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brigid37's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
shelleyann01's review
4.0
Mum and Dad is a beautiful and intelligently written generational saga set in rural Spain. The writing is fantastic with description that I can only explain as gently comprehensive. The book just flows in a way that feels comforting, despite the tense moments in the narrative. I loved the characters Joanna Trollope created so very much. They were incredibly full-bodied and just felt so tangible. Even characters I hated were still characters that she filled with such great description and personality that they felt incredibly real. Mum and Dad by Joanna Trollope was hauntingly beautiful and emotionally fraught. It shows such great talent in the author and presents a story that feels so amazingly real and tangible. It is family fiction at its finest and shows amazing ingenuity and uniqueness in its construction and execution. Very much worth the read.
Thank you NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, Macmillan and Joanna Trollope for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.
#MumDad #NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley, Independent Publishers Group, Macmillan and Joanna Trollope for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.
#MumDad #NetGalley
daveenabadyal's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
the parts of this books that actually resonated with me i 1000% lOved (the verisimilitude of it, from dysfunctional families to takes on generational divides etc etc; the character development and the recognition that each character was a cacophony of flaws and complexity)
however i feel like these really positive attributes were sort of hidden within a wider narrative which, at times, did just fail to entice me completely - basically i liked the fact that it was mundane and average, but sometimes it was a little t0o much so for my liking (i feel like it’s a very fine line between lacing a narrative with realism and relatability and it just being kinda boring)
i also feel like some of the development towards the end did just kind of potentially spring up out of no where ? (like there was a massive build up being like 8% progress, then we suddenly just jumped to 80% real quick), and it had a little bit too much of a perfectly tied up ‘fairy tale’ like ending for my liking, based upon the fact that the whole reason i liked this book was for the fact that it really deconstructed the idea that a family is ever perfect or completely functional
however i feel like these really positive attributes were sort of hidden within a wider narrative which, at times, did just fail to entice me completely - basically i liked the fact that it was mundane and average, but sometimes it was a little t0o much so for my liking (i feel like it’s a very fine line between lacing a narrative with realism and relatability and it just being kinda boring)
i also feel like some of the development towards the end did just kind of potentially spring up out of no where ? (like there was a massive build up being like 8% progress, then we suddenly just jumped to 80% real quick), and it had a little bit too much of a perfectly tied up ‘fairy tale’ like ending for my liking, based upon the fact that the whole reason i liked this book was for the fact that it really deconstructed the idea that a family is ever perfect or completely functional
karenika's review
4.0
This was my first Joanna Trollope novel and I really enjoyed this layered story about family, legacy, adolescence, marriage, and the layers and layers of lives we each live.
This story is about Gus and Monica who are living in Spain, running a vineyard. Their three children, Jack, Katie, and Sebastian and their families. There are a lot of characters in the story between the parents, their kids, he kids' partners, and the kid's children, there are 13 right there. Then there is the help staff in the house in Spain which has at least 2 more main characters. Amazingly, I had no trouble keeping track of any of them.
Some characters are better developed than others and there are a handful that I definitely wished I could learn more about (Daisy and Nic come to mind.) But each of the characters are quite distinct and the story is mostly about the parents and their three kids in trying to decide what will happen now that the father has had a stroke.
I liked the way the story shows how each character has a complicated life and many different things they are juggling at the same time, some great, some really hard. In life, most of the time, this is the case and then something big happens (like the stroke) and it just mixes in with all the other big and small things that are already happening to you so you have to sort through it all. I felt that part was really realistic and well done.
By the end of the story, I was invested in each of the characters and really enjoyed this family story and stayed up way too late to finish it.
with gratitude to netgalley and Mantle for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This story is about Gus and Monica who are living in Spain, running a vineyard. Their three children, Jack, Katie, and Sebastian and their families. There are a lot of characters in the story between the parents, their kids, he kids' partners, and the kid's children, there are 13 right there. Then there is the help staff in the house in Spain which has at least 2 more main characters. Amazingly, I had no trouble keeping track of any of them.
Some characters are better developed than others and there are a handful that I definitely wished I could learn more about (Daisy and Nic come to mind.) But each of the characters are quite distinct and the story is mostly about the parents and their three kids in trying to decide what will happen now that the father has had a stroke.
I liked the way the story shows how each character has a complicated life and many different things they are juggling at the same time, some great, some really hard. In life, most of the time, this is the case and then something big happens (like the stroke) and it just mixes in with all the other big and small things that are already happening to you so you have to sort through it all. I felt that part was really realistic and well done.
By the end of the story, I was invested in each of the characters and really enjoyed this family story and stayed up way too late to finish it.
with gratitude to netgalley and Mantle for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
beca_reads's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book was meh! The characters were underdeveloped and the plot was fairly bland. The one thing I did like was the messiness of the character's family; that actually was realistic, compared to the poorly written children's characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Self harm
katieb94's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Firstly thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long.
This book wasn’t what I expected. I knew it was about a family coming together which I love but the clashing amongst all the family members, although great for the characterisation, was the least interesting part of the story.
It all starts when the father, Gus, has a stroke and all his children go to visit him in Spain, where he lives.
Things go from there.
I did enjoy it for the most part, but there were some elements I didn’t like. I didn’t like the youngest son, Jake, trying to take over his fathers business when his father wasn’t coherent.
It felt like he was using the stroke as an opportunity but going about it completely the wrong way!
There is a trigger warning for self harm, the daughter, Katie, has a daughter who has started cutting. It was hard to read how Katie and her partner Nic were trying to help their daughter but she refused.
I’m not a parent so I can’t imagine how hard that is but I am a teacher and I know how much children can feel closed off.
The characters are a lot older than I am so I couldn’t relate to them which I think effected how I saw the story.
It is a lovely story and has a heart I just feel I wasn’t the right target audience.
3/5 stars
This book wasn’t what I expected. I knew it was about a family coming together which I love but the clashing amongst all the family members, although great for the characterisation, was the least interesting part of the story.
It all starts when the father, Gus, has a stroke and all his children go to visit him in Spain, where he lives.
Things go from there.
I did enjoy it for the most part, but there were some elements I didn’t like. I didn’t like the youngest son, Jake, trying to take over his fathers business when his father wasn’t coherent.
It felt like he was using the stroke as an opportunity but going about it completely the wrong way!
There is a trigger warning for self harm, the daughter, Katie, has a daughter who has started cutting. It was hard to read how Katie and her partner Nic were trying to help their daughter but she refused.
I’m not a parent so I can’t imagine how hard that is but I am a teacher and I know how much children can feel closed off.
The characters are a lot older than I am so I couldn’t relate to them which I think effected how I saw the story.
It is a lovely story and has a heart I just feel I wasn’t the right target audience.
3/5 stars
annarella's review
3.0
I think it's quite well written and the characters are fleshed out but the story didn't keep my attention and fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
ms_gouldbourne's review against another edition
3.0
I found Joanna Trollope's Mum & Dad to be a pleasantly middle of the road read; nothing to write home about or particularly recommend to anybody else, but certainly enjoyable enough to while away a morning. It earns a solidly average three stars from me - good enough to take on holiday, definitely not good enough to read twice.
In Mum & Dad, we are introduced to Gus and Monica Beacham, a middle-aged English couple running a vineyard in Spain and struggling to maintain relationships with their three adult children. Gus Beacham is cantankerous and controlling; it was his vision that saw the couple emigrate while their children were still teenagers, leaving the eldest two in school in England. His long-suffering wife Monica struggles with his bad temper and foul mouth, running the shop attached to the vineyard and feeling sorry for herself about the state of her life. When Gus unexpectedly has a stroke, it sends Monica's world crashing to the ground.
Enter the three Beacham children. Sebastian, the eldest, is a henpecked husband to Anna and feels sidelined and ignored by his two teenage boys. Katie lives with her long-term partner Nic and worries about her sour relationship with her mother, when she's not worrying about her three daughters. And Jake, the youngest, flirts with the world and doesn't worry about anything at all, least of all his wife Bella and their baby daughter Mouse.
Trollope builds tension well in the opening chapters of the book; the Beachams are dysfunctional without being truly at odds with each other. I enjoyed the different dynamics that played out between the characters - the generational misunderstandings between Katie and Monica, Sebastian's slow awakening to the state of his marriage, and the long-standing and loving connection between Pilar and the entire Beacham family. Trollope is clearly a master at layering all the small pieces that make up a character so that they blend together into an entirely realistic turmoil of past history and present resentments.
At times, the characters were in danger of wavering into unlikeable territory, but for the most part Trollope saved them at the last moment. There were some characters I would have liked to have seen more of - Daisy, in particular, was given so much less of a voice than she deserved - but for the most part I felt that the protagonists were well-developed. Indeed, there were times I wished I could see a bit less of certain characters - Monica's constant whinging and crying, while all the time rejecting the support of the children who loved her best, was absolutely insufferable. And perhaps Gus secretly just wanted people to stand up to him, but that didn't make him any less detestable.
Plotlines, too, were resolved a little too quickly for my liking, with everything wrapped up within a few neat chapters at the end. After decades of resentment and poor communication, a new status quo between the family members was reached almost instantaneously, which felt unrealistic and a departure from the slow, introspective feel of the rest of the book. Jake, in particular, practically got away with murder - and I'd been so looking forward to seeing him get his comeuppance! Tensions were spackled over, solutions found to every problem, and I found myself frustrated with the easy way the characters folded into their new lives, as if, having understood that they had reached the end of the story, they had given up on having personalities in order to be obliging to the author.
Overall, however, I found Mum & Dad generally inoffensive and pleasant to read. Will I be picking up any more Joanna Trollope? I mean, if I'm bored at the dentist's office and it's the only thing lying around in the waiting room, then sure - but I won't be searching her out.
In Mum & Dad, we are introduced to Gus and Monica Beacham, a middle-aged English couple running a vineyard in Spain and struggling to maintain relationships with their three adult children. Gus Beacham is cantankerous and controlling; it was his vision that saw the couple emigrate while their children were still teenagers, leaving the eldest two in school in England. His long-suffering wife Monica struggles with his bad temper and foul mouth, running the shop attached to the vineyard and feeling sorry for herself about the state of her life. When Gus unexpectedly has a stroke, it sends Monica's world crashing to the ground.
Enter the three Beacham children. Sebastian, the eldest, is a henpecked husband to Anna and feels sidelined and ignored by his two teenage boys. Katie lives with her long-term partner Nic and worries about her sour relationship with her mother, when she's not worrying about her three daughters. And Jake, the youngest, flirts with the world and doesn't worry about anything at all, least of all his wife Bella and their baby daughter Mouse.
Trollope builds tension well in the opening chapters of the book; the Beachams are dysfunctional without being truly at odds with each other. I enjoyed the different dynamics that played out between the characters - the generational misunderstandings between Katie and Monica, Sebastian's slow awakening to the state of his marriage, and the long-standing and loving connection between Pilar and the entire Beacham family. Trollope is clearly a master at layering all the small pieces that make up a character so that they blend together into an entirely realistic turmoil of past history and present resentments.
At times, the characters were in danger of wavering into unlikeable territory, but for the most part Trollope saved them at the last moment. There were some characters I would have liked to have seen more of - Daisy, in particular, was given so much less of a voice than she deserved - but for the most part I felt that the protagonists were well-developed. Indeed, there were times I wished I could see a bit less of certain characters - Monica's constant whinging and crying, while all the time rejecting the support of the children who loved her best, was absolutely insufferable. And perhaps Gus secretly just wanted people to stand up to him, but that didn't make him any less detestable.
Plotlines, too, were resolved a little too quickly for my liking, with everything wrapped up within a few neat chapters at the end. After decades of resentment and poor communication, a new status quo between the family members was reached almost instantaneously, which felt unrealistic and a departure from the slow, introspective feel of the rest of the book. Jake, in particular, practically got away with murder - and I'd been so looking forward to seeing him get his comeuppance! Tensions were spackled over, solutions found to every problem, and I found myself frustrated with the easy way the characters folded into their new lives, as if, having understood that they had reached the end of the story, they had given up on having personalities in order to be obliging to the author.
Overall, however, I found Mum & Dad generally inoffensive and pleasant to read. Will I be picking up any more Joanna Trollope? I mean, if I'm bored at the dentist's office and it's the only thing lying around in the waiting room, then sure - but I won't be searching her out.
demivdl's review against another edition
Dnf’ed at 32% as I just didn’t care for it. At all.
belindaroussel's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0