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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
This felt PERSONAL. In a (dare I say) overcrowded genre of mother daughter relationships Riley pushed a new narrative with complex characters. It’s not easy to choose who is in the right here - the daughter has her own flaws and is particularly cold, but is that a result of the years? We don’t know. The mother has her problems but it’s easy to posture reasons and life choices that have made her the way she is. All of which really articulates most mother daughter relationships outside of fiction in my experience - neither party is entirely faultless but the relationship continues in a strained manner until one party dies, I guess !
V good
V good
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My Phantoms explores toxic parent/child relationships with the dark humour and poignancy seen in the author's previous novels.
Bridget is a 40 something academic living in London. Her relationship with her recently deceased father is revealed through her memories of the uncomfortable access visits following the breakdown of her parents marriage. She is semi-estranged from her mother, meeting annually for a birthday meal at which neither are at ease or able to truly communicate. The well written dialogue captures their awkward negotiations as to the boundaries of their present and future relationship.
Riley's novels may be short but every word is impeccably placed for devastating impact. I devoured this book in one sitting.
Bridget is a 40 something academic living in London. Her relationship with her recently deceased father is revealed through her memories of the uncomfortable access visits following the breakdown of her parents marriage. She is semi-estranged from her mother, meeting annually for a birthday meal at which neither are at ease or able to truly communicate. The well written dialogue captures their awkward negotiations as to the boundaries of their present and future relationship.
Riley's novels may be short but every word is impeccably placed for devastating impact. I devoured this book in one sitting.
sad
slow-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
Los padres pueden ser mierdón y la sociedad siempre es mierdón.
My first (of many) Gwendoline Riley. My Phantoms tells the tale of the narrator's mother Helen ('Hen'), a socialite and extrovert who does everything society demands and yet finds every one of life's doors shut. With two husbands in her wake (in turns emotionally immature and abusive), Hen's mental disposition (fear of intimacy, neurosis, narcissism) seems destined to make her suffer.
An indictment on the kinds of lives western societies teaches us to lead, what to value, what to neglect (and it was uncanny to see many people I know reflected in Hen). But it's also a story about a particular family struggling to be happy.
I really enjoyed Riley's acutely observational style. Verbal and physical tics (especially Hen's) are expertly drawn. I found myself almost physically uncomfortable by passages of dialogue charged with frostiness and passive aggression.
The book is largely reflective - recounting a childhood with woefully inadequate parents - so the character sketches are vivid and memorable. Like Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy, the reader is required to infer a lot about the narrator herself - an interesting device.
Where I thought Riley missed some low-hanging fruit was exploring how the narrator herself was affected by her parents' emotional immaturity. The narrator is by all accounts thriving (a flourishing academic career, a sensitive long-term partner and nice flat in London). But we're left to wonder at the cost of this success, given such a deficient childhood. This could have created some real additional interest.
Shades of Meg Mason, Rachel Cusk, Elizabeth Day, and Sally Rooney. I recommend it to anyone who likes any of their stuff!
An indictment on the kinds of lives western societies teaches us to lead, what to value, what to neglect (and it was uncanny to see many people I know reflected in Hen). But it's also a story about a particular family struggling to be happy.
I really enjoyed Riley's acutely observational style. Verbal and physical tics (especially Hen's) are expertly drawn. I found myself almost physically uncomfortable by passages of dialogue charged with frostiness and passive aggression.
The book is largely reflective - recounting a childhood with woefully inadequate parents - so the character sketches are vivid and memorable. Like Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy, the reader is required to infer a lot about the narrator herself - an interesting device.
Where I thought Riley missed some low-hanging fruit was exploring how the narrator herself was affected by her parents' emotional immaturity. The narrator is by all accounts thriving (a flourishing academic career, a sensitive long-term partner and nice flat in London). But we're left to wonder at the cost of this success, given such a deficient childhood. This could have created some real additional interest.
Shades of Meg Mason, Rachel Cusk, Elizabeth Day, and Sally Rooney. I recommend it to anyone who likes any of their stuff!
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
That’s two for two with Gwendoline Riley, I think i’ve got a new literary crush. So especially cutting in her observations of people. I loved it.
emotional
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes