What I really liked:

Silvie and William’s love seemed so pure and reinforcing for each of them. They just accepted each other as is.
Kent’s unwavering support for William.
Everyone on the search team calling Kent “Captain” even though they aren’t on a basketball team any longer.
William’s endurance.
William finding out what he’s really good at (physio/basketball coach).
Cecelia’s murals with the faces of Alice and Charlotte and all the sisters.
No bullshit, no lies – except everyone has bullshit, everyone keeps secrets (i.e., Sylvie and Julia reconnecting without William’s knowledge).
Basketball being William’s first love that loved him back.
A really good ending that worked for all the characters.
You never escape the trauma of your parents:

This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn

By fools in old-style hats and coats,

Who half the time were soppy-stern

And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.

It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can,

And don’t have any kids yourself.

What I really disliked:

Sorry to Maura Tierney, but I hated her as a narrator. She just seemed monotone and without emotion. And it was an emotional book. I am almost tempted to read the book now, because I think I might like it more without her affectless voice in my ear.
Julia telling Alice at age 5 that her father was dead. That’s a psychopath move.
Rose cutting her children (and grandchild) off at the knees.
Julia cutting her sisters off at the knees.
Julia, just generally – emotionless, without empathy, for her husband, her daughter and her sisters.
Sylvie not telling William that Julia showed up.
The parallels to Little Women – sisters vying to be Jo or Beth. I don’t know, it didn’t work for me and seemed heavy-handed. Perhaps it’s inevitable with a book about 4 sisters. No one ever competes to be Meg. Just saying.
All the fucking similes – they were over the top and didn’t pop organically from the characters’ inner thoughts.

Questions:

Was Julia the villain of the book?

Do we all turn into our mothers?

Was this really William’s book more than the 4 sisters?

Should I read the book and see if it’s a different experience altogether, without the annoying narrator?