When I saw Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith on someone’s Instagram, I was intrigued straight away. I knew this book would sound up my alley and therefore I knew I wanted to read it. I thought I would love it as it’s a family saga and I usually enjoy this type of books. Furthermore, I was sure I already read a book by this author as she published a lot of young adult novels. But no, even in my YA days, I didn’t read any. I have another of her books, The unsinkable Greta James, on my TBR however. But did I enjoy this author’s newest book?

About the book

Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith
Published by Ballantine Books on April 8, 2025
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780593358306
Genres: Literary fiction, General fiction, Contemporary, Adult
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

A breathtaking, joy-filled novel about the people we love, the secrets we keep, and the enduring power of family, from the bestselling author of The Unsinkable Greta James.

The four Endicott siblings—Gemma, Connor, Roddy, and Jude—were once inseparable, a bond created by the absence of their dazzling, mercurial mother, who would return for a few weeks each summer to whisk them off on sprawling road trips around the country.

Decades later, the unthinkable has happened: the Endicotts haven’t spoken in years . . . until an out-of-the-blue text arrives from Jude, now a famous actress, summoning them to a small town in North Dakota. They’re each at a crossroads: Gemma, who put her own ambitions aside to raise the others, now isn’t sure if she wants to be a mother herself; Connor, a celebrated novelist, is floundering after his recent divorce and suffering from an epic case of writer’s block; and Roddy, at the tail end of a professional soccer career, is dangerously close to losing his future husband for the chance at one last season.

Jude is the only Endicott who seems to have it all together—but appearances can be deceiving. As the weekend unfolds, and the siblings wrestle with their shared past and uncertain futures, they’ll discover that Jude has been keeping three secrets . . . each of which could change everything.

A captivating journey and an ode to forgiveness that takes readers across all fifty states, Fun for the Whole Family brims with heart and resonates long after the final page.

In short

Like:

• The story is told through multiple points of view and includes flashbacks which gives you a good overview of the family dynamics and the past events.
• The writing is easy to follow which makes it easy to finish this book quickly.
• The love the siblings still have for each other, even though a lot has happened and mistakes were made.
• The obviousness of the inclusion of the side characters in the group.
• The exploration of deeper themes.

Didn’t like:

• Because of the multiple points of view and the quick changes, the characters haven’t been that well-written and lack depth.
• The plot contains lots of predictable events.
• It was hard to feel the emotions and connect to the story.
• The ending was pretty obvious somehow.

My review

As this is my introduction to this author, I didn’t know what to expect. However, I love myself a good family saga, so this made me keen reading this book. Families who lost touch with each other and reunite after some years seems to be a popular trope recently, because we see many books including this in one way or another. I have different experiences with these, but mostly the character growth is what stands out to me the most.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case with this novel. Smith introduces multiple characters at once and switches back and forth to their individual story. There are flashbacks as well, these are necessary to get a good grip on the situation and what made this family the way they are. Whereas multiple points of view and the heavy switching between them often provides a good insight in said characters and their story, in this novel these fall flat. All characters lacked depth. We don’t get to know them that well. All four siblings have something to tell and there is just not enough room for all of them and the side characters. Although they haven’t been well-written, the love they have for each other is still existent after being out of touch for so long. The side characters are included in the group without question, which was nice to see.

As there is a lot of POV switching and just not enough room and space for everyone and everything, it’s hard to get emotionally attached and feel a connection to this family. Smith’s writing adds up to this as the chapters are pretty short, especially with the earlier mentioned flashbacks included. I still was able to finish this book pretty quickly, but can’t deny that I was bored at times and therefore not too intrigued by the family and their secrets. Somehow, the ending was obvious and the plot itself pretty predictable. Some events feel very forced and just there for filler purposes. This is pretty unfortunate and takes away form character growth and enjoyment, especially in a character driven novel. Maybe I had too high expectations, maybe it was the circumstances, but I wasn’t fully intrigued.

As promising as Fun for the Whole Family by Jennifer E. Smith sounded, it didn’t meet my expectations. In family sagas, characters and their growth are quite important, in which this book is lacking a lot. These characters have some deeper layers, but as they all got a necessary point of view, there was not enough room left for the author to explore them more in depth. Furthermore, the plot was a bit obvious and predictable, with me being bored on multiple occasions as a result. I still want to read another book by this author to give her a fair chance, but this reading experience was unfortunately underwhelming.