Author: Alex Schulman
Publisher: Penguin Randomhouse Canada

A gripping tour de force in which three estranged brothers return to the Swedish lakeside cottage where, more than two decades before, an unspeakable accident forever altered their family and changed the course of their lives.

"Takes you deep into an emotional labyrinth [where] you'll cry for these brothers. For the men they became, for the boys they were, for the innocence they lost. Brilliant, haunting and unforgettable." —Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove

There is Nils, the oldest, who couldn't escape his suffocating home soon enough, and Pierre, the youngest, easily bullied and quick to lash out. And then there is Benjamin, always the family's nerve center, perpetually on the lookout for triggers and trap doors in a volatile home where the children were left to fend for themselves, competing for their father's favor and their mother's elusive love.

But as the years have unfolded, Benjamin has grown increasingly untethered from reality, frozen in place while life carries on around him. And among the brothers a dangerous current now vibrates. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces?

In a thrillingly fast-paced narrative, The Survivors mixes the emotional acuity of Edward St. Aubyn, the literary verve of Ian McEwan and the heart of Shuggie Bain. By brilliantly dissecting a mind unravelling in the wake of tragedy, Alex Schulman reveals the ways in which our deepest loyalties leave us open to the greatest betrayals.

Though categorized as young adult, this international bestseller is the kind of novel that spans YA and adult. Chapters alternate between the brothers’ past and present, between their anxious youth and the week they have to bury their mother. Even more intriguingly, it’s not told in chronological order even within those two veins. It’s as if the author wrote the chapters consecutively, then twisted and turned them like a Rubik’s Cube to make the reader sort out the storyline on the fly. This adds considerable intrigue; it locks the novel’s grip on the reader. It’s refreshingly bold and original.. Schulman’s skilled writing uses word repetition and other techniques to keep us grounded in the story despite the tease of the zigzagging timeline.

In short, this novel is masterfully written, and delves deep, deep into the psyches of three boys raised in what initially seems to be an idyllic family in a bucolic setting. But right from the start there are hints of darkness, which grow as the curtain is peeled back inch by inch. Soon enough, the reader’s heart breaks for this dysfunctional family, where so much love was possible, and where communication came too little too late. Perhaps?

- Pam Withers