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A review by daveenabadyal
Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope
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