Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024--San Antonio

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly is set in New Zealand but has been recommended by various U.S. national publications.  Its two main characters are young adults (older brother and younger sister) whose extended families are a multicultural mix of immigrants from various former U.S.S.R. member republics and Spain plus the native Maori community.  All the main characters have somewhat quirky senses of humor providing unique and humorous reactions the experiences they are having in life.  It took me a while to realize all of this was the case.  Because of that and the large number of characters I considered whether to continue reading the book.  By the time I was 50% of the way through, I had started seeing the patterns of humor and laughing aloud at times (but still had trouble remembering who was who at times).  Anyway, I started reading though the rest of the book at a faster pace wanting to see what was going to occur.  Many of the characters are also sexually fluid or gay, so it is common for one character to have been with the opposite sex and now be with the same sex in relationships or to have had affairs with a character sexually different from the one who is their partner.  There are also relationships involving age differences.  In other words, it is a novel about characters who represent society as it really exists--characters that are difficult for many people to accept because of historical definitions of what makes a family and what a family should be.  This is not a book for a cisgender person who believes that sex should be between a "man" and a "woman" unless that person is open to considering that they have been too rigid in their understandings and beliefs and are ready to accept that others are leading happy lives (and have a right to do so) in ways that they have not felt were appropriate.  I eventually found the characters to be delightful and the story to be fascinating.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.