This Is How It Always Is (Frankel) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
A bold, honest, heartbreaking story about the choices parents make, and how life goes on, but not always according to plan. This must-read novel… is the perfect pick for book clubs.
PopSugar


One of the most timely and big-hearted family stories I have read in a long time…This is a beautiful novel about the unexpected curve balls of parent and sibling relationships, and the limitless boundaries of family love.
Bustle


(Starred review.) Frankel's slightly askew voice, exemplified by Rosie and Penn's nontraditional gender roles, keeps the narrative sharp and surprising. This is a wonderfully contradictory story—heartwarming and generous, yet written with a wry sensibility.
Publishers Weekly


This novel offers a timely and thoughtful look at the life of a transgender child. It is also a touching and sympathetic account that is brimming with life and hard to put down. —Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
Library Journal


(Starred review.) [T]he challenges of raising a transgender child.... Though well-plotted, well-researched, and unflaggingly interesting, the novel is cloying at times, with arch formulations, preachy pronouncements.... [Still, as] thought-provoking a domestic novel as we have seen this year.
Kirkus Reviews