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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Interesting book about family relationships or the lack thereof. Really well written—reliable narrator?
Short, painful daggers of sentences that deconstruct and build and simplify human beings. It is written in a flawed voice as prone to its own selfish failings as the people it critiques, and yet valid in a great deal of what it says. A tender, honest novel full of pain. I wept. In the most complimentary way, the Mary Gaitskill comparisons are incredibly apt.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I'd like to hear the mother's side of the story.
First half is mostly the daughter's straight commentary on her family when she was a child. Last half has a lot of conversation in it, as the now middle aged narrator and her mother go out for a birthday dinner in London every year, in the horrible weather of February.
Yes, the dad is a POS. But the mother - there have been a lot worse!
And yes, what kind of daughter does not introduce her partner and her mother to each other for so many years? Well, maybe she knew the priggish therapist partner would see her mother more as a patient than as a person. Which is exactly what he does when they do meet.
Or, we never see why she and her sister never speak to one another.
Yes the mother is quite a case - but the daughter/narrator is not someone I'd like to spend an evening with either.
I do wonder if this is an example of auto-fiction.
My thanks to my local PL for the loan of the ebook.
I will read "First Love" as well. And may look for some of her earlier work, which seems to be set around being young, drunk, and continually hooking up with the wrong guy. Or so the reviews of her 2 latest books make her early ones sound like.
3 out of 5.
First half is mostly the daughter's straight commentary on her family when she was a child. Last half has a lot of conversation in it, as the now middle aged narrator and her mother go out for a birthday dinner in London every year, in the horrible weather of February.
Yes, the dad is a POS. But the mother - there have been a lot worse!
And yes, what kind of daughter does not introduce her partner and her mother to each other for so many years? Well, maybe she knew the priggish therapist partner would see her mother more as a patient than as a person. Which is exactly what he does when they do meet.
Or, we never see why she and her sister never speak to one another.
Yes the mother is quite a case - but the daughter/narrator is not someone I'd like to spend an evening with either.
I do wonder if this is an example of auto-fiction.
My thanks to my local PL for the loan of the ebook.
I will read "First Love" as well. And may look for some of her earlier work, which seems to be set around being young, drunk, and continually hooking up with the wrong guy. Or so the reviews of her 2 latest books make her early ones sound like.
3 out of 5.
challenging
reflective
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
Short and quick read based on an end-of-year recommendation in a newspaper I read regularly. Up close, personal, and rather bleak story about a very difficult mother-daughter relationship and the reverberating/ongoing effects of dysfunctional family dynamics. Riley is talented so at times the reading was painful, but absolutely would read another of her books.
A perfect short blistering read that will make you laugh and cringe inside. Loved it.