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katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Contemporary paranoia/mental illness/family horror story.
I never knew Gregory had written outside of the historical genre. Having loved the White Queen titles, I was interested to see her writing style set in the modern day.
And wow, firstly - a two hour care journey disappeared and I genuinely didn't know how I'd arrived at my destination and was actually disoriented and wanted to finish the book.
I absolutely detested Ruth's husband from the first. A more selfish man-baby I don't think I've ever read, a mummy's boy in a sharp suit, pretty face and nothing under the surface. Awful man. Brilliant! Ruth (how could she even fall for him?) is a young woman with no family, taken in by Patrick's well-to-do family and mothered, but even at the very start of this saga is feeling pressured and pushed by them all. Married a few years, she's wanting to further her career in Bristol before considering parenthood, but Patrick's parents have their eyes on the cottage next to their own country abode for the young couple. And with redundancies looming at Ruth's journalistic/radio workplace, wouldn't now be the perfect time to get pregnant as well?
I don't often shout at an audiobook, but I found myself doing this regularly while listening to the smooth narration, to mother-in-law Elizabeth's persistent 'reasonableness' and father-in-law Fredric's bluff English aphorisms. Their voices were beautifully presented, very realistic and highly hateable.
Ruth is eminently empathetic, her lack of strength at the start understandable, the progression from happy city dweller to a pregnant and then new mum bombarded with disapproval and judgement, her own mental health path very movingly portrayed.
I think my blood pressure didn't actually drop until the book finished.
While I loved the plot, the characters, the direction, there were two things that jarred for me. The first was the shifting voice, which moved from Ruth to Elizabeth/other members of the clan but then taking an omniscient narrator turn to give us perspective that I felt readers would intuitively pick up and didn't need spelling out. This happened regularly and I felt were unnecessary and indicative of authorial worry that the point wasn't being made strongly enough.
I also found the ending unsatisfying - over too soon, with Ruth becoming something I didn't want her to be, but also with characters I wanted to 'learn a lesson' shall we say not giving readers the satisfaction of being put in that position. After all Ruth had gone through, I needed and wanted more. There were more questions about Ruth's actions that arose.
A wonderful portrayal of the heady heights and dizzying lows of motherhood, marriage, being part of an extended family - very much to an extreme. This is NOT light reading matter, it will upset and haunt.
Strong characters and a good slow build up, intense and a very hard book to pause and look up from.
I never knew Gregory had written outside of the historical genre. Having loved the White Queen titles, I was interested to see her writing style set in the modern day.
And wow, firstly - a two hour care journey disappeared and I genuinely didn't know how I'd arrived at my destination and was actually disoriented and wanted to finish the book.
I absolutely detested Ruth's husband from the first. A more selfish man-baby I don't think I've ever read, a mummy's boy in a sharp suit, pretty face and nothing under the surface. Awful man. Brilliant! Ruth (how could she even fall for him?) is a young woman with no family, taken in by Patrick's well-to-do family and mothered, but even at the very start of this saga is feeling pressured and pushed by them all. Married a few years, she's wanting to further her career in Bristol before considering parenthood, but Patrick's parents have their eyes on the cottage next to their own country abode for the young couple. And with redundancies looming at Ruth's journalistic/radio workplace, wouldn't now be the perfect time to get pregnant as well?
I don't often shout at an audiobook, but I found myself doing this regularly while listening to the smooth narration, to mother-in-law Elizabeth's persistent 'reasonableness' and father-in-law Fredric's bluff English aphorisms. Their voices were beautifully presented, very realistic and highly hateable.
Ruth is eminently empathetic, her lack of strength at the start understandable, the progression from happy city dweller to a pregnant and then new mum bombarded with disapproval and judgement, her own mental health path very movingly portrayed.
I think my blood pressure didn't actually drop until the book finished.
While I loved the plot, the characters, the direction, there were two things that jarred for me. The first was the shifting voice, which moved from Ruth to Elizabeth/other members of the clan but then taking an omniscient narrator turn to give us perspective that I felt readers would intuitively pick up and didn't need spelling out. This happened regularly and I felt were unnecessary and indicative of authorial worry that the point wasn't being made strongly enough.
I also found the ending unsatisfying - over too soon, with Ruth becoming something I didn't want her to be, but also with characters I wanted to 'learn a lesson' shall we say not giving readers the satisfaction of being put in that position. After all Ruth had gone through, I needed and wanted more. There were more questions about Ruth's actions that arose.
A wonderful portrayal of the heady heights and dizzying lows of motherhood, marriage, being part of an extended family - very much to an extreme. This is NOT light reading matter, it will upset and haunt.
Strong characters and a good slow build up, intense and a very hard book to pause and look up from.
em_emily_o's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
book_spiral's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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
3.5
philippakmoore's review against another edition
4.0
Spine-tingling and addictive read, with a twist that more astute readers might have seen coming but I didn't! Great stormy night reading!
mspiggy21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jordan_1_1's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
han2709's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
anusha_natesh's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
What a book!
I was so angry at the protagonist for being so naive and not seeing what was happening, until i reached the end!
The story is developed beautifully, and has touched topics of mentail illness, people who do not understand what it means, men who do not question their mother's. Women who are submissive, who seek approval, who need family.
It is a whole book, and is written beautifully!
I was so angry at the protagonist for being so naive and not seeing what was happening, until i reached the end!
The story is developed beautifully, and has touched topics of mentail illness, people who do not understand what it means, men who do not question their mother's. Women who are submissive, who seek approval, who need family.
It is a whole book, and is written beautifully!