Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Two-Family House

The Two-Family House
reviewed on + 1528 more book reviews


The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman is the story about two brothers who share a family home. Mort, Rose, and their daughters live in the downstairs apartment. Abe, Helen, and their four boys live upstairs. The two brothers work together at Box Brothers. They make cardboard boxes for businesses. Helen and Rose end up pregnant at the same time with their babies due in January. Their children are born during a winter storm in Brooklyn in 1947. One woman wants a boy and the other a girl. They have the opportunity to get what they want and take it. See how this one choice (act) changes their lives and their families.

The Two-Family House is a slow starter. It is hard to get to keep reading this book, but I persisted. The novel was okay (satisfactory), but not wonderful. The story just plods along telling you what happens because of the decision these two women made (and one regrets it). The characters were flat. The Two-Family House is told in a first person point-of-view by various characters (which leads to confusion as it switches). The novel needed a little something (like maybe making it more of a secret) to make it more appealing. It needed more depth and interest. It reads more like a first or second draft, than a finished novel. I give The Two-Family House 2 out of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of The Two-Family House from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.