Peerless Flats

by Esther Freud

A portrait of a girl's adolescence, of family life and of London in the 1970s. By the author of "Hideous Kinky".

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, British Literature, Contemporary, Novels

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 1993

About the author

Esther Freud was born in London in 1963. As a young child she travelled through Morocco with her mother and sister, returning to England aged six where she attended a Rudolf Steiner school in Sussex.

In 1979 she moved to London to study Drama, going on to work as an actress, both in theatre and television, and forming her own company with fellow actress/writer Kitty Aldridge - The Norfolk Broads.

Her first novel Hideous Kinky, was published in 1992 and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. In 1993, after the publication of her second novel, Peerless Flats, she was named by Granta as one of the Best of Young Novelists under 40.

She has since written seven novels, including The Sea House, Love Falls and Lucky Break. She also writes stories, articles and travel pieces for newspapers and magazines, and teaches creative writing, in her own local group and at the Faber Academy.

Her most recent book, Mr Mac and Me, was published in September 2014. She lives in London with her husband, the actor David Morrissey, and their three children.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at random at the local library and found it an easy-to-read chick-lit novel about a 16-year-old girl growing up in a council housing estate in 1970s London. Depressing at times, full of drunks and drug addicts, hospitals and rehab, but even so, the stereotypes didn't hold - there was surprisingly little violence, and only one teen pregnancy (mentioned in passing). The female characters support each other and argue almost by accident rather than design, and resolve their differences quickly, but the males tend to be on the periphery, such as her gambling dad who only wanders in to supply cash or a lift, or her boyfriend hopeful who mostly neglects her unless he wants a bit of nookie. Even so, there is a streak of hope running throughout this teenage soap opera. Not the sort of thing I usually read for entertainment, but an interesting insight into the day-to-day lives of people in very different circumstances to my own.

[Kassie Cvikel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minor Spoilers!
I really wanted this book to be more than it was. There isn’t much of a plot at all yet there are some really good topics throughout that could’ve just been elaborated more. Examples of this: drug addiction, sexual satisfaction, being poor in the city, coming of age, etc. What I do like about this book is that it is realistic in the sense of being a single mom with several kids and having to make way for your family in the impossible system of housing the poor. Additionally, being a late teen and wanting to experiment with what others do. Yet still I felt that each sentence lacked the feeling of importance and value. It’s all very vague which made me take longer than anticipated to read just because I didn’t really want to pick it up. It is still a fine book but I don’t see myself reading it again in the future.

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

2009 journal from bookcrossing:

Hmmm. I do like Esther Freud's writing and I do still intend to try and read all her books, but so far out of all the ones I've read, this is my least favourite. It was an enjoyable enough read, although a bit depressing, but it just felt a bit vague, a little bit about nothing. Still good I suppose, but not my favourite. I liked Hideous Kinky and The Wild a lot better.

This one is set at the end of the 70s in London. Maguerite, a hippie mother (single hippie mother is a standard in Freud's books, it seems) moves to London with her five year old Max and her 16 year old daughter Lisa. She has another daughter, Ruby, 18 who is already living in London and a bit of a drug addict. Although the book's attitude towards drugs is pretty much like our national attitude - everyone's on them and it's no big deal. Well, not everyone in the UK is on them, but they were in this book, and there was something a bit depressing about that. And the London setting had a kind of grey, monotonous atmosphere to it, for me anyway. It's really hard to describe what goes on in my head! So Ruby gets hepititis and ends up in hospital, Lisa goes to drama school and their mother tries to get a job and a permanent flat. The Peerless Flats title relates to the one roomed flat in a building called Peerless Flats, where they first move in. They manage to go to a two roomed flat in the same building part way through the book.

It just feels like a flow of anecdotes, and just a snapshot in a period of Lisa's life - she's the main focus of the story - but nothing more.

Enjoyable reading but I don't know whether I will hang on to this book forever and forever.

[Penni Russon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be more and as I got to the last few chapters I knew I was going to be unsatisfied which has influenced my star rating. I adore Hideous Kinky and in many ways this felt like a companion novel (I wonder if all her books are loosely veiled autobiography or if they just read that way). Hideous Kinky has a fantastic first person narration and dynamic playful child characters - their playfulness and energy lending them a sense of agency despite the fact that they are subject to the whims of the adults in their lives. But Peerless Flat has a despondent air, partly contributed to by the third person narration. There is little character development and the main character's passivity became frustrating.

MILD SPOILER ALERT
I guess I read the theme at the heart of the novel as being not so much a coming of age but as a period of stasis that ends in the character dislodging from her position at the heart of her dysfunctional but loving family, and spiralling outwards towards a (uncertain) future. There was a lot of aimless circling however, and I wasn't quite sure what heralded her shift towards (vague) optimism at the end. I guess you can read it as astonishing that anyone survives under these conditions at all, and marvel at the resilience of the human spirit to endure hardship and loneliness, but it felt there was little worth surviving for.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me this is a four star for the writing, but probably not for the plot. That might say more about me, I like a juicy plot and this was gentle. It's more about the characters than any particularly dramatic things that happen to them.

The standout thing for me reading this was the main character Lisa's little brother, five year old Max. I have a five year old and Max was so true to life, he jumped off the page. All the characters were well drawn, actually, although probably Lisa, Ruby and Max more than their mother.

Overall beautiful, evocative writing perfect for curling up on a stormy Sunday.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first five stars!

This is an amazing book. Short, clear, almost naked sentences so touching and meaningfull. It's one of those books where less is more.

The very first sentences draw us into the environment surrounding Lisa and into her personality. The reader is positioned just next to her while she tries to find her way in London (and life) between her estranged family, not-so-friendly friends and college. A very touching novel on how painful it can be to enter adult life.

[Matilda Burn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed 'Hideous Kinky' and this just wasn't as magical? It was fine, a fine book about a 16yr old in London in the eighties drinking, smoking and having sex with older men.

Honestly nothing groundbreaking, and I'd urge anyone to read 'Lucky Break' and 'Hideous Kinky' (both by Freud) as together they equal this book but better!

[Thalia Soul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Least favourite aspect/element of the book:
Unfortunately there is nothing much that can be said about this book...it is not very bad but it is not good at all either. Its utter inability to forward any thought-provoking thought or statement suprises me since the topic and perspective in itself holds certain potential...I just read this book a couple of days ago and can hardly remember who was in it and what they were doing...Additionally I have a creeping suspition that the book even leaves room for some heavy criticism concerning the messages it gives off...drug abuse and addiction for instance are depicted in a rather bizarre way: it is mentioned and for a short time determines where the story leads us but all in all the people in the book show a rather apathetic attitude towards it...

Favourite aspect/element of the book:
I read it within one day...so I could move on quite quickly after it.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full review available: https://cookingupatreat.com/2018/01/1...

"What made me pick up Peerless Flats when I found it in a charity shop a number of years ago is a mystery. What is more of a mystery is what made me pick it up as my next book to read through. The reviews from 1993, when this book was revealed, to more recent reviews hardly sing its praises and yet a part of me wanted everybody else to be wrong.

They were not wrong. This book had so much potential and could have really packed a hard hitting punch but instead it was just a wishy washy story that came close to discussing issues and making a bold statement about society but it constantly fell short of the mark. The plot line was wholly unremarkable, the characters largely lacking personality or enough of anything to give you empathy for them and the writing of the story itself was dry."

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book although once again it was recommended to me by a BookCrossing buddy & it's probably not a book I would have chosen myself.

16 year-old Lisa just wants to be like her elder sister Ruby, who isn't really the best role-model a girl could have, as to compete Lisa is dabbling in drugs & drink. Crammed into a tiny flat with her mother & younger brother it would seem that Lisa's life isn't a barrel of laughs but the book is full of affection & humour (I couldn't help smiling at fox-obsessed Max's antics) & Lisa is such an endearing character you can't help but hope that happiness will finally come her way.

[Hazel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than I was expecting. I didn't realise that it was written so long ago or set in the '80s (I forgot to check). The main character was really endearing and you couldn't help but wish her luck.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coming of age novel set in 80s London; the main character is so passive and depressed without seemingly knowing it, her self esteem is so low that she lets things happen to her . . . rather good, very spare, painful.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

A realistically depressing view of the poorer side of London in 1970s. A rites of passage story it is a quick read probably suitable as YA.

[Lynsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging, authentic and personalised narrative. Freud is a great observer of human emotions and behaviour, I was hooked by this novel completely.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of Esther Freud's best - Lisa was far too annoying - but an enjoyable, quick read.

[Felicity · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read - a 24 hour read in fact, because Freud writes good clear prose. And a good evocation of London at the time. But in the end, what did it amount to? Another rite of passage novel but without any clear rites of passage. What I did love, though was Lisa's mental list of the things she needed to do before becoming an adult - "done heroin now, don't need to do it again". I might pass it on to a 15 year old sometime.

[Jamie Harms · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book just fine. It had a flow of prose which I appreciated, and many aspects of life that it covered I resonated with from my own experience. Having said that, a good slice of life story is only good if the life being sliced is interesting, and I feel that on the whole Lisa’s life was mundane in a way that didn’t translate well to a story. True to reality? Yeah I’d say. But not something I found compelling in a book.

[E.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into the story but eventually the details about the main character's internal conflicts did get me involved. The fragility of one's feeling of self & sanity in the last stretch of being a teenager were well-portrayed. The ending does seem a bit suddenly positive and I was left wondering if the upward trend that is suggested was likely to continue.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s something about Freuds writing that’s almost hypnotic. There’s very little plot, sad and troubled characters who don’t seem to get along well in life, a certain dingy quality to the settings, and no satisfying ending. But despite all that, I never considered stopping. Hard to define that kind of writing.

[Jessica Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, a story which doesn't try to hide any of the troubles in life

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean… this was fine

[Fleur van Hoof · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5*

[Helen Pomfrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed this

[Helen K]

Elana