More Details Original Title. Other Editions 8. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. Sort order. Jun 11, Helen Farrow rated it really liked it. This so mirrored the on- going relationship I have with my Mother I almost felt I'd written it myself at times!
Feb 10, Stephanie rated it did not like it. This is a story about family dynamics that reads like a horror novel. Seriously, the whole time I was just waiting for someone to leap out of a closet and hack someone else to death, which is about the only reason I read the whole depressing thing, in the hope that as least one of these characters would get killed off. Yes, poor Angela has a terrible family, but Angela is about as sharp as a snowball, which makes it very difficult to feel any sympathy for her as she whines her way through life, This is a story about family dynamics that reads like a horror novel.
Yes, poor Angela has a terrible family, but Angela is about as sharp as a snowball, which makes it very difficult to feel any sympathy for her as she whines her way through life, ruining her poor kids in the process. In the end, Angela is just astoundingly stupid. Maybe that's the point - is this supposed to illustrate her parents toxic influence? But still, she managed to move away from them, go to school and get married.
She's living in London, after traveling the world with her husband. She's obviously educated and well off enough to maybe buy a book or two on psychological disorders, or raising kids, yet this appears to have never occurred to her. Even when she does manage to have a tiny glimmer of self awareness, she can't figure out how to change anything and just keeps on destroying everything she touches. Except for Angela's barely present younger sons and her husband, who's so "perfect" that he's basically a cipher, every person in this family is an overwhelmingly horrid, obtuse and wholly unlikeable human being.
There are plenty of unlikable characters in literature, and many of them make for great reading. What ruins this book is that everyone is just so incredibly stupid. I can't figure out why the author thought this repulsive crew was worth writing about, or why anyone would want to read about these awful people. Silly me, I wish I hadn't.
Mar 10, Lauren Albert rated it liked it Shelves: fiction. I was torn between giving this a 3 and a 4. I think if it had been shorter, I would have given it a 4. Forster does an amazing job of showing us all of the subtleties of mother daughter relationships. But the painful pull between love and resentment, joyful giving and obligation, is portrayed at too much length and so it becomes as tedious as it does in real life.
Even as someone without children, I found her portrayal of Angela's confusion over her relationship with her daughter astute. She only wanted her daughter to live without the guilt and neediness she herself grew up with but also wants to feel needed and is pained by her daughter's independence--the independence that she dreamed of for her. View 2 comments. Jul 25, Lizzie rated it did not like it.
What insipid characters. Sorry but I tried to like this book but really struggled to finish it. Dec 07, Kirsty Darbyshire rated it really liked it Shelves: paperback. The narrative stays with thirty something Angela all the way through this book, s This book had numerous similarities with the last of Forster's books that I read Have The Men Had Enough? Another good book, Forster is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
I found the main character sort of annoying. She constantly felt guilty about not doing enough for her mother. She was also constantly worried about making sure her own daughter didn't ever feel that kind of guilt, even though she was constantly disappointed by how little support her daughter gave her. I didn't enjoy this book. This might be the last Margaret Forster I try!!
Norman Pierce Joe as Joe. Raymond Huntley Dolan as Dolan. Henry Victor Father as Father. Cingalee Self as Self. Eric Pavitt Boy as Boy uncredited. John Singer Boy as Boy uncredited. Leslie Pearce. Storyline Edit. Add content advisory. Did you know Edit. Trivia First full length feature of Norman Pierce. User reviews Be the first to review. Details Edit. Release date July 27, United Kingdom. United Kingdom. New Ideal. Technical specs Edit.
Runtime 1 hour 17 minutes. Black and White. Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content. Edit page.
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