Pineapple Street

⭐️⭐️

I read this book as part of a readalong. It was hyped up and I was genuinely excited to get into it. Unfortunately it fell flat for me and as I got 100 pages in, I didn’t really know where the story was going. I honestly would have DNF, if it wasn’t for the readalong and then I was just sticking around to see if the characters would grow. To me, there was no real plot.

The story follows a super rich family - the Stocktons who come from generational wealth. The story is told from three perspectives. We have Georgiana and Darley who are the daughters, and then, Sasha who is their sister in law, marrying their brother Cord. Georgiana is the youngest sibling working at a nonprofit. Darley skipping her inheritance to give to her children rather than making her husband Malcolm sign a pre-nup. Sasha marrying into wealth and not wanting to sign a pre-nup (which seems like an issue for some Stockton family members).

Much of the story centres around class and privilege. Their social circles are that of other rich white people. The Stocktons lack communication on anything that matters. They sometimes come across as clueless and uncultured. When I was reading their challenges, I felt at the same time, they weren't really problems that weren't easily solved through their wealth and/or communication. A BIPOC character is added maybe to check off a box, but he could have been white, as it didn't really make much of a difference to the story, in my opinion.

Georgiana, the youngest of the family, unbeknownst to her, starts having an affair with a man Brady from her office. Even after finding out, she tries to stop it from continuing, then doesn't. When Brady dies in a plane crash, she starts spiralling from grief, turning to pills and alcohol. We are meant to feel sorry for her, but I still think her continuing an affair was wrong. It was unfortunate that he died, but if he didn't, I don't know that she would have grown as a person at the end. It was definitely a wake up call when her drinking and pill consumption gets out of control. She then becomes inspired for change by someone else, starts her personal philanthropic journey, but would she have done that out of her own merit and mindset? Probably not. I'm glad she got the therapy she needed to handle her grief.

Darley - what a frustrating character. Wonderful that she "gave up" her inheritance for love, but Malcolm her husband had a good job, so was she really giving up anything? She was still living it up and when he lost his job, I couldn't help but think, so what? Darley not telling her parents, didn't really make sense. They're rich, they have connections. Her parents could have easily set them up with some other rich people, to help her or Malcolm gain a job. What made me mad about her, was that people would make inappropriate comments of her children. Malcolm being Korean, meant they had biracial children. Darley would just get mad if people called them "exotic" or made some other inappropriate Asian reference. We live in a world where educating others goes a long way. She could have stuck up for her children a bit better or changed the narrative. I’m of Asian descent, so reading this was frustrating. Seen it so many times when it’s happened to me personally.

Sasha was probably the only likeable character for me. I thought her connection with Cord was cute. Cord was annoying at times, as he came across as living in his own bubble and had poor communication skills, which is apparent with every family member. It was unfair for certain Stocktons to label her a gold digger, when she already had a life on her own without their money. She tried hard to fit in and they were sometimes very unwelcoming. I liked that she still did art with her friends, grew from her trauma and set boundaries with Cord at the end. She needed him to be on her side on things that mattered for her. Also really loved when she lost it at the Stocktons towards the end, so they could come to some realisations of their own.

Overall, I thought the writing was good and flowed really well. I just wanted more from it - more humour, more plot, more meaning, more character development, more of an ending... It was like the book was always teetering on becoming more but never quite going over that edge to wow us.

Don't understand how this is rated so highly, as it makes me wonder if I read something different to others.