Almost Family Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

I love snarky characters. I enjoy how they are honest with the situations around them, come up with witty one-liners, and demonstrate vulnerability throughout the book. They are truly my favorite type of person to read about. When I heard that a new novel called Almost Family by Ann Bancroft (not the Oscar-winning actress and Mel Brooks’s deceased wife) involved a sarcastic and cancer-stricken woman attending a support group, I knew I had to read it. And reader, I’m glad I did, for it was funny, heartfelt, and vulnerable.

Almost Family is about a woman dying from cancer who finds an unexpected family and discovers things about herself. Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a daughter who won’t speak to her, and obsessive memories over a relationship that tore her marriage apart. She vows to never attend a support group while she’s alive. However, since she’s dying, she might as well give it a go. Mercy’s Thriving Survivors holds its meeting in the least depressing place possible: a Nordstrom’s employee training lounge. It’s here where Liz hits it off with two other patients, Rhonda – a devout, nice woman – and Dave – a gay Vietnam veteran. Together, Liz, Rhonda, and Dave ditch the group and form their own called The Oakland Mets. Their goal is to live life as much as possible. In all of this, Liz learns to open up and get close. They want to have a good time, but what they end up doing is helping one another come to terms with dying and resolving the unfinished business in their lives.

First and foremost, I want to talk about the cover. It looks like the perfect picture, but up close, it’s not. I love how the frame is actually the wires that connect to an IV bag and the bag itself decorated with pill bottles and a martini. It accurately sets up Liz’s world and how it’s dominated by her cancer and the hospital. 

Also, it’s genuinely hilarious. The humor mainly comes from Liz’s observations. For instance, in the Prologue, she gives the reasons why she couldn’t think of anything worse than joining a support group in the past. Specifically, she says, “Two hours in a circle of folding chairs, trapped with all that angst. The on and on and on of it all. Bad parents. Drunken husbands. Jobs not only shitty but so low paid you can’t even afford your own shrink, so there you all are in a group session, talking about your shitty jobs.” (p. 1).

It sets up the tone of the novel as well as Liz’s character well. This monologue feels like it could’ve come from a Lily Tomlin standup routine. If Almost Family ever gets adapted into a movie, I would love to see her play Liz.

In lesser hands, Liz’s caustic lines could have been one note, but Brancroft smartly develops that character. The novel slowly reveals that Liz uses humor and self deprecation as a defense mechanism because she has a hard time opening up and saying what she truly feels. This makes her a truly dynamic person.

Moreover, Bancroft also balances humor with sincerity, and this is not just with Liz. Her Oakland Mets pals Rhonda and Dave have plenty of moments, in which they reveal their backstories and their frustrations with their cancers and their lives overall. They could’ve been one-note characters, but I’m glad that the author developed them as much as she did with Liz because I was emotionally invested in all three and their stories. I wonder if Bancroft will write books about Rhonda and Dave since they were so compelling.

Finally, I enjoyed how vulnerable it can be. At first, Liz distracts herself from her cancer diagnosis with snarky remarks and keeping busy. Over the course of the novel, she realizes why she does this. She has difficulty confronting problems head on, and her inability especially rings true when she tries to muster up the courage to tell her daughter about the cancer. This leads to a lot of misunderstandings between the two, and it doesn’t help that they had some to begin with.

Almost Family by Ann Bancroft is a wonderful novel about a cancer-stricken woman learning to open up and come to terms with life. As I mentioned earlier, I love sarcastic characters, and Liz is no different. The humor comes naturally and is balanced with earnest and vulnerability. Bancroft develops the people in the Oakland Mets thoroughly as well. I would recommend this to readers who love to read about snarky characters, people dealing with cancer, coming to terms with death in a light way, family issues, and people learning to stand up for themselves. Almost Family is out now, so go grab it wherever you get your books.

Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!