Take a photo of a barcode or cover
tanson35's review
2.0
Didn't really understand the objective of this book, didn't lead anywhere astonishing. Writing style could be hard to understand at times and could be more descriptive. Overall it was ok. Hopefully will understand it better once studying it.
frecks_and_specs's review
4.0
I do wonder what happened to the parents house. Not the exact point of this book I know. It's very good. I loved the sense humour used.
amyheap's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the fact that their parents have disinherited them, Vicki Laveau-Harvie and her sister travel to rural Canada to care for their father, when their mother breaks her hip. This is a true story of a complicated family; the far-reaching, and long-lasting havoc wreaked by a woman with an undiagnosed mental illness, the wild Canadian landscape, and two, very different sisters trying to navigate new and rocky territory. The author reads it herself, and while, at first, I wasn't sure she had the best 'audiobook voice', I think she did a brilliant job. For such dark subject matter, the book is very funny, disturbing, tense, and utterly fascinating.
dropletofadragonfly's review against another edition
5.0
Cathartic, insightful, beautifully written.
jessicabowering's review
3.0
The description of the family dynamics was wonderful and I particularly loved the relationship and differences between the sisters (as described from one sister's point of view) as they dealt with their family history and difficult parents. Even if it felt like a bit of a cop-out that neither money nor time ever seemed to present any real obstacles.
The problem was I kept waiting for the gripping and unbelievable story that the description and the atmosphere created by the writing led me to think was coming, but it never arrived. I finished the book thinking I must have missed something.
The problem was I kept waiting for the gripping and unbelievable story that the description and the atmosphere created by the writing led me to think was coming, but it never arrived. I finished the book thinking I must have missed something.
kimbofo's review
5.0
Vicki Laveau-Harvie is a retired academic and translator whose memoir The Erratics won the 2018 Finch Memoir Prize. Last month the book was longlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize.
It’s a compelling account of dealing with elderly parents — one of whom is trying to kill the other — from afar.
To read my review in full, please visit my blog.
It’s a compelling account of dealing with elderly parents — one of whom is trying to kill the other — from afar.
To read my review in full, please visit my blog.
sherrylwriter's review
5.0
I loved this book and can see why it won the Stella. Wonderful writing, a gut-wrenching story and very skillful weaving of past and present that never felt jerky or slow. Highly recommended.
cpoole's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Vicki and her sister are estranged from their parents, living an isolated existence in Canada. Finally, after years of shutting everyone out, EMS arrived on the scene when her mother had a fall. The daughters enter their parents’ lives again and discover some disturbing stories about what’s been going on: their mother (difficult, ill)has been controlling their father. The memoir takes place in the fallout: in the hospital, caring for their father.
ctrel1's review
4.0
I enjoyed reading this memoir, mainly for the writer's humorous tone which held me throughout. The influence of place, so beautifully described, on the characters and their emotions was powerful. The mother: "Mad as a meat axe" says it all. I was a little disappointed in the lack of reveal of the actions that propelled the author out of the landscape and country in her youth but applaud her for putting pen to paper to explore painful memories and the dismantling of a family home with aged parents. Eloquently written.