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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book, but found it sad in places. It also dragged a bit for me. I loved the timeline, but didn’t like how it bounced between chapters.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book follows four generations of a family from Bournville model village near Birmingham through seven historic events from VE day in 1945 to the first year of the Covid pandemic in 2020. I enjoyed the historical element of this book very much. I love social history but usually from the 19th century or earlier, and obviously the events of this were much more recent. This felt much more character than plot-driven but it does all tie together. I liked the ending as it came full circle, although the part of it that was loosely based on Coe's own experience of the effects of Lockdown made me sad for the people who lost loved ones during that strange moment in history. 3.5 stars rounded up.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
My second attempt at a Jonathon Coe book and this one I chose to not finish.
Loved it, an affectionate yet clear sighted look back at the last 75 years through the eyes of one family
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
One of these books where you know the author is hitting all the historical beats in a given time frame, from the second world war to covid, via Windrush, the coronation, Capel Celyn, the 1966 world Cup, , thatcherism and everything in between. I think it's mainly unpicking the roots of Brexit, focusing on our complicated relationship with our neighbours, especially the Germans. He takes car manufacturing and chocolate making as two emblematic industries through which to see the effects of EU regulation on the lives of ordinary people. I almost feel like the covid material might have been tacked on at the end, partly because it was Boris Johnson who was at the wheel, the chief salesman of Brexit and chief imitator of Churchill.
It's very insightful and pleasingly fair to both sides: he isn't just doing attacking Brexit or boosting it, he's showing some of the tensions that run through our national character.
The sort of metronomic passage of time through the narrative made it feel a bit forced, but it's also probably inevitable if you're trying to pull off this sort of retrospective view of our recent history, so I can't really moan.
Oh and one of the characters lives a stones throw from my house and runs in the same place I run, so that's a bonus.
It's very insightful and pleasingly fair to both sides: he isn't just doing attacking Brexit or boosting it, he's showing some of the tensions that run through our national character.
The sort of metronomic passage of time through the narrative made it feel a bit forced, but it's also probably inevitable if you're trying to pull off this sort of retrospective view of our recent history, so I can't really moan.
Oh and one of the characters lives a stones throw from my house and runs in the same place I run, so that's a bonus.