29.04.23
Anne Tyler at her best is superlative. This was not her best, or even her middling. As a narrative covering the ebbs and flows of family dynamics over time, it worked fine, but the story and characters just weren't worth caring about. And enough of the pointless pandemic epilogues!
14.06.22
I had breakfast with Chris Brookmyre once, at an editing conference. We had a very interesting conversation and then he went on to give the sweariest keynote speech ever, which, probably to his surprise, the editors loved. This book is neither as interesting nor as sweary, unfortunately - competent enough but with some unlikely coincidences and confusing plot points.
And points are lost, as ever, for the pandemic epilogue. Come on, authors/publishers! We've just had 400 pages of suspending our disbelief so you really don't need to shoehorn in some awkward references to lockdown at the end.
06.06.22
Weird, maybe, convoluted, definitely, but impossible? Well, given I couldn't understand what the protagonists saw in each other, or why they did what they did, or why it resolved so awkwardly, then yes.
Also: 'pointless pandemic-themed epilogue' warning. Why did the publisher evidently insist on this 'realistic' afterthought when the whole point of the story is that it's 'impossible'?
10.01.22
This was the Moriarty book I should have been reading (for book club) over Christmas. As much as I resented having to pay £9.99 for the Kindle ebook, it was infinitely better than Nine Perfect Strangers. The characters were vividly drawn, and every detail of the story became satisfyingly relevant in some way - until it was spoiled by the silly pandemic chapters at the end, which not only made the book 50 pages too long but also read as if the publisher had asked the author to shoehorn them in at the last minute to make the story 'current'. It was a shame as, until then, the delicious unlikeliness of almost everything in the novel had been what made it so enjoyable.
Side note: I plan to avoid the current pile of pandemic-set stories. I understand publishers like current affairs, and authors like the challenge of deciding how their characters might react to lockdown, but I read novels to experience other worlds - if I wanted contemporary realism, I'd read the news. Still, I've started a new pandemic label, in case I can't avoid it.
47%
Notable only for the clunky 'Beware! Covid's on its way' references and the hilariously inaccurate local driving times. But still I read this series.
