A gentle, relaxing family saga. Really enjoyable. Enough drama to write an opera, as Frummie snorted and said:
“Of course I have a point. And what I’m saying is, I think we’d all feel much nobler if we had an orchestra around when we’re living those really dramatic moments of our own lives. I’m sure it would be much less of a dreary struggle if Brahms or Mozart was accompanying our own private dramas. We watch all these plays and films and are moved by suffering and fear or great romantic passion, yet our own lives we imagine to be rather pathetic and dreary. I’ve always had a fancy to die to some great dramatic musical theme but I can’t quite decide what it should be...
... It would be frustrating if the music stopped at the wrong moment.” Louise was amused at the idea. “I suppose it would have to be something powerful and dramatic.” “On the other hand I might prefer something sexy and terribly evocative,” said Frummie. “Something that really invokes a memory. Nina Simone, perhaps. Someone with a gravelly voice that plucks the heartstrings right out of your chest, so that you’re way back there in that dim, shadowy cellar and you can see the little, round tables with their half-empty glasses, and ashtrays spilling over, and a velvet evening bag dumped down amongst the wet sticky rings”
There were too many family and friends trying to be counselors to each other, which dragged out the story way too much. However, true to the Maeve Binchy format, and reminiscent of Rosamunde Pilcher's books, the ending is a great one.
"We probe about too much these days,” he’d say. “Everyone wants to be a counselor, amateur or otherwise. It isn’t always good to delve about in our inner psyches; sometimes it’s better just to shut up and get on with life.”
Some of the characters were just too high on their own pity-parade for my taste. But they were all so well developed and actually likable. The story is atmospheric and technicolored. Thought-provoking and entertaining.
Talk about chain marriages in many forms, this is it! Enough characters to fill out the entire scope on marriage in all its complexities. My goodness, and mistresses galore. However, and refreshingly, a nonpredatory approach was in vogue! :-))
What I really appreciated was that all the men in the book were treated like real good human beings: excellent friends, great lovers and wonderful husbands.
A feel-good experience. A great one!