The Atlas of Untold Stories by Sara Brunsvold

Book Synopsis;

Irrepressible dreamer Chloe Vance needs to tell her pragmatic mom, Edie, that she has accepted a low-paying, two-year art instructor role at a Christian international school in Prague. And her older sister, Lauren--the "responsible one"--is doing all she can to keep the family from finding out she has been fired for a stupid mistake, plus figure out her next career move. Meanwhile, Edie, estranged from her own sister following their mother's recent death, is frankly in no mood for anything else to change.

The one thing they can all agree on? Life in books sure is easier to figure out than life in the real world. As the three women embark on a nine-day road trip to visit significant literary sites throughout America's heartland, they hope to find inspiration through the works and lives of literary greats. And as they experience firsthand the adventure and wonder of the classics, they'll have to come to terms with their own needs and desires, as well as those of the most important women in their lives--each other.

My Review:

3.5/5 stars. A couple years ago, I read The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by this same author and loved it. I was hoping I would like this one just as much, especially because the idea of a bookish road trip sounded so fun. Unfortunately, this book was not as enjoyable. I liked the concept and setting, but the characters didn't resonate with me, and I found some of them to be pretty unlikable. The faith content was good, but some of the lessons felt very heavy-handed.

As I said, the characters were the biggest downside of this book for me. I liked Chloe, but Lauren and Edie were hard to like. Especially Edie. She was kind of a jerk for most of the book, just very judgmental about everyone and complaining about the trip. She had a lot of negative internal comments directed at strangers just for their appearance or behavior, and she always talked about how hot it was or how much or feet hurt or how bad the hotel room was instead of enjoying the trip. I understand that she was partly intentionally written that way, but it was too much for me. I felt for her situation and her past childhood trauma, but I still never liked her much.

Lauren was better than her mother, but she had her own issues. Whether it was intentional or not, she was definitely written as having an eating disorder. She worked out so hard she could barely stand after, she rarely ate more than some grapes and crackers as her full meal, and she was constantly thinking about the appearance of her stomach. The story never really addressed it fully, though. Chloe noticed she barely ate but never brought it up, and then the resolution was just "she was eating fuller meals now." Another part of Lauren's story I took issue with was just the fact that, even by the end of the book, it was sort of unclear why exactly she got fired. I would have liked a more direct explanation.

Grant, Edie's husband and the girls' dad, was the best character, despite his minimal appearances. He was kind, patient, funny, and the voice of reason. While I know it would ruin the core setup of the story, I feel like the road trip would've been a lot more enjoyable if he had joined them.

Speaking of the core of the story, the plot kind of stressed me out. That is both a good and bad thing. It's good because it meant I was invested enough to want things to work out for the characters, but it was also just unpleasant to read sometimes. I hated how everyone kept their problems bottled up for so long. There was so much tension, and I just wanted the family to reveal things and love each other. I was surprised by how long it took for any resolution to begin.

There was less Christian content in this book compared to Mrs. Kip, but it felt way less natural. In the other book, most of the nuggets of wisdom I loved came from Mrs. Kip herself through dialogue, and it made sense that she would say those things. In this book, most of the lessons/messages we were supposed to take away came from the narration. It was like the author inserted herself and just outright told us. The book was in limited-3rd person POV, and it didn't make sense for the characters to be articulating the ideas.

The ending was very heartwarming, though. I was happy with how everything worked out for the characters. I will be reading another Sara Brunsvold book, even though this one was a miss for me.

Content:

Language: someone curses, but the word is never said

Sexual Content: kisses between a married couple, closeness and kissing that is not described

Violence/Gore: a character breaks her finger from a fall

Drugs/Alcohol: none