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The Old Romantic
An Oprah Book of The Week.
Meet Ken. He's obsessed with death, planning his own funeral and desperate to die in the bosom of his family. Unfortunately for Ken, that's the last place his family wants him.
His oldest son Nick left home over twenty years ago and reinvented himself. At forty, he has returned home to Kent, and found happiness with his girlfriend Astrid and her twelve-year-old daughter Laura, and he doesn't want the old man to spoil things. He's come a long way; he's a professional, a country gent, a family man. But the past is coming back for Nick and it won't let him be.
Reviewers hailed the book as 'extremely funny' with 'a clever plot and plenty of surprises.'
‘Louise Dean's fearless, frank and darkly comic novels have brought a fresh colour and character to English fiction.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent.
'Like its predecessors, it channels the rough music of everyday life for non-Bloomsbury folk with a tragicomic subtlety, a pin-sharp ear for dialogue and a flair for every nuance of character and class. Beneath the mordant delights of observation lies a sharp awareness of the grander themes – love, selfhood, family, freedom and above all death – that haunt minds and shape lives in Kentish cottages, and executive-style new-build homes, as much as Kentish castles. Admirers of Beryl Bainbridge still grieving her loss should find solace here.' Boyd Tonkin The Independent
'Dark, scurrilous and richly comic. There is so much to treasure in this terrific book, but its deepest joy is the sharp, perceptive writing.' Financial Times
'Very appealing...so vivid are the quintessentially British characters and the snappy, well-observed dialogue. Delightful, eccentric...' The Observer
'Dean's observations have a lyrical intensity few can match.' The Guardian
'A warm-hearted comedy of bad manners.' Daily Mail
‘Dean writes with beautifully controlled clarity about family ties, social class, the generation gap and the vanished England of the past. She's extremely funny, but also humane and moving.’ The Times.
'Dean is able to demonstrate her unobtrusive skill as the creator of comic set-pieces...painfully funny. A clever plot and plenty of surprises.'The Sunday Times
Meet Ken. He's obsessed with death, planning his own funeral and desperate to die in the bosom of his family. Unfortunately for Ken, that's the last place his family wants him.
His oldest son Nick left home over twenty years ago and reinvented himself. At forty, he has returned home to Kent, and found happiness with his girlfriend Astrid and her twelve-year-old daughter Laura, and he doesn't want the old man to spoil things. He's come a long way; he's a professional, a country gent, a family man. But the past is coming back for Nick and it won't let him be.
Reviewers hailed the book as 'extremely funny' with 'a clever plot and plenty of surprises.'
‘Louise Dean's fearless, frank and darkly comic novels have brought a fresh colour and character to English fiction.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent.
'Like its predecessors, it channels the rough music of everyday life for non-Bloomsbury folk with a tragicomic subtlety, a pin-sharp ear for dialogue and a flair for every nuance of character and class. Beneath the mordant delights of observation lies a sharp awareness of the grander themes – love, selfhood, family, freedom and above all death – that haunt minds and shape lives in Kentish cottages, and executive-style new-build homes, as much as Kentish castles. Admirers of Beryl Bainbridge still grieving her loss should find solace here.' Boyd Tonkin The Independent
'Dark, scurrilous and richly comic. There is so much to treasure in this terrific book, but its deepest joy is the sharp, perceptive writing.' Financial Times
'Very appealing...so vivid are the quintessentially British characters and the snappy, well-observed dialogue. Delightful, eccentric...' The Observer
'Dean's observations have a lyrical intensity few can match.' The Guardian
'A warm-hearted comedy of bad manners.' Daily Mail
‘Dean writes with beautifully controlled clarity about family ties, social class, the generation gap and the vanished England of the past. She's extremely funny, but also humane and moving.’ The Times.
'Dean is able to demonstrate her unobtrusive skill as the creator of comic set-pieces...painfully funny. A clever plot and plenty of surprises.'The Sunday Times
334 pages, ebook
First published August 1, 2010
18 people are currently reading
682 people want to read
About the author
Louise Dean
6 books56 followersLouise is the founder of Thenovelry.com. The online creative writing courses recommended by the world's leading literary agencies with five-star reviews.
Louise Dean has won the Betty Trask Prize, Le Prince Maurice Prize, been nominated for The Guardian First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. Her first book 'Becoming Strangers' was named one of The Observer's top four books of the year.
'Louise Dean's fearless, frank and darkly comic novels have brought a fresh colour and character to English fiction.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent.
'Dean is an audacious arrival in British fiction.’ The Guardian.
'Dean writes with beautifully controlled clarity about family ties, social class, the generation gap and the vanished England of the past. She’s extremely funny, but also humane and moving.' The Times.
'Dean has a deliciously lucid and seemingly effortless style…’ Daily Mail.
Louise teaches novel writing and short stories and has spoken at Hay on Wye, Brisbane, Galle and Edinburgh Festivals.
She has appeared on BBC News, Radio 4, Woman's Hour with Jenni Murray and Mariella Frostrup amongst others.
Louise was educated at Cambridge University and has lived and worked in the USA and France.
Louise Dean has won the Betty Trask Prize, Le Prince Maurice Prize, been nominated for The Guardian First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. Her first book 'Becoming Strangers' was named one of The Observer's top four books of the year.
'Louise Dean's fearless, frank and darkly comic novels have brought a fresh colour and character to English fiction.' Boyd Tonkin, The Independent.
'Dean is an audacious arrival in British fiction.’ The Guardian.
'Dean writes with beautifully controlled clarity about family ties, social class, the generation gap and the vanished England of the past. She’s extremely funny, but also humane and moving.' The Times.
'Dean has a deliciously lucid and seemingly effortless style…’ Daily Mail.
Louise teaches novel writing and short stories and has spoken at Hay on Wye, Brisbane, Galle and Edinburgh Festivals.
She has appeared on BBC News, Radio 4, Woman's Hour with Jenni Murray and Mariella Frostrup amongst others.
Louise was educated at Cambridge University and has lived and worked in the USA and France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
June 17, 2011
BBC needs to make this book into a film starring Hugh Grant as Nicholas and Jim Broadbent as Ken and Gemma Jones as Pearl. It's a very amusing and touching story about a family that has been estranged for over 20 years and decides to get together again to heal old wounds (and create new ones.) The writing is excellent and moved along at a brisk pace.
February 16, 2012
So here’s The Old Romantic by Louise Dean. The New York Times said that it has ‘great comic touches’ and Publisher’s Weekly described it as “grimly hilarious” and I liked it. Did I laugh? No. Was I meant to? No, I don’t think so. Was I amused? No. There are numerous humorous situations but in the hands of this gifted writer they are mixed with a little too much realism, a little too much truth to be comic. They are more emotionally squirm worthy than laugh out loud.
The Old Romantic is set in England but it is the universal story of the successful adult snob who is ashamed of his parents. We all know that story. It usually ends with ungrateful brat having a crisis or epiphany or meeting a talking horse with the wisdom of the ages at his hoofs and realizing the value of Mom and Dad. Cue the happy ending. In Louise Dean’s version of this classic tale family feeling and acceptance are not achieved so easily or with such Hallmark results—giving the reader the happy ending instead of the characters.
As successful as eldest son, Nick has been out in the world, he’s been just that bad at relationships. As a teenager he squealed to Mom about Dad Ken’s affair and thereby ended his parents’ marriage. After the divorce Nick lived with odd, angry Mom, Pearl, while peacemaking younger brother Dave felt compelled to live with Dad. Twenty years and more bad water under the bridge later Dave manages to bring Nick home for a reunion with Ken.
Ken, now 80, and on his second divorce, has decided that he’s dying. He wants Nick to help him with his divorce from current wife, June and with writing his will not that Ken is leaving Nick anything. Nick, who has achieved poshness above his station as a lawyer allows himself to be guilted into helping his father. Ken is self involved, anger spewing, maudlin and has left a trail of hurt behind him.
As we get to know Nick and the rest of the family we have to question Nick’s version of the past. Is Ken really the epitome of ignorance, bad taste and blaming? How much of Nick’s upbringing has he been able to jettison and how much has he carried around with him shaping his relationships? How far beneath the fine clothes does Nick’s refinement run? What is at the heart of his relationship with the attractive Astrid? Is Nick only a slightly more socially acceptable version of Ken?
The Old Romantic isn’t the kind of novel that you read to find out what will happen next so much as what the characters will say next. Louise Dean constantly shifts your sympathies from character to character in The Old Romantic. Ken, Nick, Pearl, Dave, the poor funeral director- everyone gets a turn being the victim. Instead of plot this novel is stuffed with intricate relationships, the kind of commonplace moments that reveal our own prejudices and foibles and some extra snappy dialog.
The Old Romantic is set in England but it is the universal story of the successful adult snob who is ashamed of his parents. We all know that story. It usually ends with ungrateful brat having a crisis or epiphany or meeting a talking horse with the wisdom of the ages at his hoofs and realizing the value of Mom and Dad. Cue the happy ending. In Louise Dean’s version of this classic tale family feeling and acceptance are not achieved so easily or with such Hallmark results—giving the reader the happy ending instead of the characters.
As successful as eldest son, Nick has been out in the world, he’s been just that bad at relationships. As a teenager he squealed to Mom about Dad Ken’s affair and thereby ended his parents’ marriage. After the divorce Nick lived with odd, angry Mom, Pearl, while peacemaking younger brother Dave felt compelled to live with Dad. Twenty years and more bad water under the bridge later Dave manages to bring Nick home for a reunion with Ken.
Ken, now 80, and on his second divorce, has decided that he’s dying. He wants Nick to help him with his divorce from current wife, June and with writing his will not that Ken is leaving Nick anything. Nick, who has achieved poshness above his station as a lawyer allows himself to be guilted into helping his father. Ken is self involved, anger spewing, maudlin and has left a trail of hurt behind him.
As we get to know Nick and the rest of the family we have to question Nick’s version of the past. Is Ken really the epitome of ignorance, bad taste and blaming? How much of Nick’s upbringing has he been able to jettison and how much has he carried around with him shaping his relationships? How far beneath the fine clothes does Nick’s refinement run? What is at the heart of his relationship with the attractive Astrid? Is Nick only a slightly more socially acceptable version of Ken?
The Old Romantic isn’t the kind of novel that you read to find out what will happen next so much as what the characters will say next. Louise Dean constantly shifts your sympathies from character to character in The Old Romantic. Ken, Nick, Pearl, Dave, the poor funeral director- everyone gets a turn being the victim. Instead of plot this novel is stuffed with intricate relationships, the kind of commonplace moments that reveal our own prejudices and foibles and some extra snappy dialog.
March 15, 2011
Funny and wise. I enjoyed this send up of mangled family relationships. The family consists of, Nick, who has been running from his lower class, battle prone family, Dave the second son in every respect who keeps trying to appease, Ken, the foul mouthed father, who really is the romantic one, Pearl, the mother,and the most off the wall example of 70's feminism, I've yet to encounter. These characters ring true. A lovely read.
July 3, 2011
I'm not sure if the author has ever met a real-life person before. Most of the characters' actions and interactions seem like something gleaned from sitcoms or anecdotes overheard at the spa.
September 22, 2013
These people certainly deserved each other, but I deserved better.
What a boring lot.
What a boring lot.
April 29, 2023
I rarely stop reading a book once I start it, but I really wanted to stop with this one. But wait - I did NOT stop. I finished it, although it took a very long time. The thing that bothered me was that I couldn't figure out WHY I wanted to stop. One day it hit me: I didn't like any of the characters one bit. They all seemed petulant and self-centered. Around the middle of the book the story line became more interesting, and I'm glad I saw it through to the end, though I still wasn't rooting for anyone.
If I had read the book's description on Amazon prior to reading the book, I would have been more patient. It reads, in part, "...Louise Dean sends up the whole clan, each of them fatally flawed yet saved by hidden grace, and illuminates with her incomparable acuity their clashes of generation, gender, class, and temperament, in a riotous and compassionate conflagration." Okay, that's a good explanation, and I would have been more gracious if I had begun reading the book after reading this description.
At this point, I realize that I would have understood the complexities of the characters and story line if I had ingested this as a movie. This is probably due to some kind of flaw in my reading, but I'm not apologizing for it. And it has certainly not scared me away from Louis Dean's other work - to the contrary, I am looking forward to reading her book The Idea of Love.
If I had read the book's description on Amazon prior to reading the book, I would have been more patient. It reads, in part, "...Louise Dean sends up the whole clan, each of them fatally flawed yet saved by hidden grace, and illuminates with her incomparable acuity their clashes of generation, gender, class, and temperament, in a riotous and compassionate conflagration." Okay, that's a good explanation, and I would have been more gracious if I had begun reading the book after reading this description.
At this point, I realize that I would have understood the complexities of the characters and story line if I had ingested this as a movie. This is probably due to some kind of flaw in my reading, but I'm not apologizing for it. And it has certainly not scared me away from Louis Dean's other work - to the contrary, I am looking forward to reading her book The Idea of Love.
January 5, 2018
A well written novel about an 80 year old man (the old romantic), his past loves, his 2 sons, and their loves. What prevents if from being a 5 star is the over all unlikeabilty of characters who are supposed to exude some charm. Ken, the old man is a sour curmudgeon who comes across as a misogynist basically. The author has him discard his current wife as if she is old newspaper and still portrays him as someone deserving of all this family love he apparently destroyed but is his due. He has treated his sons verbally badly for years but these adult men apparently yearn for his love, as does their abusive mother who hasn't had contact with any of them for years. Why this family ultimately adores each other is incomprehensible but this is what the book is about.
Thus the rating is for the writing and the dialect. The interrelationships of the characters left a bad taste in my mouth, frankly.
Thus the rating is for the writing and the dialect. The interrelationships of the characters left a bad taste in my mouth, frankly.
February 18, 2021
The appeal of this novel is our ability as a reader to see parts of ourselves and our family in the story. The ability to relate. Everyone knows an old grump who has a heart of gold. Someone you love and hate at the same time. It also brings home we are the product of our parents. This should never be something we are ashamed of - no matter how crusty. It has built our foundation and character. Our perspective and worldview.
The author was engaging. Since she is English, I was fascinated on the vocabulary. There were so many words, as an American, that I had never seen before! I had to keep my dictionary close. Fun read. Not unique but interesting.
The author was engaging. Since she is English, I was fascinated on the vocabulary. There were so many words, as an American, that I had never seen before! I had to keep my dictionary close. Fun read. Not unique but interesting.
March 9, 2018
This is a wild and warm family story with all the mistakes and hurts that family do to each other and the the ties that bind them and the strong women that hold them up even if its done rather harshly but with love. The relationship of two very different brothers and the attachment they have to each other,and their father, especially in the end made me cry.beautiful writing ,i will look for more books from her -a beautiful read.
October 30, 2020
I can see this transferring well to TV and it had some amusing moments but I found it quite hard to read. Sometimes you just don’t get on with an authors style and I don’t think I will be tempted to read another of her books. I started this as a sample on my Kindle and it obviously drew me in because I paid more than my usual 99p limit!
May 25, 2017
This was a very dry, uninviting book, very hard to follow these slow going plot. And the plot seems to go nowhere, it could of been summed up in 2 chapters.
January 17, 2021
Didn’t like the characters from the start but hoped I would warm to at least one of them. I didn’t which made it hard to finish. Perhaps it is that I am reading it when I need something a little more uplifting (during a pandemic).
September 18, 2021
Funny, irreverent, moving and not maudlin. Worth your time.
January 9, 2024
Hard to follow, the parts that made sense were good and funny.
January 25, 2025
Oceniam tym "Starą romantyczkę" Stanisława Bogusławskiego.
August 28, 2012
Quotes:
All sorts of betrayals, he'd thought sadly, remembering his brother's face, all sorts of betrayals to get ahead. An elder brother is always on the make.
He looks so sweet, her one-man storm in a teacup.
She lived in terror of someone breaking in and messing up her cushions.
In bed with her or talking to her, he felt two things he'd never felt before: exposed and grateful. / There were all sorts of things about love he didn't know before her: the emergency of wanting to be honest which, it seemed to him, was what real love did to you; the fear of loss; and the risk of becoming ordinary.
... he's back in the past where everyone was courteous and decent and hard done by and hopeful.
... persons what thought more about people than they did their china animals and buying things and gambling and spending money.
... there was the singing of birds as the sun came up. Daft little sods, he'd thought, singing their little hearts out as if every day were the Creation.
So now, when he looks at the sea, he is appalled that it's still there and just the same -- a pale snoring ogre. It appears smooth and inscrutable, vast as any notion of God, but it's troubled, and like a disturbed mind, it turns its problem over and over. With its undercurrent on the prowl, it's ready to take each of us by the ankles and lay us out.
"I can't stand goatees." / "No. They're either effeminate or pretentious." / "Or fat men use them to make a chin where there isn't one."
There was always something Victorian about Pearl: useful and harsh, sly and sentimental.
The only thing she wanted, really wanted, was to be kissed and loved and told "You're a good person" by someone she could believe.
(A son to his father, who is considering divorcing his wife) "Don't forget you're entitled to half her bingo winnings..."
"Job's comfort, you are," his father retorted.
All sorts of betrayals, he'd thought sadly, remembering his brother's face, all sorts of betrayals to get ahead. An elder brother is always on the make.
He looks so sweet, her one-man storm in a teacup.
She lived in terror of someone breaking in and messing up her cushions.
In bed with her or talking to her, he felt two things he'd never felt before: exposed and grateful. / There were all sorts of things about love he didn't know before her: the emergency of wanting to be honest which, it seemed to him, was what real love did to you; the fear of loss; and the risk of becoming ordinary.
... he's back in the past where everyone was courteous and decent and hard done by and hopeful.
... persons what thought more about people than they did their china animals and buying things and gambling and spending money.
... there was the singing of birds as the sun came up. Daft little sods, he'd thought, singing their little hearts out as if every day were the Creation.
So now, when he looks at the sea, he is appalled that it's still there and just the same -- a pale snoring ogre. It appears smooth and inscrutable, vast as any notion of God, but it's troubled, and like a disturbed mind, it turns its problem over and over. With its undercurrent on the prowl, it's ready to take each of us by the ankles and lay us out.
"I can't stand goatees." / "No. They're either effeminate or pretentious." / "Or fat men use them to make a chin where there isn't one."
There was always something Victorian about Pearl: useful and harsh, sly and sentimental.
The only thing she wanted, really wanted, was to be kissed and loved and told "You're a good person" by someone she could believe.
(A son to his father, who is considering divorcing his wife) "Don't forget you're entitled to half her bingo winnings..."
"Job's comfort, you are," his father retorted.
July 10, 2011
My husband and I both enjoyed this book tremendously. The writer, who is British, is compared favorably to John Updike, a comparison she earns. Like him, she's a stylist--she simply can't write a bad sentence. And also like him, she is a great appreciator of the world around her, which she describes in language that is usually wry, sometimes poetic, and often downright ribald. It is a pleasure to read a writer who employs the language so beautifully. She is perceptive, but also "knows when to quit"--the narrative hums right along and you are rapidly caught up in the web of funny, touching relationships she spins.
The story is essentially a domestic comedy-drama--an old-school type of novel that the British do extremely well (I think American family stories tend to be darker and more earnest). The father--the "old romantic" of the title--is a type that is probably dying out: an old bastard that you can't help loving because he's just so damned larger than life. He's cheap, critical, querulous, un-mannered and unschooled but sharp as a tack. He was a terrible prick as a father and husband, but now he's obsessed with dying and wants to reunite his family. Though he can't come right out and say it, it's clear he wants to make things right with the ex-wife and sons he has neglected and/or harangued ever since they can remember. Their reactions to his attempts to reinsert himself in their lives are about what you'd imagine--chiefly, horrified.
The ending is a stunner. Somehow Louise Dean manages to deliver a big load of feeling while avoiding sentimentality.
One of the author's previous novels made it to the long list for England's Booker prize. After reading The Old Romantic, I look forward to reading her other works.
The story is essentially a domestic comedy-drama--an old-school type of novel that the British do extremely well (I think American family stories tend to be darker and more earnest). The father--the "old romantic" of the title--is a type that is probably dying out: an old bastard that you can't help loving because he's just so damned larger than life. He's cheap, critical, querulous, un-mannered and unschooled but sharp as a tack. He was a terrible prick as a father and husband, but now he's obsessed with dying and wants to reunite his family. Though he can't come right out and say it, it's clear he wants to make things right with the ex-wife and sons he has neglected and/or harangued ever since they can remember. Their reactions to his attempts to reinsert himself in their lives are about what you'd imagine--chiefly, horrified.
The ending is a stunner. Somehow Louise Dean manages to deliver a big load of feeling while avoiding sentimentality.
One of the author's previous novels made it to the long list for England's Booker prize. After reading The Old Romantic, I look forward to reading her other works.
November 3, 2011
I'd never heard of Louise Dean but decided to give The Old Romantic a try after reading a decent blurb in Entertainment Weekly. I've been going through a huge Anglophile phase lately (thank you Downton Abbey!!), so this was a perfect fit for me right now. This book is "about" all kinds of things but mostly about family, re-configuring our relationship with our parents as they (and we) grow older, marriage, relationship with siblings. In other words, it's a very "domestic" novel but it's also incredibly funny.
I rarely laugh out loud while reading books but I was cracking up while reading this one. I don’t even know if it’s supposed to be that funny, but the very British-ness of the wit and class obsessions were hilarious.
I also love Dean's writing (spare, wry, full of keen observations), not a misplaced word anywhere. I’ll definitely be seeking out more from her.
I rarely laugh out loud while reading books but I was cracking up while reading this one. I don’t even know if it’s supposed to be that funny, but the very British-ness of the wit and class obsessions were hilarious.
I also love Dean's writing (spare, wry, full of keen observations), not a misplaced word anywhere. I’ll definitely be seeking out more from her.
April 7, 2011
Dean asks the big questions about love, commitment, and the changing boundaries among family members in this exploration of marriage and family. While critics generally agreed that The Old Romantic is light on plot, they nonetheless described it as a barbed social satire on class, love, and marriage in its various forms. Dean also offers many revelatory moments, though the Minneapolis Star Tribune thought that her insights, many as they are, lacked an emotional core. Despite that criticism, reviewers generally praised this story of family dysfunction, reunion, and, ultimately, of the quest for happiness and fulfillment. This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
September 7, 2012
This book had some good points - I generally liked the writing style and rather dry humor... err, humour. I got off to a bad start when I realized, while trying to work through the character relationships, that the book jacket synopsis confuses the mother and stepmother.
The plot is about a long-estranged British family overcoming their differences. I set the book aside a couple of times, and when I was about halfway through I was mercifully saved by the library due date. I was never quite clear on why they were estranged. I believe the characters would all have grown and changed, but I had developed such a strong dislike for every member of the family that I wasn't interested in seeing it through.
The plot is about a long-estranged British family overcoming their differences. I set the book aside a couple of times, and when I was about halfway through I was mercifully saved by the library due date. I was never quite clear on why they were estranged. I believe the characters would all have grown and changed, but I had developed such a strong dislike for every member of the family that I wasn't interested in seeing it through.
April 6, 2012
I started out not liking this book much, but loving it by the end- so much that I didn't want it to end! It is very heavy on the English brogue, and I think that made it hard for me to get into. Lots of the slang went over my head and I had a hard time figuring out who was related to who and what was going on........but after I figured everything out, the story was very enjoyable. I actually went back and read it again to enjoy the parts I had been confused about the first time around.
Ken is a cranky old man who has decided it is his time to die. He tries to mend some very broken relationships with his sons and ex-wife before he leaves this earth. The ensuing drama is humorous and entertaining.....
Ken is a cranky old man who has decided it is his time to die. He tries to mend some very broken relationships with his sons and ex-wife before he leaves this earth. The ensuing drama is humorous and entertaining.....
August 3, 2011
A very funny story about a divorce attorney, estranged from both his divorced parents until the father comes re-enters seeking the son's help in getting him a divorce. The father becomes interested in a local woman who runs a funeral parlor at the same time he meets his first wife again. The father is a boor, the oldest son holds himself to be better than all his family and the younger brothers tries his hardest to reunite everyone. As the older son comes to grips with his life, his girlfriend and his family, he realizes that he is not the person he thought he was. This is an enjoyable read, the father is a great character.
July 4, 2013
Nick Goodyew has not been in contact with his parents for 20 years or so. The family is reunited when Nick’s father, Ken, becomes obsessed with death. So begins the craziness. . .
After meeting with his angry father, Nick is forced to examine his past and present. Who is he? How can he be related to Ken? What does he need to do in order to not end up like his father?
Though it’s mostly quiet and kind of depressing, Nick’s journey leads readers to a happy and warm place and leaves us with hope and a laugh or two.
After meeting with his angry father, Nick is forced to examine his past and present. Who is he? How can he be related to Ken? What does he need to do in order to not end up like his father?
Though it’s mostly quiet and kind of depressing, Nick’s journey leads readers to a happy and warm place and leaves us with hope and a laugh or two.
July 19, 2011
I did not like any of these people but I couldn't stop reading the book- how's that for weird. The story shared certain elements with A Visit from the Goon Squad, namely fluidity of time, small, carefully put together pictures of separate moments, and multiple points of view, but unlike Egan's book these guys were family and couldn't/didn't want to escape each other, not really.
May 30, 2011
Actually 3 1/2 stars. The writing was fabulous, very local British, which was fun. The story was the family dynamics, which was interesting. But it left me wanting more of an ending, even though it had an ending. It just didn't seem like it was finished yet. Kudos on delving into how complicated family dynamics are, and being able to get enough "history" to explain why everyone was the way they were. Too bad it didn't seem finished though. But then again, families are never finished. Reality is that we are always evolving, be it to a good place or a not so good place.
June 12, 2011
I enjoyed this book, but only 3 stars worth. The book just jumped right into the midst of the characters' lives, so the characters were pretty much already developed. Although the author showed us more as the story developed. But isn't that how it is in real life? As an older adult, when people meet us, we have essentially become who are are, without too many changes going on.
But I digress. It did take me awhile to get into the story. I felt that some loose ends were left at the end. I enjoyed the keen British humor.
But I digress. It did take me awhile to get into the story. I felt that some loose ends were left at the end. I enjoyed the keen British humor.
July 18, 2011
What begins as “same old, same old,” quickly morphed into something quite unexpected as the back story unfolded, revealing painful loneliness and setting the stage for life-changing epiphanies. This is a novel where staid characters find new understanding of themselves, where forgiveness is borne from understanding. How do you learn to love, to be kind, to be compassionate, selfless? That is the road the motley collection of characters travels. Estranged family members, old and new friends, each with his flaws and many graces, they made me often laugh out loud.
August 22, 2011
Really boring book. One of those interior monologues about middle class life, this book presents the stories from different characters points of view and really, really detailed observations of colurs and objects and figures around the landscape. It can either be really beautiful, as some of these are, but this time the work falls flat. The author is highly praised on the book jacket but I don't think this is her best work at all. Don't spend too much time on it. Similar to Saraswati Park and Empire Falls, but nowhere as good
January 16, 2015
I've been eyeing this novel since it was first published in 2010. I often pick a book based on it's cover, and this cover did attract me, but I couldn't tell you why. This is one of those books that by the time you reach page 80 or 90 you realize that not much is going to happen. So then, you can slow down and start looking for what's happening between the lines or in the spaces between words. This is definitely one of those books. It kept my interest the whole way. The end is refreshing in that everyone finds their place.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews