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The White Family
Alfred White, a London park keeper, rules his home with a mixture of rigidity and tenderness that has estranged his three children. For years, Alfred’s daughter Shirley and her black partner Elroy have avoided her comically ignorant younger brother Dirk, who admires his father and hates people of colour. But family ties are strong: when Alfred collapses on duty one day, all the children rush to be with him. The scene is set for bloodshed, forcing Alfred to make a climactic choice between justice and kinship.
Exploring the roots of racism in British society, The White Family traces what happens when a family reaches breaking point after years of love and hate, violence and polite silence.
This twentieth-anniversary edition includes an introduction by Bernardine Evaristo and a note from the author revealing the story behind this contemporary classic.
Exploring the roots of racism in British society, The White Family traces what happens when a family reaches breaking point after years of love and hate, violence and polite silence.
This twentieth-anniversary edition includes an introduction by Bernardine Evaristo and a note from the author revealing the story behind this contemporary classic.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
16 people are currently reading
513 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Gee
39 books52 followersMaggie Gee is an English novelist. She was born in Poole, Dorset, then moved to the Midlands and later to Sussex. She was educated at state schools and at Oxford University (MA, B Litt). She later worked in publishing and then had a research post at Wolverhampton Polytechnic where she completed the department's first PhD. She has written eleven novels and a collection of short stories, and was the first female Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, 2004-2008. She is now one of the Vice-Presidents of the RSL and Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. She has also served on the Society of Authors' management committee and the government's Public Lending Right committee. Her seventh novel, The White Family, was shortlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
She writes in a broadly modernist tradition, in that her books have a strong overall sense of pattern and meaning, but her writing is characterised by political and social awareness. She turns a satirical eye on contemporary society but is affectionate towards her characters and has an unironised sense of the beauty of the natural world. Her human beings are biological as well as social creatures, partly because of the influence of science and in particular evolutionary biology on her thinking. Where are The Snows, The Ice People and The Flood have all dealt with the near or distant future. She writes through male characters as often as she does through female characters.
The individual human concerns that her stories address include the difficulties of resolving the conflict between total unselfishness, which often leads to secret unhappiness and resentment against the beneficiaries, and selfishness, which can lead to the unhappiness of others, particularly of children. This is a typical quandary of late-20th and early-21st-century women, but it is also a concern for privileged, wealthy, long-lived western human beings as a whole, and widens into global concerns about wealth and poverty and climate change. Her books also explore how the human species relates to non-human animals and to the natural world as a whole. Two of her books, The White Family and My Cleaner, have had racism as a central theme, dealt with as a tragedy in The White Family but as a comedy in My Cleaner. She is currently writing a memoir called My Animal Life. In 2009 she published "My Driver", a second novel with many of the same characters as My Cleaner, but this time set in Uganda during a time of tension with neighbouring DRC Congo.
Maggie Gee lives in London with her husband, the writer and broadcaster Nicholas Rankin, an author, and their daughter Rosa.
She writes in a broadly modernist tradition, in that her books have a strong overall sense of pattern and meaning, but her writing is characterised by political and social awareness. She turns a satirical eye on contemporary society but is affectionate towards her characters and has an unironised sense of the beauty of the natural world. Her human beings are biological as well as social creatures, partly because of the influence of science and in particular evolutionary biology on her thinking. Where are The Snows, The Ice People and The Flood have all dealt with the near or distant future. She writes through male characters as often as she does through female characters.
The individual human concerns that her stories address include the difficulties of resolving the conflict between total unselfishness, which often leads to secret unhappiness and resentment against the beneficiaries, and selfishness, which can lead to the unhappiness of others, particularly of children. This is a typical quandary of late-20th and early-21st-century women, but it is also a concern for privileged, wealthy, long-lived western human beings as a whole, and widens into global concerns about wealth and poverty and climate change. Her books also explore how the human species relates to non-human animals and to the natural world as a whole. Two of her books, The White Family and My Cleaner, have had racism as a central theme, dealt with as a tragedy in The White Family but as a comedy in My Cleaner. She is currently writing a memoir called My Animal Life. In 2009 she published "My Driver", a second novel with many of the same characters as My Cleaner, but this time set in Uganda during a time of tension with neighbouring DRC Congo.
Maggie Gee lives in London with her husband, the writer and broadcaster Nicholas Rankin, an author, and their daughter Rosa.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 16, 2012
This is what otherwise might be known as a kitchen sink drama and it deals with a ‘normal’ family and humdrum everyday life as subject matter. All of this then might make this book seem ordinary and unremarkable – on the contrary though, the characterisation and narrative are superb and this book is a mini-masterpiece that concentrates on the banality and pains of everyday life. Maggie Gee is indeed an exquisite writer and no wonder this book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction way back in 2002.
The Whites are a regular, slightly more than nuclear family with mum, dad and three grown up children – Darren, Shirley and Dirk. Dad Alfred is a park-keeper in the wider London suburbs, mum May is a traditional if not stereotypical fretful and worrisome loving mother, son Darren is a successful career guy, daughter Shirley is compliant and infertile and youngest son Dirk is damaged, broken and worryingly vulnerable and insecure. Dad and youngest son are also institutionally racist in a multi-coloured and modern Britain.
Gee weaves a plot where father White falls ill and the web of family life then begins to collapse and unfold, sometimes causing reflection and positive change but also causing disaster and tragedy where the family offspring live at odds with their family roots and social class as well as with each other. What is remarkable is Gee’s deft characterisation where every family member is grounded and understood regardless of their stance in life. With each one feels empathy but with Alfred and Dirk (father and youngest son) one probably feels a more extreme sympathy as each battles with a sense of duty, misguided ambition and ultimately deep rooted and dangerous issues with anger and hurt.
The tone of the book manages to be very contemporary and demonstrates everyday family issues and complexities which are heightened due to modern tensions and modern times. All characters suffer from a lessened sense of happiness where they weigh up their lot in life with a sense of resignation and silent acceptance.
I have loved Gee’s writing throughout this book almost to the point where I would consider this work to be like a modern Dickens-esque story - a family drama cum wry social commentary of the Millennium age that sketches how London, Britain and their inhabitants live now. The tone is exact and understandable. I can’t wait to pick up another book by this writer.
Recommended to all who appreciate very high-quality British contemporary fiction and simply fabulous it is too.
The Whites are a regular, slightly more than nuclear family with mum, dad and three grown up children – Darren, Shirley and Dirk. Dad Alfred is a park-keeper in the wider London suburbs, mum May is a traditional if not stereotypical fretful and worrisome loving mother, son Darren is a successful career guy, daughter Shirley is compliant and infertile and youngest son Dirk is damaged, broken and worryingly vulnerable and insecure. Dad and youngest son are also institutionally racist in a multi-coloured and modern Britain.
Gee weaves a plot where father White falls ill and the web of family life then begins to collapse and unfold, sometimes causing reflection and positive change but also causing disaster and tragedy where the family offspring live at odds with their family roots and social class as well as with each other. What is remarkable is Gee’s deft characterisation where every family member is grounded and understood regardless of their stance in life. With each one feels empathy but with Alfred and Dirk (father and youngest son) one probably feels a more extreme sympathy as each battles with a sense of duty, misguided ambition and ultimately deep rooted and dangerous issues with anger and hurt.
The tone of the book manages to be very contemporary and demonstrates everyday family issues and complexities which are heightened due to modern tensions and modern times. All characters suffer from a lessened sense of happiness where they weigh up their lot in life with a sense of resignation and silent acceptance.
I have loved Gee’s writing throughout this book almost to the point where I would consider this work to be like a modern Dickens-esque story - a family drama cum wry social commentary of the Millennium age that sketches how London, Britain and their inhabitants live now. The tone is exact and understandable. I can’t wait to pick up another book by this writer.
Recommended to all who appreciate very high-quality British contemporary fiction and simply fabulous it is too.
October 9, 2010
Alfred White is nearing the end of his 50 year career as a park keeper in a fictional London neighborhood in which he has lived for his entire life. He and his wife May have three children: Darren, a famed but restless journalist with a quick temper; Shirley, who has irked her parents by marrying a black African and dating a black Briton of Jamaican descent after her husband's death; and Dirk, the youngest sibling, whose small size and smaller ambitions mark him as a failure compared to his brother.
The neighborhood, once populated by white working class Britons, has now become home to immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and other parts of Europe. Alfred loathes these newcomers, even the noisy yellow "foreign" birds that have taken over the park, as they are not truly British, but he generally keeps his emotions and feelings in check. However Dirk, who worships his father and fully embraces his beliefs, views all nonwhites as threats, blames them for his personal failures, and hates them with a seething fury.
The White family is thrown into crisis when Alfred collapses while on duty. The family rallies around his sickbed, but deep wounds that have festered for years are brought into the open, which creates almost unbearable stress within each member. Dirk is the most deeply affected of all, as his grief over his father's illness is compounded by the realization that none of the rest of his family understands or cares about him. Fueled by rage, fear and hopelessness, he seeks to exact revenge on those whom he hates the most, the 'coloureds' that have made his life a living hell.
The White Family is a spectacular novel about a white working class family in a multicultural London that no longer seems to accept or appreciate them. The characters are richly portrayed, and this reader felt sympathy for even the most dislikable characters. I could hardly put this book down after the first 50 pages, and I won't soon forget these characters or Gee's wonderful narrative. Other than a slightly disappointing last few pages this book was nearly perfect, and this is easily one of my favorite novels of the year.
The neighborhood, once populated by white working class Britons, has now become home to immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and other parts of Europe. Alfred loathes these newcomers, even the noisy yellow "foreign" birds that have taken over the park, as they are not truly British, but he generally keeps his emotions and feelings in check. However Dirk, who worships his father and fully embraces his beliefs, views all nonwhites as threats, blames them for his personal failures, and hates them with a seething fury.
The White family is thrown into crisis when Alfred collapses while on duty. The family rallies around his sickbed, but deep wounds that have festered for years are brought into the open, which creates almost unbearable stress within each member. Dirk is the most deeply affected of all, as his grief over his father's illness is compounded by the realization that none of the rest of his family understands or cares about him. Fueled by rage, fear and hopelessness, he seeks to exact revenge on those whom he hates the most, the 'coloureds' that have made his life a living hell.
The White Family is a spectacular novel about a white working class family in a multicultural London that no longer seems to accept or appreciate them. The characters are richly portrayed, and this reader felt sympathy for even the most dislikable characters. I could hardly put this book down after the first 50 pages, and I won't soon forget these characters or Gee's wonderful narrative. Other than a slightly disappointing last few pages this book was nearly perfect, and this is easily one of my favorite novels of the year.
August 16, 2012
I found this book relatively unpleasant company and not good enough in itself to justify the unpleasantness. I thought the characters were pretty flat and sterotyped.
February 23, 2023
This book is about an ordinary working class family. People we may know. Familiar characters. But there’s a twist. This family is bigoted, racist and violent. Although they wouldn’t think so.
Gee cleverly and subtlety exposes the insidious nature of racism. Ingrained attitudes that weave through generations. Normal families. These characters have nuance, depth and feel wholly based in reality.
In the end I don’t think it quite packs the punch it promises, but it certainly makes you think.
Gee cleverly and subtlety exposes the insidious nature of racism. Ingrained attitudes that weave through generations. Normal families. These characters have nuance, depth and feel wholly based in reality.
In the end I don’t think it quite packs the punch it promises, but it certainly makes you think.
March 1, 2018
Oddly readable, but I’m unsure what the point of it was. It is an ugly book about ugly, bigoted people, who are all too human. Is the author attempting to make the reader pity the racist characters? Empathise with them? There seems to be little point in the book and even less plot. It’s as if a TV drama was encompassed in a book but somehow made crapper.
The characters were very cliched, whilst race was the prevalent issue within the book, issues of gender equality are clearly there too.
The thing I dislike the most is that this is referred to as a tale of ‘an ordinary family’ in the description, some reviews, etc. Unless an ordinary family includes abuse, racism, misogyny and murder - I fail to understand why this description is used. This is not an ordinary family. It’s a highly dysfunctional family and of course raises issues of nature versus nurture with Dirk (the youngest son).
Whilst there is much to be critiqued and much to be thought about within the novel - I do not think this is because the novel is particularly special or in fact, good, it is more that the issues raised are interesting. I think there is also an element of train-wreck writing too, everything being portrayed is simply so awful that even though you don’t care about the book, it’s hard to look away.
The characters were very cliched, whilst race was the prevalent issue within the book, issues of gender equality are clearly there too.
The thing I dislike the most is that this is referred to as a tale of ‘an ordinary family’ in the description, some reviews, etc. Unless an ordinary family includes abuse, racism, misogyny and murder - I fail to understand why this description is used. This is not an ordinary family. It’s a highly dysfunctional family and of course raises issues of nature versus nurture with Dirk (the youngest son).
Whilst there is much to be critiqued and much to be thought about within the novel - I do not think this is because the novel is particularly special or in fact, good, it is more that the issues raised are interesting. I think there is also an element of train-wreck writing too, everything being portrayed is simply so awful that even though you don’t care about the book, it’s hard to look away.
November 30, 2013
Just made it into my four star category - I wasn't a huge fan of the quick-spanning descriptions of characters and their lives, yet I was still drawn into the people and centrally, their values and beliefs that Gee presents. I particularly admired how 'grey' her depictions of the characters were: assumptions are challenged, 'good' and 'bad' aren't really there. Instead what I found were subtle complexities that drew me in.
July 2, 2011
The Whites are an ordinary family: love, hatred, sex and death hold them together, and tear them apart. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Alfred White, a London park keeper, still rules his home with fierce conviction and inarticulate tenderness. May, his clever, passive wife, loves Alfred but conspired against him. Their three children are no longer close; the successful elder son, Darren, has escaped to the USA. When Alfred collapses on duty, his beautiful, childless daughter Shirley, who lives with Elroy, a black social worker, is brought face to face with Alfred's younger son Dirk, who hates and fears all black people. The scene is set for violience. In the end Alfred and May are forced to make a climactic decision: does justice matter more than kinship?
August 10, 2012
This is the story of the White family. Alfred, the father, is a bigoted tyrant in his home and a long-time, proud London park keeper who abides by all the rules. May, his wife of many years, is devoted to Alfred and never interfered with his brutal treatment of their three children, who are now all grown and carrying the emotional scars he inflicted. When Alfred is facing death, he seems to regret the damage he inflicted on his children, and we are left to wonder how different their lives would have been had he rectified his rigidity sooner. This is a difficult novel to read because it reveals the ugliest side of human nature and people who despise anyone who differs from them. Shirley, the only White daughter, is perhaps the most likeable character in this narrow-minded, shallow family.
August 30, 2012
Maggie Gee's The White Family is a seminal treatment of the issues of race and class in early 21st century Britain. Telling the story from the white (White) family's point of view - bigoted father, passive mother, financially successful older son, fierce and lonely daughter whose now-dead husband and present lover are both black, and, most notably, the confused racist youngest son - lends a critical depth and pathos to the very personal and experiential character of racism. While paying no court to racism and violence, Gee manages to involve the reader sympathetically in the fraught decisions her characters are forced to make.
June 12, 2019
The Whites are a working class British family of 5, 'headed' by racist and homophobic Alfred. When his only daughter, Shirley, set up home with a Ghanian (not white!), he was horrified! But manages to smile again when Koi died. But who did Shirley date next? Darren, the first son, escaped to America while Dirk stayed at home. Dirk is spoilt, with an unjustified sense of entitlement that could only lead to dissappointment. He's more racist and homophobic than his father and combined with a potent anger, tragedy is just round the corner. And where is May (mum) in all these?
Fantastic read which I trully recommend!
Fantastic read which I trully recommend!
November 3, 2014
This book focuses on a single family to examine attitudes to race and homosexuality in society. There are dramatic events, but these take a back seat to the examination of individual attitudes and motivations. It felt odd to have such polarised attitudes within a single family, but on an individual basis the characters felt real. In particular the patriarch – Alfred the park-keeper - rang true. Park keepers come from a bygone era and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered one, yet I could picture him in his coat, berating people for walking on the grass. Powerful writing, a cerebral rather than an edge-of-the-seat experience.
November 8, 2014
Mixed feelings about this novel. The author's writing about a white working-class family and I'm not sure she gets it quite right. The characters aren't fully formed - you might say that it's a stereotyping that that's the sort of error racists make. And this is a book about racism.
I think it's more topical now than it was when it was published, or when I read it. I had the privilege of speaking with the author about it. At that time she was updating it. When I asked her about her motivation she said that it was to help pay the mortgage. I doubt she'd have made the prize long-lists that she did if she'd admitted that at the time...
I think it's more topical now than it was when it was published, or when I read it. I had the privilege of speaking with the author about it. At that time she was updating it. When I asked her about her motivation she said that it was to help pay the mortgage. I doubt she'd have made the prize long-lists that she did if she'd admitted that at the time...
January 14, 2011
A story about the dark side of a family. Characters are complex and stupid at the same time but all feelings are deeply and well analised.
It's not a great book but I think it's good to reflect on human nature. I'm not referring only to the racism theme(that, in my opinion, is faced in the right way: the author don't say what's right but let you faced up the ugly truth) but also to relationships in general, to frustration, violence and all kind of subjugation.
It's not a great book but I think it's good to reflect on human nature. I'm not referring only to the racism theme(that, in my opinion, is faced in the right way: the author don't say what's right but let you faced up the ugly truth) but also to relationships in general, to frustration, violence and all kind of subjugation.
September 17, 2012
The White Family is very well written, it deals with many modern racial taboos that most people would usually turn a blind eye to. This book fascinated me even though the genre isn't one I would necessarily look for. This book is well worth a read, and it has opened my eyes to certain racial prejudices. I would definitely recommend this book to those who wish to explore the world of racial discrimination.
January 14, 2018
This book is about 100 pages too long (and I speak as someone who actually likes long novels). Although the issues dealt with are probably more urgent now than when the book was written over 15 years ago, the characters seem shallow and stereotyped. The idea is brilliant - looking at racism from the point of view of the racists, and the damage it does to those communities - but it didn't convince me and, in the end, it seemed a bit facile and certainly long-winded.
August 20, 2012
Wow. Depressing but also strangely uplifting. Cleverly written so that the central protagonist, a racist old man who is dying of cancer, elicits a degree of sympathy from the reader despite his highly unpleasant views. A sad indictement of society in some ways but also a well written family saga. Parts of the ending were a little too convenient but otherwise flawless writing. Highly recommended.
May 13, 2013
multiple points of view work to build story with subtle, insightful depth and texture - moves in and out of 1st/3rd person narrative with amazing skill and sensitivity. an impressive study of contemporary UK race relations that tells it how it is from the inside...and I cried at the end! recommended.
September 1, 2014
Interesting subject, but Gee's pace of story telling kills it. Honestly, I couldnt even complete it! It felt like the the twist or the core of the story was just around the corner (or maybe just around in the turn of a page, in this case), but I never really got to it. I admit that something did keep getting me back to the book, but in the end, I simply ran out of patience.
May 18, 2016
3.5 stars really. Generally powerful, with a real feel for her characters and their complexities - not all good, or all bad, but rather shades of grey. However, I found the 'neat' linking together of all the stories to be a little too convenient, detracting from what was otherwise a fairly compelling and interesting read.
July 22, 2009
This should have been a good book but was let down by the somewhat clichéd writing and lacklustre characters. Gave up after 40 pages. Should I have soldiered on? No, there are far too many other GOOD books out there, I haven't the time for so-so stuff.
August 21, 2009
I enjoyed this but enjoyed My Cleaner more. It had more humour. This was a bit sad. Mainly about family relationships and how each person and their actions is perceived by the others. Very interesting read.
March 26, 2013
Overall an enjoyable book. As it looks at each member of the family you understand a little more about the family dynamic and what brought them to where they are now. Able to make you feel disappointed, dislike people and still feel hope and happiness in others. Worth a read.
July 3, 2013
Maggie Gee certainly knows how to create believable characters, and then to manipulate the reader so that sympathy waxes and wanes as different facets are revealed. Her observation is exceptional and this a wholly satisfying - if uncomfortable - tale.
Want to read
July 29, 201102 short list-orange prize
August 14, 2012
Well written but really didn't like the tone of the book, and although there was some closure, I found it all far too depressing.
September 19, 2013
it started off well but got a bit boring in the middle. Themes were a bit heavy and I felt sorry for the family that they all were so disjointed from each other.
April 23, 2016
A brutal and hard-hitting examination of racism in 21st century London - this is a very difficult and troubling read, but is powerfully and beautifully written throughout.
June 6, 2016
Great book. A picture of racial prejudice in England. Beautifully written. Beautifully told. Sad.
January 29, 2021
Middle-class, hand-wringing, London-centric and probably several other double-barrelled words.
I did enjoy it, but felt I was reading a novel that longed to be a Sunday night BBC 1 drama.
Yet Maggie Gee always populates her novels with great, memorable characters. Dirk is particularly interesting. As are the sweet couple at the centre : Alfred and May. This is a very human tale, full of people trying to do their best, as flawed, inconsistent, difficult, awkward and compassionate as all our stories.
I did enjoy it, but felt I was reading a novel that longed to be a Sunday night BBC 1 drama.
Yet Maggie Gee always populates her novels with great, memorable characters. Dirk is particularly interesting. As are the sweet couple at the centre : Alfred and May. This is a very human tale, full of people trying to do their best, as flawed, inconsistent, difficult, awkward and compassionate as all our stories.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews