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what_heather_loves's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Strange weather brings out strange behaviour. As a Bunsen burner applied to a crucible will bring about an exchange of electrons, the division of some compounds and the unification of others, so a heatwave will act upon people. It lays them bare, it wears down their guard. They start behaving not unusually, but unguardedly. They act not so much out of character but deep within it."
July 1976 and London is in the middle of a prolonged heatwave. Steady and quiet Robert Riordan leaves the house one morning to get a newspaper and doesn't return. His wife, neurotic and sociable matriarchs, Gretta frets and calls their grown-up children home; from nearby, eldest and responsible Michael Francis, from rural Gloucestershire comes Monica and from New York City, comes Aoife, the baby, and black sheep, of the family. They're all carrying their own secrets and each have different ideas about where their father may have gone, but perhaps Gretta has a better idea she can't share.
Told from multiple perspectives, although not Robert's, the reader is quickly immersed in the pasts and present (over a couple of days) of the dysfunctional but likeable, Riordan family. Irish-Catholics in the mid-late twentieth century, much of their choices have been restricted by what is expected of them by their mother, who is guided by the omnipresent Catholic Church. Beautifully written with affection for the Riordans, this reminds me of Claire Chambers' and Sarah Moss's perceptive and character-driven novels. A family saga about forgiveness and understanding that I didn't want to finish.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Abortion
Minor: Chronic illness, War, and Xenophobia
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