The Floating Feldmans

May 20, 2019
Friedland’s delightful latest (after The Intermission) chronicles the events that transpire on a cruise that a fraught family takes to celebrate their matriarch’s 70th birthday. It’s easy for middle-aged siblings Elise Connelly and Freddy Feldman to fall into their old childhood roles of golden child and loser whenever they’re around their parents, even though Elise has since disappointed their doctor dad David by ditching medical school for motherhood, and formerly unfocused Freddy is now, unbeknownst to his family, a multimillionaire after finding his niche in the legal marijuana business. Freddy can see this same sad dynamic playing out with his honor student niece Rachel and her unmotivated younger brother, Darius. Elise’s secret shopping addiction has depleted Darius’s college fund just as he gets ready to leave the nest. Elise is also unaware that her husband, Mitch, has plans to quit his job as managing editor at the Sacramento Bee to start a literary magazine. And Annette, whose birthday they are to celebrate, is the only one who knows that David has cancer. Friedland’s plot owes a lot to miscommunication and secrets being conveniently revealed at key moments. This doesn’t make for the most natural narrative flow, but her skill at depicting familial tensions is top-notch. Fans of multitudinous conflicts in an ensemble cast will enjoy the ride.

May 15, 2019
A family embarks on a cruise together--but will the weight of their secrets sink the whole ship? Elise Feldman Connelly knows she has a problem. She can't stop shopping even though she's blown through her family's savings and obliterated her son's college fund. She just has to keep her addiction a secret from her husband, Mitch, until she can figure out a solution. But when Elise's mother, Annette, insists the entire family go on a cruise together for her 70th birthday, it becomes clear that Elise isn't the only one with a secret. Elise's father is hiding an illness, Mitch is contemplating a career change, and both of Elise's children have their own complicated lives. Perhaps the biggest secret is being kept by Elise's brother, Freddy, whom everyone assumes is nothing more than an aging stoner. He's actually the head of a hugely successful marijuana company, a fact he hasn't shared with the uptight Feldmans. While Annette just wanted her whole family together under one roof, keeping everyone happy on a cruise ship plagued with crowds, bad food, and forced fun proves to be almost impossible. As family resentment simmers and eventually blows up, the Feldmans learn that maybe they all have more in common than they thought. Friedland (The Intermission, 2018, etc.) creates vivid characters with distinct voices, from the outwardly critical matriarch to the insecure teenager. The story is at its best when the whole family is together, allowing their individual personalities to bounce off one another. There's also some sharp commentary about the pitfalls of cruises, and even readers who've never been on one will feel positively claustrophobic as they read about the cramped cabins the Feldmans stay in. A fun look at family drama on the open seas.

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July 1, 2019

In this third novel from Friedland (after The Intermission), three generations of the semiestranged Feldman family reluctantly come together to celebrate matriarch Annette's 70th birthday with a Caribbean cruise. Annette's hopes for a week of family bonding seem doomed from the start. Each member of her fractured family has a secret. Her husband, David, a retired physician, now battling cancer, insists that they keep his illness from their adult children and grandchildren. Their black sheep eldest son, Freddy, suddenly seems to have some liquidity--and an incongruously beautiful younger girlfriend. Their daughter, once a brilliant student, seems lost. Elise's goyish husband, Mitch, has made a major life decision without telling his wife. The couple's teenage children are completely opaque to parents and grandparents alike. Over the course of a truly terrible seven-day excursion, all of their secrets will come out. VERDICT Friedland's well-executed and smartly structured novel features chapters from each character's point of view. The simple but clever premise lets the author explore the complicated tensions of family relationships in a compressed and directed way. Narcissistic and sometimes unlikable protagonists can be hard to sympathize with, but there is dry humor and a certain sweetness as well.--Lindsay Morton, P.L. of Science, San Francisco

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2019
Get ready to set sail on a sea of dysfunction in the latest novel from Friedland (The Intermission, 2018). Annette Feldman only wants one thing for her seventieth birthday: to celebrate the milestone with her estranged grown children, Elise and Freddy. Having booked a week-long cruise aboard the Ocean Queen, Annette hopes the forced togetherness will, well, bring them closer together. But a week at sea may just be what sinks the Feldman clan, as problematic secrets, latent resentment, and old sibling rivalries are brought to light. Will the Feldmans need to send out an SOS to save themselves? Or will seeing one another for who they really are help them to keep afloat? Friedland uses multiple perspectives, witty dialogue, and complex characters that are incredibly relatable to deliver a funny, astute look at the family dynamic and the relationships shared within. Whether on a cruise or taking a staycation, contemporary readers will want to have The Floating Feldmans on deck.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)