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The Children
When their father is critically injured, foreign correspondent Mandy and her siblings return home. Mandy's head is filled with terror and war, and her homecoming only heightens her disconnection from ordinary life.
Cathy, her younger sister, has stayed in contact with her parents, unlike their brother Stephen who, has distanced himself from the family for years. In the hospital the children sit, struggling to connect with their emotions, their past and each other. Finally the pressure intensifies and builds to a climax of devastating force.
Cathy, her younger sister, has stayed in contact with her parents, unlike their brother Stephen who, has distanced himself from the family for years. In the hospital the children sit, struggling to connect with their emotions, their past and each other. Finally the pressure intensifies and builds to a climax of devastating force.
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First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Charlotte Wood
23 books1,084 followersCharlotte Wood is the author of six novels and two books of non-fiction. Her new novel is The Weekend.
Her previous novel, The Natural Way of Things, won the 2016 Stella Prize, the 2016 Indie Book of the Year and Novel of the Year, was joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.
Her non-fiction works include The Writer’s Room, a collection of interviews with authors about the creative process, and Love & Hunger, a book about cooking. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper among other publications. In 2019 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to literature, and was named one of the Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence.
Her latest project is a new podcast, The Writer's Room with Charlotte Wood, in which she interviews authors, critics and other artists about the creative process.
Her previous novel, The Natural Way of Things, won the 2016 Stella Prize, the 2016 Indie Book of the Year and Novel of the Year, was joint winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.
Her non-fiction works include The Writer’s Room, a collection of interviews with authors about the creative process, and Love & Hunger, a book about cooking. Her features and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Saturday Paper among other publications. In 2019 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to literature, and was named one of the Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence.
Her latest project is a new podcast, The Writer's Room with Charlotte Wood, in which she interviews authors, critics and other artists about the creative process.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
January 8, 2015
In a small county town, Geoff is outside doing repairs to the roof. Margaret, his wife was in the in the kitchen preparing dinner when she heard a loud ‘thump’. Geoff has fallen. He’s in a very bad way with severe head injuries and they don’t know if he will survive. Margaret calls her adult children, Mandy, Stephen and Cathy, to tell them of the terrible news and the siblings all return home.
Mandy is a foreign correspondent and has been living in war zones parts of the world for many years, while her husband Chris is at home. Mandy is mentally affected by the horrendous images that she saw while on location and is having constant flashbacks. When she arrives home she finds it difficult to adjust to normal life and distance herself from her family - including Chris which puts a tremendous strain on their marriage.
Stephen hasn’t seen his family for many years and no one really knows why. One day he just up and left without a word, not having contact with the family, except for Cathy - as she’s the only one that kept in regular contact with them all. Stephen takes a lot longer to decide to come home, but when eventually he does everyone tip toes around him, too afraid to say the wrong thing for fear that he will disappear again.
In hospital Tony Warren, the wards man, is watching them. He knows Mandy from many years ago and she left a lasting impression on him. Since then he has been keeping track of her every move, waiting for her to come home.
Growing up they didn’t come across as being a loving and affectionate family but felt they were selfish and cold. And as they grew to adulthood, they drifted even further apart, not able to communicate to one another. Yet I think there were signs there that they wanted too, but I felt didn’t know how.
I know we all react differently to crises but Margaret behaviour and thoughts after the accidents, I couldn’t relate too. Yes I’m sure she worried about Geoff but she went about her every day life very casually. Going to the hospital seemed like a chore, and concerned herself with the most trivial things (worrying about what colour paint to choose). I thought this was a rather peculiar behaviour especially when your spouse is lying on death bed.
And then there is Mandy, who is tortured by her visions and is breaking down before their very eyes, yet I don’t believe the family took her seriously. And when she did speak up, they thought her over reacting and were cruel. No one sat down to talk to her about what happened and it was evident she’s silently screaming for help. You could see Mandy struggling to stay in control, but it slowly builds and builds, and then when she finally comes undone it’s explosive.
At first I didn’t know what to think of Tony. All I knew were his stalker tendencies made him sound creepy and I didn’t feel comfortable hearing of his thoughts on Mandy. And I was curious and a little on edge as to where it was leading. Woods blended his story in well with Mandy’s story, and the unexpected turn of events was pretty shocking.
The writing was superb and I loved the soft and gentle tone. Visually beautiful in places and horrifying in others. I went though a whole range of emotions from anger to pity to sorrow for the family. They’re not the perfect or ideal but I did see some hope for them towards the end.
It’s a story of family life and the bond between siblings. But more importantly it’s how these significant events in the past, make us who we are today. The characters came across as unlikeable at times so it’s not going to be for everyone’s taste but if you don’t mind these type of books, then I’d say give it a go.
Mandy is a foreign correspondent and has been living in war zones parts of the world for many years, while her husband Chris is at home. Mandy is mentally affected by the horrendous images that she saw while on location and is having constant flashbacks. When she arrives home she finds it difficult to adjust to normal life and distance herself from her family - including Chris which puts a tremendous strain on their marriage.
Stephen hasn’t seen his family for many years and no one really knows why. One day he just up and left without a word, not having contact with the family, except for Cathy - as she’s the only one that kept in regular contact with them all. Stephen takes a lot longer to decide to come home, but when eventually he does everyone tip toes around him, too afraid to say the wrong thing for fear that he will disappear again.
In hospital Tony Warren, the wards man, is watching them. He knows Mandy from many years ago and she left a lasting impression on him. Since then he has been keeping track of her every move, waiting for her to come home.
Growing up they didn’t come across as being a loving and affectionate family but felt they were selfish and cold. And as they grew to adulthood, they drifted even further apart, not able to communicate to one another. Yet I think there were signs there that they wanted too, but I felt didn’t know how.
I know we all react differently to crises but Margaret behaviour and thoughts after the accidents, I couldn’t relate too. Yes I’m sure she worried about Geoff but she went about her every day life very casually. Going to the hospital seemed like a chore, and concerned herself with the most trivial things (worrying about what colour paint to choose). I thought this was a rather peculiar behaviour especially when your spouse is lying on death bed.
And then there is Mandy, who is tortured by her visions and is breaking down before their very eyes, yet I don’t believe the family took her seriously. And when she did speak up, they thought her over reacting and were cruel. No one sat down to talk to her about what happened and it was evident she’s silently screaming for help. You could see Mandy struggling to stay in control, but it slowly builds and builds, and then when she finally comes undone it’s explosive.
At first I didn’t know what to think of Tony. All I knew were his stalker tendencies made him sound creepy and I didn’t feel comfortable hearing of his thoughts on Mandy. And I was curious and a little on edge as to where it was leading. Woods blended his story in well with Mandy’s story, and the unexpected turn of events was pretty shocking.
The writing was superb and I loved the soft and gentle tone. Visually beautiful in places and horrifying in others. I went though a whole range of emotions from anger to pity to sorrow for the family. They’re not the perfect or ideal but I did see some hope for them towards the end.
It’s a story of family life and the bond between siblings. But more importantly it’s how these significant events in the past, make us who we are today. The characters came across as unlikeable at times so it’s not going to be for everyone’s taste but if you don’t mind these type of books, then I’d say give it a go.
June 20, 2010
A dysfunctional woman returns from a dysfunctional war zone to her dysfunctional marriage in a seemingly functional Australia. It is the summer of the Cronulla riots with a cold-hearted prime minister politically and not too subtly fanning racial intolerance. A father's tragic accident is the reason for a family coming together to bicker, to go over old hostilities and to try and see each other in a less corrosive light. Another dysfunctional life then imposes itself on the family allowing Woods to build an underlying tension as the family slowly comes to terms with the partriarch's condition. The tensions explode in what this reader felt to be overwrought fashion at novel's end, the only jarring note in this masterfully engrossing work. The novel is a seamlessly written homage to fractured families and Australian life away from the epicentres of the big cities. Her descriptive prose, conveying the fragility if interweaving lives, has something of 'The Slap'about it in its tone. The title is significant in the unhappiness and frustration that pervades the novel. The appalling vignettes from Iraq and elsewhere as relayed via Mandy, a war correspondent, shock and haunt. The links between these and contemporary Oz are both subtle and sledge-hammer clear. And to think that with Kevin '07 we had thought we'd moved on! Both this novel and her previous 'The Submerged Cathedral' point to a writer worth following.
February 12, 2013
Hard to classify this book and just as hard to rate it. But I think I’ll stick with 3 stars.
Some of it is beautifully written and made me sit and absorb the structure of sentences and descriptions, like that of crepe myrtles, ‘are in shocking pink flower all down the road. When she was little she loved their gaudy pinks and crimsons, but as she grew older she began to realise they were tawdry, that these were the colours of bargain shops and chemist-brand lipsticks and she became ashamed for them. Now, as she walks through the streets, the crepe myrtles are the only bright shriek in all the dried-up anonymity of the town.’
The description of Stephen and his father with the fishing rod off Culburra Beach is as vivid a description and visual image as you could ever wish for. It is beautifully done.The reader can see everything that happens and feels the sense of wonder.
The same novel used profanity and coarse language that for me echoed and aggravated like a tolling bell. The story is also bleak in outlook, brutal in places and not just those to do with Iraq but conveys a sad look at the complex relationships within a family. The description of Mandy is telling, ’Mandy has always had a gift for disagreeableness.’ In the end that was one of the things I found hardest about this book. I didn’t like any of the characters and felt glad not to have belonged to such a disagreeable family.
Some of it is beautifully written and made me sit and absorb the structure of sentences and descriptions, like that of crepe myrtles, ‘are in shocking pink flower all down the road. When she was little she loved their gaudy pinks and crimsons, but as she grew older she began to realise they were tawdry, that these were the colours of bargain shops and chemist-brand lipsticks and she became ashamed for them. Now, as she walks through the streets, the crepe myrtles are the only bright shriek in all the dried-up anonymity of the town.’
The description of Stephen and his father with the fishing rod off Culburra Beach is as vivid a description and visual image as you could ever wish for. It is beautifully done.The reader can see everything that happens and feels the sense of wonder.
The same novel used profanity and coarse language that for me echoed and aggravated like a tolling bell. The story is also bleak in outlook, brutal in places and not just those to do with Iraq but conveys a sad look at the complex relationships within a family. The description of Mandy is telling, ’Mandy has always had a gift for disagreeableness.’ In the end that was one of the things I found hardest about this book. I didn’t like any of the characters and felt glad not to have belonged to such a disagreeable family.
April 13, 2024
This book is thoroughly underrated
June 15, 2015
Lovely, painful book centring around adult children returning home in the event of their father's accident, which has placed him into intensive care, and likely to die. The interactions between the 'children' and in laws, their mother, the memories of their father, are well crafted. Not a particularly uplifting book, but true to life.
Quote that seems to be referred to often, but is very true - 'You bring your children up to escape sorrows. You spend your best years trying to stop them witnessing it on television, in you, in your neighbours' faces. But then you realise, slowly, that there is no escape, that they must steer their own way through life's cruelties'.
'When everything is useless, when there is nothing to be done, all we can do is pay attention, keep watch. In his boys-own innocent's fucked-up vigil, Tony knew this, and it was all he had. Her remorse will never leave her.
She leans forward, stands up, collecting the glass to go inside and help with the dishes. Because it is enough. And her purpose now, she knows more certainly than anything, is to keep watch over these small things, these ordinary decencies. To pay attention to her mother's walk, to Chris' voice. Her sister's, brother's eyes'.
Quote that seems to be referred to often, but is very true - 'You bring your children up to escape sorrows. You spend your best years trying to stop them witnessing it on television, in you, in your neighbours' faces. But then you realise, slowly, that there is no escape, that they must steer their own way through life's cruelties'.
'When everything is useless, when there is nothing to be done, all we can do is pay attention, keep watch. In his boys-own innocent's fucked-up vigil, Tony knew this, and it was all he had. Her remorse will never leave her.
She leans forward, stands up, collecting the glass to go inside and help with the dishes. Because it is enough. And her purpose now, she knows more certainly than anything, is to keep watch over these small things, these ordinary decencies. To pay attention to her mother's walk, to Chris' voice. Her sister's, brother's eyes'.
July 3, 2017
Such a well-written, book of real people. VERY graphic memories of being a war correspondent by the eldest daughter, the falling into their younger sibling roles, and old memories long buried all come to a life changing scene. Fabulous author. It was even better this second reading.
May 12, 2016
The Children is an unfortunate title; it’s not appealing and it made me leave this book unread on the TBR for quite some time. Yet it’s a clever title, because the adult protagonists of this novel behave exactly like children do: they’re immature, impulsive, selfish and irrational. Just like people, just like children.
Uncharacteristically, I wrote about this book a fortnight after reading it, and found myself not able to remember all the characters very well. This was not entirely my memory lapse – the mother is deliberately not very well drawn. Her husband has fallen from a ladder and is on life support – he exists only in memory. The mother seems lost in a fog of her own emotion, already she is ceasing to be a person in her own right (if she ever was) but is now someone hurt by others, needing to be supported but irrelevant to the lives of children who still have a life to live.
Mandy is the most decisively drawn character. She’s a war correspondent, tortured by flashbacks of atrocities she’s witnessed, especially the gruesome death of a little boy in Iraq. She is angry that no one in safe, complacent Australia understands or cares, and this anger spills out throughout the story. It can be triggered by seemingly trivial things like trendy restaurants appropriating an ethnic recipe and getting it wrong, and it alienates her long-suffering husband – who really is a bit too good to be true. He stays because he has no other family and is close to the mother, but really – he should move on!
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2008/11/08/t...
Uncharacteristically, I wrote about this book a fortnight after reading it, and found myself not able to remember all the characters very well. This was not entirely my memory lapse – the mother is deliberately not very well drawn. Her husband has fallen from a ladder and is on life support – he exists only in memory. The mother seems lost in a fog of her own emotion, already she is ceasing to be a person in her own right (if she ever was) but is now someone hurt by others, needing to be supported but irrelevant to the lives of children who still have a life to live.
Mandy is the most decisively drawn character. She’s a war correspondent, tortured by flashbacks of atrocities she’s witnessed, especially the gruesome death of a little boy in Iraq. She is angry that no one in safe, complacent Australia understands or cares, and this anger spills out throughout the story. It can be triggered by seemingly trivial things like trendy restaurants appropriating an ethnic recipe and getting it wrong, and it alienates her long-suffering husband – who really is a bit too good to be true. He stays because he has no other family and is close to the mother, but really – he should move on!
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2008/11/08/t...
October 10, 2016
After reading The Natural Way of Things and LOVING it, I looked up some of Charlotte Wood's other books and found this one. It certainly reinforced my opinion that she is one of the best Australian authors out there at the moment, and worth seeking out.
Her writing is beautifully structured and evocative, bringing complex scenes and characters to life in only a few well crafted sentences. This book is set in an Australian country town, and centres around a family of children who have grown up and moved away but return when their father suffers a life-threatening injury. All of the old sibling rivalry returns, with the original causes made more serious by the passage of time and growing into adulthood. The serious injury of their father brings everything to a head and enables them to resolve their differences by realising what's most important.
I especially liked the characters of Mandy (the daughter) and Chris (her husband). Mandy is a war journalist recently returned from Iraq, who has a compulsive need to witness and report suffering and truth, which has ruined all of her relationships. She encounters a memory from her past which led her down this path and is able to finally come to terms with her compulsion.
It's the writing and the honesty of the characters and their situations which make this a great read. I look forward to reading her other books as well.
Her writing is beautifully structured and evocative, bringing complex scenes and characters to life in only a few well crafted sentences. This book is set in an Australian country town, and centres around a family of children who have grown up and moved away but return when their father suffers a life-threatening injury. All of the old sibling rivalry returns, with the original causes made more serious by the passage of time and growing into adulthood. The serious injury of their father brings everything to a head and enables them to resolve their differences by realising what's most important.
I especially liked the characters of Mandy (the daughter) and Chris (her husband). Mandy is a war journalist recently returned from Iraq, who has a compulsive need to witness and report suffering and truth, which has ruined all of her relationships. She encounters a memory from her past which led her down this path and is able to finally come to terms with her compulsion.
It's the writing and the honesty of the characters and their situations which make this a great read. I look forward to reading her other books as well.
November 30, 2011
Last night at my women's group we talked about the impact of being in a tribe - in my case a large and close family. We talked about the sense of security it gives you. There is a layer of confidence that you have in going out to meet the world, beacuse your tribe is strong, you are loved, there are people that will care for you and opportunities for intimacy. It provides a kind of resilient backbone.
The Children is about siblings in a family. It might not be very interesting if it was about a tribe as secure as mine is. This tribe is a little dysfunctional - brought together after an accident and forced to spend unaccustomed time togther. As well as the depiction of these relationships, the novel presents a very fine and accurate picture of life in a NSW country town. It thrusts life in this small town up against the experiences of one of the main characters, Mandy, who has become a foreign correspondent and lived through some extremely traumatic events. Small towns can produce their own forms of trauma hoever, and these play out subtly in the novel. There is one faintly jarring plot line that runs through the novel unnecessarily but the rest of it was just fine and a pleasure to read.
The Children is about siblings in a family. It might not be very interesting if it was about a tribe as secure as mine is. This tribe is a little dysfunctional - brought together after an accident and forced to spend unaccustomed time togther. As well as the depiction of these relationships, the novel presents a very fine and accurate picture of life in a NSW country town. It thrusts life in this small town up against the experiences of one of the main characters, Mandy, who has become a foreign correspondent and lived through some extremely traumatic events. Small towns can produce their own forms of trauma hoever, and these play out subtly in the novel. There is one faintly jarring plot line that runs through the novel unnecessarily but the rest of it was just fine and a pleasure to read.
October 21, 2014
I enjoyed this book very much. It is a different type of book for me, but it is our current bookclub book and a quick, easy read.
It tells the story of 3 adult children who return home to Rundle, near Sydney, Australia, when their father is terribly injured falling from the roof of his house...
Mandy is a war correspondent based in Iraq, and has seen awful things happen..Stephen has been estranged from his family for years, and Cathy has been trying to keep the family together. Chris is Mandy's husband, and doesn't know what to make of Mandy....
The story of their lives as they sit by their father's bed, the trauma, the tragedy of the past, and the present, all come together. Then there is Tony, who has a past with Mandy, though she doesn't remember it... Tony seems to be stalking Mandy...she doesn't trust him, thinks he's creepy and weird...what is he up to?
It tells the story of 3 adult children who return home to Rundle, near Sydney, Australia, when their father is terribly injured falling from the roof of his house...
Mandy is a war correspondent based in Iraq, and has seen awful things happen..Stephen has been estranged from his family for years, and Cathy has been trying to keep the family together. Chris is Mandy's husband, and doesn't know what to make of Mandy....
The story of their lives as they sit by their father's bed, the trauma, the tragedy of the past, and the present, all come together. Then there is Tony, who has a past with Mandy, though she doesn't remember it... Tony seems to be stalking Mandy...she doesn't trust him, thinks he's creepy and weird...what is he up to?
August 11, 2015
I started reading this, and although it is beautifully written I was worried it was going to be "a new Australian novel....all landscape and imagery and symbols and no plot" as the protagonist Mandy says. However, the story builds and the novel becomes quite compelling as the reader follows the family members as they cope with the dying of their father. It is beautifully observed and thoughtful. One character comments on Mandy's open nature, saying "her unchecked opinions were rare at university, where...everyone made a furtive calibration towards irony before they spoke";
And then finally: "When everything is useless, when there is nothing to be done, all we can do is pay attention, keep watch."
And then finally: "When everything is useless, when there is nothing to be done, all we can do is pay attention, keep watch."
September 17, 2016
This beautifully paced story had me from the first chapter, the tension builds adeptly til the final climax. Highly recommend!
July 16, 2017
When I was a short way into this novel I realised I'd read it before but it was well worth reading again. The basic idea of adult children coming together for an accident, a death, a funeral or even a celebration is not new but Wood breathes life into this common theme through her astute observations of behaviour and her insights into the dynamics of family, especially where siblings have all taken very different directions in life.
In this case the children have come together because their father has had a fall and is dying in the intensive care of the hospital of the country town where they all grew up. Mandy is intellectual - critical of herself and of others - but has grown weary and indeed damaged by her work as a journalist reporting wars, famines and other disasters. Stephen on the other hand has refused to engage in life at all and has a menial job and no meaningful relationships in his life. Cathy is the least developed of the characters - merely acting as a foil (or perhaps a sponge) for the sparring interactions of her brother and sister.
Their mother Margaret is a great character - having chosen a quiet life in a rural Australian town, her attitudes and indeed memories are now dangerously challenged. "It is as if his skidding boot, his body as he tumbled, has knocked loose a stone in a wall and made a small irregular gap through which her life comes during, dry as sand."
Into this mix throw the Mandy's long-suffering husband, Chris and the rather sinister Tony, a wardsman at the hospital, who claims a peculiar connection to Mandy.
It all makes for a taut and convincing drama about death, love, protection, the responsibilities we have for others and the evasions we all practise. Beautifully written. Very impressive.
In this case the children have come together because their father has had a fall and is dying in the intensive care of the hospital of the country town where they all grew up. Mandy is intellectual - critical of herself and of others - but has grown weary and indeed damaged by her work as a journalist reporting wars, famines and other disasters. Stephen on the other hand has refused to engage in life at all and has a menial job and no meaningful relationships in his life. Cathy is the least developed of the characters - merely acting as a foil (or perhaps a sponge) for the sparring interactions of her brother and sister.
Their mother Margaret is a great character - having chosen a quiet life in a rural Australian town, her attitudes and indeed memories are now dangerously challenged. "It is as if his skidding boot, his body as he tumbled, has knocked loose a stone in a wall and made a small irregular gap through which her life comes during, dry as sand."
Into this mix throw the Mandy's long-suffering husband, Chris and the rather sinister Tony, a wardsman at the hospital, who claims a peculiar connection to Mandy.
It all makes for a taut and convincing drama about death, love, protection, the responsibilities we have for others and the evasions we all practise. Beautifully written. Very impressive.
February 23, 2021
The novel opens with the father of this family fixing the roof of his home, contemplating the mechanisms of memory and the brain, in relation to visceral memories of his now grown-up children. From the rooftop, he looks down on the country town he lives in, and his own backyard. Within five pages, he has fallen and is in intensive care at the hospital. The three children are called to return to their family home.
.
The remainder of the novel explores the interactions of these children as they confront each other and themselves, and come to terms with what has happened. What really works about this book is the subtle way in which each of the relationships are teased out, and their characteristics linked to childhood events and developments. The enduring, but often problematic, bond of siblings is vividly portrayed.
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The representation of Australian rural town life was vividly authentic, and Wood’s writing style is beautifully structured and evocative. I look forward to reading more of her works.
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The remainder of the novel explores the interactions of these children as they confront each other and themselves, and come to terms with what has happened. What really works about this book is the subtle way in which each of the relationships are teased out, and their characteristics linked to childhood events and developments. The enduring, but often problematic, bond of siblings is vividly portrayed.
.
The representation of Australian rural town life was vividly authentic, and Wood’s writing style is beautifully structured and evocative. I look forward to reading more of her works.
November 16, 2019
Some really beautiful writing - I really enjoy reading the way Charlotte Wood writes. But the big reveal in this book was quite lame. Sorry Charlotte.
September 10, 2024
Unrelentingly bleak and agonizing. I have such a thing for these depressing, domestic nightmares.
February 20, 2015
A story about a dysfunctional family reunited for the first time in years by a tragedy. There are three children in this family, approaching middle-age, and all of them are emotionally damaged in some way. Stephen, the only son, has turned his back on his family as a result of simmering childhood resentments that he could never get past. He lives what appears to be an unfulfilling existence in a dead end job in Sydney. Cathy is also stunted and still living in a studio apartment and working in the same job that she took when she moved to Sydney years earlier to go to uni. These character grew up in an ordinary family and the book gives no real reason as to why both of them have ended up this way, apart from a few minor teenage dramas.
The focus is on the oldest daughter Mandy, a foreign correspondent who has been severely traumatised by her experiences in war zones. She can't function normally anymore and her marriage to Chris is falling to pieces. As a teenager she yearned to escape from the boredom and backwardness of small town life, and when she returns to visit her dying father in hospital she sneers at everything around her and condemns everyone for not caring as much as her. I found the portrayal of the town of Rundle to be a pretty gross stereotype that doesn't do justice to the community spirit and diversity that exists in many small towns. Although the parents have lived in the town for many years the family seem quite isolated after the tragedy occurs, and this just didn't ring true. For a family reunited around a dying parent, the siblings spend very little time thinking about him or talking about him and a lot of time squabbling like children. I understand that that at times like this old tensions surface and people can revert to childhood ways, but there was no sense of genuine grief underlying their behaviour for me.
I also found it hard to buy the fact that they wouldn't even talk about Stephen's absence for so long or that the government would build a state-of-the-art intensive care unit in a town with one traffic light. The subplot with Tony was unnecessary. It seemed to be building up to some big climax but then fizzled out when the truth was revealed. How could Tony even guess that Mandy harboured secret guilt for possibly driving past a car that had run off the road, leading to a man's death? I didn't understand the whole "we are the same" business" although I was glad that Mandy showed some emotional growth at the end.
I think there was a really great story about family dynamics somewhere in this book which wasn't fully realised. It would have been a vastly superior book if the author had done away with Tony and focused instead on the three siblings equally and given more insight into the reasons why they were all so screwed up and emotionally immature. 2.5 stars
The focus is on the oldest daughter Mandy, a foreign correspondent who has been severely traumatised by her experiences in war zones. She can't function normally anymore and her marriage to Chris is falling to pieces. As a teenager she yearned to escape from the boredom and backwardness of small town life, and when she returns to visit her dying father in hospital she sneers at everything around her and condemns everyone for not caring as much as her. I found the portrayal of the town of Rundle to be a pretty gross stereotype that doesn't do justice to the community spirit and diversity that exists in many small towns. Although the parents have lived in the town for many years the family seem quite isolated after the tragedy occurs, and this just didn't ring true. For a family reunited around a dying parent, the siblings spend very little time thinking about him or talking about him and a lot of time squabbling like children. I understand that that at times like this old tensions surface and people can revert to childhood ways, but there was no sense of genuine grief underlying their behaviour for me.
I also found it hard to buy the fact that they wouldn't even talk about Stephen's absence for so long or that the government would build a state-of-the-art intensive care unit in a town with one traffic light. The subplot with Tony was unnecessary. It seemed to be building up to some big climax but then fizzled out when the truth was revealed. How could Tony even guess that Mandy harboured secret guilt for possibly driving past a car that had run off the road, leading to a man's death? I didn't understand the whole "we are the same" business" although I was glad that Mandy showed some emotional growth at the end.
I think there was a really great story about family dynamics somewhere in this book which wasn't fully realised. It would have been a vastly superior book if the author had done away with Tony and focused instead on the three siblings equally and given more insight into the reasons why they were all so screwed up and emotionally immature. 2.5 stars
January 5, 2026
I think I would have rated this higher if I hadn’t read other books by Wood. They were so strong, and although this was solid, it pales in comparison.
January 9, 2024
Geoff, the elderly father of three children, falls off his roof and is in intensive care. The children come to comfort their mother Margaret: Mandy the eldest has been a war correspondent in Bosnia and is suffering from PTSD, a profession that has alienated her from her husband Chris, “their marriage is a coffin, the lid forever nailed.” Steve is strangely apart from t family, he is a police typist, and at first regretted his coming at all; Cathy is the youngest, in her thirties, and is just “ordinary” as she describes herself, as opposed to Mandy who is addicted to watching war crimes on TV and dwelling on her memories of horrible things she has witnessed: those scenes and the reactions are strongly like those we are witnessing in destruction of Gaza today. Chris is more a member of the family than his wife Mandy, he loves the mother Margaret. A simple-minded wardsmen at the hospital Tony has a fixation for Mandy, whom he had known as a reporter in earlier bushfires. which takes him in a shocking direction. What is so compelling about this book is the deep analysis of the family dynamics given the caste. The writing is meticulous, detailed and very visual, which at times makes it rather slow going, but it brings to life these fairly ordinary people (except perhaps for Mandy) in an insightful and sympathetic way. More Charlotte Wood please!
January 5, 2013
I really like this author; have now read this and also "Animal People" which is a loose sequel to TC and very much enjoyed both. Her characters are ordinary Australians of all types, and through them she touches on many contemporary issues in a really interesting way. This book - dealing with a family coming together after the father has a serious accident - was poignant, especially for those who have lost a parent, or indeed, grown up with brothers and sisters. The seriousness is leavened though by some comic stuff about the three grown children who are still acting out their sibling rivalry years after growing up and leaving home. These scenes are some of the best in the book - handled deftly by Ms Wood. Reading her bio it appears she comes from a family with a similar composition to that in the book, so maybe some of this is drawn from life! Above all, she is a great storyteller, and her books keep you interested and reading on to discover what comes of all her characters. I would recommend starting with this one and then moving on to "Animal People". I'll also seek out some of her other work - they all look intriuging.
September 26, 2016
I loved this book, but then again I love everything Charlotte Wood writes. I find her writing so vivid - her descriptions of this Australian family and the environment just take me home every time, although I hope not to have any sort of experience similar to that which appears in the book! It is just so wonderful to be able to read novels set in this decade, in my own country. Woods prose and her ability to place you in the story are outstanding. Nothing else matters for the hours/days it will take you to read her books. The characters have stayed with me months later, especially Mandy; the vivid portrayal of life as a war correspondent and the way the author captured the family dynamic of her characters, the undercurrents within the family, without actually spelling them out is a talent few writers possess. I believe Charlotte will become one of our country's great authors. 2016 update: still love it :) Although, to be clear, my family is more in the lower range of dysfunctional. So far.
July 5, 2012
When their father is badly injured falling off the roof of the family home, three grown children return to the town they grew up in. Mandy is a war correspondent in Iraq and is the oldest sister. Battered and broken she finds it so hard to relate to anything or anyone any more including her husband Chris. Stephen, the middle child has been estranged from his family for years while Cathy, the youngest is the peacekeeper trying to keep the family together. Margaret, their mother is trying to adjust to it all and looks at her family and wonders if it is somehow her fault. Going home is never as easy as it seems bringing the shadows of memories never dealt with out in the open.
This is a very visual novel, beauty and horror intermingled with devastating force. The story is compelling combining the familiar with the alien. I couldn't put it down and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
This is a very visual novel, beauty and horror intermingled with devastating force. The story is compelling combining the familiar with the alien. I couldn't put it down and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
March 21, 2013
I found this book a very compelling read. It centres on a family whose father has been hospitalised - the three children return home. One of them is a war correspondent, and it is her story that becomes the central source of narrative tension. Her unhappy marriage and her increasing alienation from her family were fascinating. What drives her to 'bear witness' to the ugliest aspects of life was explored both sympathetically (she hates social pretence) but also very darkly (it's become an adrenalin addiction for her and it makes her a kind of monster or outcast from others). Another point of view character is Tony, a man with poor social skills who has developed an obsession with her and thinks they are 'the same'. This is a disturbing relationship and it comes to a very dramatic conclusion. I found this very cleanly written without self-indulgence - there was a freshness and honesty to it that made me race through the work.
December 28, 2011
Really enjoyed this. An insightful exploration of the relationships between adult children, and how childhood events shape and inform the adults we become.
I'm already looking forward to reading Charlotte Wood's next book.
Favourite quotes:
"The earliest kites consisted of a huge leaf attached to a long string, he reads. He turns the pages, looking at all those kites, stamped bright into all the skies around the world, each one suspended there like a held breath."
"You bring your children up to escape sorrow. You spend your best years trying to stop them from witnessing it - on television, in you, in your neighbours' faces. Then you realise, slowly, that there is no escape, that they must steer their own way through life's cruelties."
I'm already looking forward to reading Charlotte Wood's next book.
Favourite quotes:
"The earliest kites consisted of a huge leaf attached to a long string, he reads. He turns the pages, looking at all those kites, stamped bright into all the skies around the world, each one suspended there like a held breath."
"You bring your children up to escape sorrow. You spend your best years trying to stop them from witnessing it - on television, in you, in your neighbours' faces. Then you realise, slowly, that there is no escape, that they must steer their own way through life's cruelties."
December 29, 2010
This was a sad story but well told about a family gathering together for first time in a long time around the hospital bed of the father who has had a bad accident.
Mandy, the war correspondent, her husband Chris, brother Stephen sister Kathy and their mother Margaret. There is also Tony a wardsman who has an imagined connection to Mandy and he kept track of her stories on the news.
It was about coming home to your childhood home and struggling to connect with their emotions and about forgiveness of each other.
Mandy, the war correspondent, her husband Chris, brother Stephen sister Kathy and their mother Margaret. There is also Tony a wardsman who has an imagined connection to Mandy and he kept track of her stories on the news.
It was about coming home to your childhood home and struggling to connect with their emotions and about forgiveness of each other.
October 11, 2008
wonderful grasp of small town life in australia and the inner workings of a family during tragedy
background of crisis experienced by one daughter in war torn countries and then the isolation and ignorance of australians.of overseas political events.
memories of each child of their childhood which has stamped their character and the parents left an indelible mark ,
beautifully written ,some statements e.g.like australian boys enter adolescence and never come out are priceless
background of crisis experienced by one daughter in war torn countries and then the isolation and ignorance of australians.of overseas political events.
memories of each child of their childhood which has stamped their character and the parents left an indelible mark ,
beautifully written ,some statements e.g.like australian boys enter adolescence and never come out are priceless
February 14, 2012
It's hard to grow up.
The family relationships in this book are so finely drawn it was almost too painful to read. The father's dying and the children's reactions are all a bit close to home for me at the moment, too - which is why I think I just could not put this book down.
The family relationships in this book are so finely drawn it was almost too painful to read. The father's dying and the children's reactions are all a bit close to home for me at the moment, too - which is why I think I just could not put this book down.
July 7, 2012
Well-observed dialogue, and the interactions between the siblings are achingly real. I loved how the setting was clearly Australian, but without trying too hard. I was really impressed by this, and deeply moved.
Read
February 10, 2016Not rated because this was one of those "it's not you, it's me" books. A dysfunctional family of adult siblings gathers around their father's deathbed. I was bored.
I'm keen for The Natural Way of Things to get the Stella, though.
I'm keen for The Natural Way of Things to get the Stella, though.
May 25, 2019
The portrait of the Connelly family, the mother and her three adult children sitting at the bedside of their comatose father in Intensive Care, is one many readers can relate to. His impending death, their focus on the beeps of the machine that keep him breathing, brings together these siblings after years of distance between them- both physical and emotional. Wood's skill in exploring the relationships of each sibling to the parents and to each other is the strength of this remarkably perceptive novel.
Their individual wounds, carried from their childhoods and adolescence, cause them to fall into the behaviours that had marked them when young and now blind them to the love that still exists between them, despite these scars. There is no melodrama in Wood's writing; rather, she reveals the emotional crises with credibility and empathy as Cathy, Mandy and Stephen come to see themselves and their place in the family with less judgement and more clarity. Wood paints their hometown, Rundle SA and the time (early 2000s) with such precision that we see the external environmental factors that had influenced them as well as the internal familial atmosphere that had played its part.
And, significantly, apart from the trauma that now consumes them as their father is dying, Wood paints a brilliant portrait of PTSD experienced by Mandy, who has witnessed horrific suffering through her career as a war correspondent. This inclusion adds complexity to the family's struggle to reconnect.
Their individual wounds, carried from their childhoods and adolescence, cause them to fall into the behaviours that had marked them when young and now blind them to the love that still exists between them, despite these scars. There is no melodrama in Wood's writing; rather, she reveals the emotional crises with credibility and empathy as Cathy, Mandy and Stephen come to see themselves and their place in the family with less judgement and more clarity. Wood paints their hometown, Rundle SA and the time (early 2000s) with such precision that we see the external environmental factors that had influenced them as well as the internal familial atmosphere that had played its part.
And, significantly, apart from the trauma that now consumes them as their father is dying, Wood paints a brilliant portrait of PTSD experienced by Mandy, who has witnessed horrific suffering through her career as a war correspondent. This inclusion adds complexity to the family's struggle to reconnect.
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