Hailed by #1 New York Times bestselling author A.J. Finn as “a dark jewel of a novel,” Liz Nugent’s new work of fiction follows three Irish brothers, and delves into the many ways families can wreak emotional havoc across generations. All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral. Only one of us was in the coffin. William, Brian, and Luke: three boys bound by blood but split by fate, … Luke: three boys bound by blood but split by fate, trained from birth by their wily mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do…yet even after the Drumms escape into the world beyond their windows, those games–those little cruelties–grow more sinister, more merciless, more dangerous. And with their lives entwined like the strands of a noose, only two of the brothers will survive.
Crisply written and quickly paced, perfect for readers of both sophisticated literary fiction and breathtaking suspense, Little Cruelties gazes unflinchingly into the darkness: the darkness collecting in the corners of childhood homes, hiding beneath marriage beds, clasped in the palms of two brothers shaking hands. And it confirms Liz Nugent, whose novels have been celebrated as “captivating” (People) and “highly entertaining” (The Washington Post), as one of the most exciting, perceptive voices in contemporary fiction.
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Little Cruelties opens at the funeral for one of the three Drumm brothers, but author Liz Nugent cleverly withholds critical information, immediately pulling readers into the suspense and dysfunctional family drama. Which brother is deceased? And how did he die?
Nugent employs three first-person narratives to relate the story from the perspectives of William, a film producer; Luke, a successful singer; and Brian, initially a teacher, who becomes Luke’s manager. Melissa, their mother, was a showband singer and actress who was away performing most evenings, so their quiet, unassuming, much-older father cared for them. He referred to Melissa as his “orphan girl” and likely knew she cheated on him. He died of prostate cancer when William was seventeen years old. Their mother died in 2014.
The brothers relate events and details about their relationships with each other from various time periods in their life, beginning when they were children in the 1970’s. It’s a storytelling technique that requires great skill and Nugent is up to the task. Despite the nonlinear manner in which she crafts the tale, it is a cohesive and compelling narrative that shows, over time, how the brothers compete with and resent each other, frequently for good reason. They pursue their career goals, often with the support, encouragement, assistance, and interference of each other, as well as their mother. They come to each other’s rescue, often begrudgingly, and betray each other in spectacular fashion. At one point, two of them question the third brother’s sexuality, not to mention the lengths to which he will go to earn money after being driven from his career. Their relationships with women are as messy as their interactions with each other, and complicated by their siblings’ role in them.
Each brother is fully formed and intricately crafted — simultaneously sympathetic and despicable in his own way. William finds success, marriage, and fatherhood. The closest to their mother, he is duplicitous, calculating, and treats women abominably. Will sees himself as his brother’s long-suffering caretaker . . . for how long and at what price? Luke struggles with excesses — religion, followed by fame, money, women, drugs. He is talented, charming, and lovable, but irresponsible, unpredictable, and exasperating as a result of mental illness. Is he capable of getting himself sorted out and creating a meaningful life for himself? Luke is the son with whom Melissa shared a terrible secret when he was just thirteen years old. Brian is a quintessential middle child who expresses the ways in which he was treated unfairly by his parents. Their mother favored Will, and Luke and their father were close. Brian felt left out, and grew increasingly resentful, although he attempts to outwardly take on the role of peacemaker in the family. Frugal to the point of obsession, but extremely selfish, his actions are always designed to get what he thinks he deserves, but his brothers do not. He harbors feelings for Will’s wife, Susan.
Nugent illustrates the role that the boys’ upbringing and, more specifically, Melissa’s narcissism and emotional abuse of her children plays in forming their personalities and establishing their worldviews. Instead of drawing together as a result of their shared childhood experiences, the brothers strike out against and visit myriad little cruelties upon each other. Their relationships and interactions are toxic, invoking strong emotional reactions.
The story is riveting, particularly for fans of tales focused on sibling relationships, and the underlying mystery propels it forward at a steady pace as curiosity about how the life of one of the brothers ends mounts. It is an unflinchingly dark story but unceasingly entertaining story, punctuated by surprising plot twists and an ending that is breathtakingly horrifying . . . in more than one respect.
Little Cruelties is masterfully crafted and engrossing.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
We read this book in book club and none of us liked it. Most of the characters are awful people. If you like to read about awful people being jerks to each other then you might like it.
Since she wrote my favorite book of 2017, I jumped at the chance to read this newest story of Liz Nugent’s.
These two stories couldn’t be any more different though, so whatever you thought about Unraveling Oliver let it go. Read this with a clear mind.
With that said, this was a family drama with a sick twist at the very, and I mean very, end.
It was brilliant. It was engaging. You were sucked right into the lives of these brothers. More hoping for something to happen, and Liz Nigent didn’t disappoint. She smacks the reader with such a punch that you don’t even see it coming!
Gawd, I love this womans’ writing! Having read both books, she is now a favorite author of mine.
Three Dublin brothers, William, Brian, and Luke, scrap with each other all their lives from the time they were boys raised by their mild-mannered father and eccentric show-biz mother and as they grow up to make names for themselves in the entertainment business. The book opens with the funeral of one of them, but you don’t know which. Every page in the book is a mesmerizingly deep look into the psyches of these three men, each heroes of their own stories. The end falls into place so logically it seemed preordained but I never saw it coming. This book is a masterpiece, transcending genre. A must read.
Brilliant depiction of flawed characters that you love to hate.
Meet the Drumms, led by matriarch Melissa Craig, a former business show star whose affection for her sons is far surpassed by her self love. William is the oldest, a film producer who seems to have inherited his mother’s narcissism (and her favoritism) along with a bit of misogyny. Next is Brian, one year younger, who was a teacher and switched to managing finances and entertainers, most notably his younger brother. He seems steady and amiable but has a quiet ruthlessness about him with a smoldering anger ready to erupt with the right provocation. Lastly, there’s Luke, a sensitive but troubled soul who stumbled into fame and fortune as the lead singer of a rock band. The story begins at the funeral of one of the brothers but we don’t yet know which. And that’s the journey, told to us through each brother’s narrative in shifting timelines.
Let me first declare you’re either going to love this book or be completely turned off. I don’t believe there’s middle ground here and I’m one of those who loved it. I was hard pressed to find any redeeming qualities in any of these men but there were so many moments where the possibility was there, just at the surface. The shifting timelines were disconcerting at first but they soon developed a rhythm that made sense, especially when there was a change in the point of view. I’d develop an opinion about a situation William describes but then Luke or Brian would recount the same situation from an entirely different perspective. Ultimately, I was able to determine the reality, which made this such an interesting and intriguing story.
Only Nugent can consistently craft stories where most of the characters are highly unlikable but it’s a highly enjoyable reading experience. I’m so very happy I chose to listen to the book because the narrators were pitch perfect for their characters and were fantastic at storytelling. This was a cleverly designed domestic thriller that had me off balance from beginning through the end. And, oh that ending. It’s the kind where you sit there for a few minutes after it’s over and have that “aah” moment. I had a tough time putting this down and am grateful I got to listen to half of it during a long road trip. I don’t even remember the ride!
(Thanks to Simon & Schuster Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
Little Cruelties is my very first Liz Nugent novel and it won’t be my last, but man was this a weird book. There was a little bit of mystery, but it felt like a family saga/drama to me since it just focuses on the three brothers – William, Brian, and Luke. This family is a hot mess, and I can’t say I liked any of these characters even a little bit, but it was hard to look away from what was happening. William was probably my least favorite of the three, but they all had their issues and Nugent decided to delve into some pretty dark and contentious topics. I love that she started the book out with a bang, and I was hooked from the very first page, but the rest of the novel is a slow sizzle that had me wondering what the point would end up being (besides finding out who was dead and why of course).
I listened to the audiobook and was pretty happy with the narration. There are a few different people voicing this one – Sam O’Mahony, Stephen Hogan, Paul Hickey, Dermot Crowley & Mary-Lou McCarthy, and I did love that there were so many of them. I think this book really needed those different voices, and for that I think the audiobook was really well done. I also liked the emotion the men put into their narration, and when things get heated, you feel it in their voices. At times it was hard for me to understand what they were saying, but I think this has to do with their accents and not necessarily how the audio was recorded. Overall, I would recommend this route though.
I didn’t love the nonlinear timeline or the fact that some parts get repeated, even if they did show how differently each brother viewed them, but this was a relatively minor issue for me. Little Cruelties is very well written and I have to hand it to Nugent for creating something that you just can’t tear yourself away from. I ended up being shocked by the ending and my mouth dropped open, but I’m sure it won’t surprise everyone. I’m glad it ended up being a shock for me and that’s part of the reason I’m not rating this book any lower. If you are looking for a dark family drama, I would definitely check out Little Cruelties.
Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy via NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
3 stars
This is the first book I have read by Liz Nugent; although I have had Unraveling Oliver in my TBR pile for forever.
I am giving this book 3 stars because I seemed to love and hate it all at the same time. I have read books with despicable protagonists before and not had any issue with it, but something about the Drumm brothers and the entire Drumm family just really put me off. The whole thing was just wrong on so many levels. But at the same time, I was so drawn in to the absolute atrocities and the way this family treated each other that I could not tear myself away. It reminded me of the way that you can’t help but watch a train wreck even though you know it will be horrifying.
This book is marketed as a thriller, but I would classify this as a domestic drama, a dysfunctional domestic drama to be more precise. The book alternates between the three brothers, each telling their side of the story until you finally find out who is in the coffin.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster for my copy of this book via Edelweiss
An in depth character study of one really dysfunctional family. Seeing how the story changed depending on the character’s perspective was fascinating. More literary than thriller.
The Drumms give being a dysfunctional family a whole new meaning. There’s you regular dysfunction that most family display sometimes, take that and multiply it by a thousand and you get a glimmer of life in the Drumm family. Their mother practically made it impossible for William, Brian and Luke to be “normal”, healthy and stable as adults. This is a thriller that comes across as more of a drama at parts. You won’t be able to put down once you pick it up, you’ll just need to know what happens. We have so much trauma and even though the title makes you think there are “Little Cruelties” there’s nothing small about what these boys go through. The characters are not overly likable but are highly sympathetic.
I received an advanced copy of this story through NetGalley and am leaving a voluntary honest review.
The three Drumm brothers are from Dublin and in a catholic family. They grew up with a self-centered mother who was once a well-known singer and actress. She likes her booze and enjoys playing her sons against one another. Their father does his best to make everyone happy. The boys are a year apart.
William is a film maker married to Susan and has a daughter named Daisy. William could not remain faithful to Susan even if his life depended upon it.
Brian worked as a teacher for some years before he became a manager for Luke.
Luke is rockstar who has some mental issues that appear to be bipolar. As a child, he was very confused about religion which must have been early signs of his mental condition.
Today one of the Drumm brothers is dead. Which one is it and what happened?
What a dark and depressing book. As with the author’s book “Unraveling Oliver,” I felt this book seemed to drag as the author showed over and over how cruel the boys were to one another. How does a family get so messed up? I may be in the minority on this book, but I did not find reading this downer story to be a pleasure. Not my cup of tea.
Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I have seen dysfunctional families but this one takes the cake. Three brothers that seem to despise each other, a self-absorbed mother and a father that doesn’t stand up for much of anything makes for an interesting family dynamic.
This book has sections for each brother and flips from year to year, and not in order. The saying that there is always more than one side to a story could not be any truer in this book. Each incident is told from each brother’s point of view and how they interpreted what was happening at the time. William is first, then Brian, and then Luke. Each brother’s story tends to paint them in a better light, but what is the real truth to the events that occurred? Perhaps there is a little bit of truth to each side with reality somewhere in the middle.
I was intrigued when the story started because I had no idea which brother was in the coffin. You get some hints, but are they reliable? I suspected two of the brothers at different points based on the text, but I was quite surprised by how the story unfolded. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that ending.
I don’t think I liked any of the brothers but at times they each redeemed themselves, at least for a moment. They each have their own struggles that have to be dealt with and how they handle them is unique to each of their personalities. Sadly, this family could have used some counseling when they were younger.
This book covers so many hot topics such as the #metoo movement, marriage equality, alcoholism, drug use, various diseases (1 could be a spoiler so no specifics here!), narcissism, and possibly even child abuse or neglect. I had a hard time putting this book down. It was a train wreck waiting to happen. But that is what makes this book work in my eyes.
We give this book 5 paws up.
Tragic, intricate, and twisty!
Little Cruelties is a dark, compelling, character-driven, domestic thriller that takes you into the lives of three brothers, Wiliam, an arrogant film producer, Brian, an unmotivated leach, and Luke, an emotionally fragile pop star as they each grapple with sibling rivalry, enduring jealousy, devastating secrets, and exceptionally cruel decisions that will change their lives forever.
The prose is tight and intense. The characters are selfish, deceptive, and troubled. And the plot told from multiple perspectives unfolds gradually into a murky tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, greed, resentments, scandal, wickedness, deception, tragedy, and murder.
Overall, Little Cruelties is another sophisticated, creepy, gloomy tale by Nugent that does a fantastic job of delving into all the complex, dysfunctional dynamics that can occur between family members and reminds us just how evil and toxic some of these relationships can truly be.
They say that every dysfunctional family is dysfunctional in their own way. Well, the Drumm family is truly off the charts dysfunctional! Ms. Nugent has written a truly disturbing story about an entire family who are destined to implode. The opening is at a funeral for one of the brothers but we don’t know until the very end which one it is. Little Cruelties mounts and gathers intensity with every chapter. A cracking read!
What a family.
We meet the Drumm brothers whose mother favored one over the other and was mostly worried about herself. She didn’t even care to spend time with her grandchild because she was busy.
Will married Susan and was always having an affair.
Brian was the sympathetic, helpful brother.
Luke was a rock star and a bit useless.
All three brothers were jealous of each other and tried to outdo each other, do mean things to each other, and get each other in trouble even as adults.
OUR LITTLE CRUELTIES didn’t really have a plot in my opinion. It discussed the lives of the brothers and their mother. The family is extremely dysfunctional.
I loved Ms. Nugent’s other book, LYING IN WAIT, but this one dragged on for me. It actually was a struggle to keep reading, but I had to find out which brother was dead since the book carried on as if they all were alive. No guessing on who it is because it was well hidden.
As we make our way through the years and the lives of the brothers, we wait to hear who the two brothers are that are alive and which brother has been killed.
OUR LITTLE CRUELTIES has good descriptions of the characters and situations, but it was not a book that I enjoyed. 2/5
This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you, Edelweiss, for my complimentary e-ARC.
Sibling rivalry gone horribly wrong. William, Brian, and Luke never had a warm and fuzzy brotherly relationship, always competing for everything, including their narcissistic mother’s love and attention. Betrayal was constant. Schadenfreude was abundant. Until… one died. But, who died? Why? How? The funeral in the opening scene leaves questions unanswered.
Told in flashback. Written in parts from each brother’s perspective and, further divided into chapters titled by year(the timeline was somewhat hard to follow because it was not chronological), Nugent delves deeply into each character’s psyche and backstory.
I enjoyed Unraveling Oliver so I was excited to get the opportunity to review Nugent’s newest book. Although the start was promising and the end conclusive, ultimately it was about highly dysfunctional family dynamics. It was just ok, sometimes slow and repetitive. I guess I was expecting something more dark and sinister.
Omigahhhhhhh!
If you think your family is a fistful of crazy and are planning to binge drink your way through the holidays just be glad they are not the Drumms.
These people are horrible. I mean, truly and often hilariously awful; a living, breathing, throbbing curse on all who encounter them.
I was so there for it!
Three brothers … only one is in a coffin. You won’t know who or why until the very end of this character driven psychological family drama.
The Drumm family are totally dysfunctional. Mom is a small time celebrity of sorts and feels she deserves more. She really has never been much of a mother and even doesn’t want anything to do with the first grandchild. After all, according to her, she has borne 3 sons ..she’s done.
The husband is almost a shadow. He’s been beaten down by life … and his wife’s extramarital excursions.
The story line jumps back and forth through time to see the things that have shaped the men they have become. They are each damaged in their own way. They’ve grown up never feeling loved, they are all self centered and hugely jealous of the other brothers. Each of them tell their stories ….
Until one of them dies – but which one? And which brother is the murderer?
This is well written with deftly drawn characters. None are really likeable .. it’s like watching a train wreck in action … you just can’t stop looking. Although not highly suspenseful, it is a murder mystery with only the conclusion bearing witness to the crime.
Many thanks to the author / Penguin Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this riveting tale. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.