just naturally flawed as real human beings are flawed?