Play Book Tag discussion

Instructions for a Heat Wave is about a family, perhaps bordering on dysfunctional but, nonetheless with the potential for redemption for each of the members. It opens when the patriarch, disappears. His three grown children come together with their mother to try to find him. Each of the children has troublesome issues in their lives and this is a family that doesn’t talk about their problems. Each of the children and their mother gets a POV, and O’Farrell switches round among these, as well as switching back and forth in time, to give us the backgrounds. This could lead to a jumbled, confusing story but O’Farrell makes it work somehow to fill in a rich picture of the family dynamics. (She used the same technique with Hamnet, where I don’t think it worked as well.) I never got bored, and I wanted to keep going to understand more about the family members, as well as to learn what happened to the father. Yet, I never felt great affection for any of the characters, perhaps because of the multiple points of view and many flashbacks. I liked the book and parts of it will stick with me for a long time, but I’m rounding my 4.5 stars down to 4 because I was sorry that it ended so abruptly, and none of the characters really moved me.

I enjoyed reading your review, Susan. I remember this book! As it turns out, I read it in 2019. Per my review, I thought there were so many family secrets, that it felt a bit contrived. I remember liking the younger sister, Aiofe, the best.

I'm glad you enjoyed it (despite not connecting with the characters)!

Holly R W wrote: "I enjoyed reading your review, Susan. I remember this book! As it turns out, I read it in 2019. Per my review, I thought there were so many family secrets, that it felt a bit contrived. I remember ..."

Thanks, Holly. Well, I liked it more than a lot -- enough to give it 4 stars. And I liked Aiofe best too. But the humanity (for lack of a better word -- maybe it's warmth?) ) that our mutually admired Mary Lawson manages to inject into her books just wasn't there for me.