Listened on audiobook - great performance by Ari Fliakos that really helped to bring the many voices in this book to life.
Also really enjoyed how the story was revealed in bits and pieces. I’ve found that slow burn frustrating in other books, but here it was really enjoyable - the story equivalent of putting a puzzle together piece by piece.

I'm a sucker for a family saga, one that's told well and often humorous. That would describe 'Spoonbenders'-a novel focusing on Teddy Telemachus, patriarch of "The Amazing Telemachus Family" who for a short time in the early 70s were a famous magic/mind-reading act until a devastating appearance on Mike Douglass's show ended their run. The story focuses on Teddy, a larger than like, small in stature Royal Tennenbaum-esque character who is better known for being a con artist than for any discernible psychic ability. The gifted one in the family is his beautiful, resilient wife Maureen who has abilities galore. In fact they attract the attention of a few Government agents who want to use their abilities during the Cold War.

Teddy and Maureen's three children take their own turns driving the plot. Oldest child Maureen is able to read minds though it's hindered her happiness over the years. In the mid-90s she and her teenaged Matty are living with Teddy, now a widower (and what happened to Maureen is doled out in small bits throughout the story) and middle child Buddy who appears to have lost his own prognostication gifts. Youngest son Frankie is a less charming version of his father, always hopping on a scam, and getting involved with the same deadly mob clan his father ran afoul of in the early 70s.

All of the family members plot arcs were interesting to me and I adored the romantic subplot of single mom Maureen discovering chat rooms (via AOL and a new computer that comes into their home) that help her meet a potential love interest.

Finally, I loved their surname. Telemachus is well known to readers of Homer's 'The Odyssey' as the child Odysseus leaves when O joins the fight against Troy. Later a now grown Telemachus helps his father defeat his mother's unwanted suitors. The novel has many subtle Greek mythology shadings and they tie-in well with the overall story.

Reading my way through this year's Nebula nominees for Best Novel. This is my fourth of seven, and so far my favorite and the one I think is most likely to win, but I'll come back and edit once I've read them all.

This one is a contemporary family drama, with a touch of magic. It's sometimes hard to tell if the magic is even real, which adds to the general weirdness of the book. It is written in a very literary style, and I appreciated seeing the story unfold through the perspectives of various characters in the family. The plot seemed disjointed at first but came together in the end, in a beautiful and creative way. I loved the characters, I loved the writing style, and I loved the development of the plot.

I would highly recommend this one to fans of the fantasy genre, and fans of good literature in general!

Fun read, though the dysfunction in the family was a little hard to deal with. The book is probably better than 3 stars, but it wasn't really for me; this would be one of those times where I'd like more magical realism than realism... I appreciated that Gregory didn't outright say what the family members' powers were, but rather let us come to our own conclusions based on context.

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars. It wasn't a bad book, it kept me reading until the end. I'd say it was just ok but there were aspects of it I really enjoyed before it went back to being kinda bland again.

I think half of my issue is that the POV shifts between each of the family members and there are a couple of family members I really wanted to know more about, I wanted to spend more time with them. And then there are some that I didn't want to spend any time with at all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ahoy there me mateys! This was the absolute perfect read for the last book of 2017. I was first introduced to this author with his book afterparty. That book was a sci-fi dealing with illicit drug use which I found to be fun, thought-provoking, and twisty. Those same adjectives could also be used to describe this one. This book kinda reminded me of a prayer for owen meany, only a lot less sad.

This book follows the Telemachus family who have paranormal abilities. The family is zany and endearing. Seriously I would write more but I have been beaten to the punch by me crew who frankly explains this one better than I ever could.

So check out this review by Mogsy @ thebibliosanctum for an excellent take on this novel!

https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/07/03/review-spoonbenders-by-daryl-gregory/

See me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/

I loved this book! Genuinely funny. I enjoyed how the chapters shifted in narrative perspective between the characters and each carried their own flavour and style. Some of the humor was bad - admittedly - but i especially loved Buddy's chapters. This novel didn't rely on the fantasy element to provide the plot but rather used it as a backdrop to a family drama. Would read again.