Kith and Kin Kindle Edition

If I had to sum this book up in one word, I’d choose: real.Kith and Kin deserves many more words. The book is a near perfect family saga. The only thing that would have made it more perfect would have been another seven hundred pages including the relationship between Singer’s parents and Miles’ eventual adulthood. (So, two more books, please!)Not only is the story engaging and absorbing, Kris Ripper has created a world I was perfectly content to live in while the characters sorted themselves out. I loved that there were multiple points of view and multiple stories.Back to this realness. One of the feelings Kris captured so well here is that weirdness that comes with being an adult child, especially when dealing with parents who haven’t really acknowledged that fact. Just about my favourite scene was when Jake and Lisa had to sneak out of the house to avoid Lisa’s mother—while carrying a baby.Singer’s feelings on becoming a parent. On being a parent. Yeah. So much of that. Whether you carry a child or adopt one, this is a real, real thing. Being suddenly responsible for a tiny human being is terrifying. There’s the fear of dropping the kid or watching them choke. The usual stuff. There’s also that awful feeling that you’re not the parent you thought you’d be, or that this child needs. I loved watching Singer grow into his role, even while it was sometimes painful.Jake. I could write pages on Jake. What I loved most about him were his perfect imperfections. He didn’t magically understand what was going on with Singer. He reacted—as humans tend to do. His hurt and confusion were so real.Lisa’s story is equally fascinating and I also like that there was no magic cure for her, too. That her solution was to basically do life.And Mother. OMG. That fine line between being someone I wanted to despise, and yet felt a serious amount of sympathy toward? Kris nailed it. I cried. In fact, I cried lots of times in this book. In public and private—because I toted it around with me and read it every chance I got.I’m sad it’s done and if Kris ever chose to write something like this again, I’d pre-order it before ze finished the first draft.

I have never read any single book this beautifully complex. There are six mayor plots and subplots, and so much subtext on family, relationships, parenting, therapy, autonomy, kink, communication, and adoption, just to name the ones that immediately come to mind, that I took my time reading, trying not to miss anything.Read the Author's Acknowledgments! :)This is in the 'Scientific Method' universe, like off to one side. I think it kind of helped to have read those, but I think they aren't necessary. Which is astonishing, because there are so many Derrys. But Ripper made it work.Really highly recommended.

So, who cried through most of this book? Everybody. Basically, I wanted to hug everybody except for Viv (who I wanted to pimpslap). And the running timeline was an interesting twist. And, as always, the Derriers were fantastic.

I read this book in a single day (a working day) and cried like a baby at the end of it, what more do you want?This is a lovely book. Genuinely lovely, as in found-family, people being good to one another, screwing up and forgiveness and love and reaching out. Community. Things being how they ought to. People not being okay really, but being loved anyway. This stuff goes straight to my tear ducts. Excuse me, I need a hanky.It's got a central key romance theme--gay couple Singer and Jake in the throes of trying to adopt a baby--but there's two m/f romances as well, one with an asexual. And there's a lot more as well--parental relationships, the family of the baby, friendships, recovery from damage, realisation of lifelong errors. It's very much a book about reaching out and holding on and how hard it is to get stuff right.And it's compelling. I read it in a day because I had to know how it turned out, although there's no huge dramatic stuff. You just need to know what happens to these people, is all.In a world that feels increasingly angry and fragmented and bitter, this is a book about people making stuff work. Often out of bad places, but still making it work. I really needed that.Terrifically written, hugely readable. An Irish coffee of a book--mostly warm and comforting, spiked with seriously grown-up stuff, and makes you feel a hell of a lot better. Massive recommend.

Other reviewers have said it so well already. All I can really add is that I saw aspects of myself in more than one character, and perhaps even learned something about myself from reading this beautiful book about varied forms of human connection.

This is a really lovely, sprawling tale of a family - both natural and made. It's a long and winding road, once filled with fascinating characters and different personal journeys. I adored it, and cried my face off.