Book Review: Tiny Americans: A Novel

Within the front matter of the book, it states, “This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.” For an author to write a book like Tiny Americans, one has to tap into the essence of real people. Devin Murphy captured the qualities of a dysfunctional family extremely well. He could have been writing about people I know. I am not sure what I think of the book.

Tiny Americans is probably not a book I would have picked up on my own. I picked it up along with The Boat Runner also written by Murphy. These were recommendations from the Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Lakewood. The owner consistently challenges me with books that take me out of my comfort zone.

Tiny Americans is 238 pages long spanning 14 chapters. Each chapter focused on a different person at a different point in time. Murphy has named the chapters after the six primary characters along with a set period of time. The book covers forty years from 1978 to 2018. Basically, you get to see each person at a different point in their lives.

Events in 1978 set the story in motion. The patriarch of the family moves west and abandons the rest of the family. Naturally, there is a lot of resentment among the three children. Each of the children sets forth to sort out their own lives. None of them took the easy road.

Murphy wrote an interesting book. I have to give him credit for powerful writing. But it is not my cup of tea. Some of it strikes too close to home. If you like books about real people who are coping with their demons, I think you will like Tiny Americans.

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