Reviews

Family And Friends by Anita Brookner

muddy_gardener's review against another edition

oh no only 20 pages in and everyone is already doomed by the author's gimlet eye - please pass the gin and lime but even so I am not sure I can go through with this

booksandquilts's review against another edition

dark funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

booksinbedinthornhill's review

5.0

Melancholy, yet satiric . . . precise, concise use of language . . . classic Brookner.

bookbert's review against another edition

4.0

"Sofka schneidet voll ingrimmiger Wut eine letzte Scheibe Marzipankuchen ab"

wmhenrymorris's review against another edition

I stopped reading this book after the first chapter because I found it a bit boring. I picked it up again and read the rest and completely changed my mind--it's riveting. The structural conceit and the point of view that Brookner uses (which I don't want to spoil) is fascinating and what seemed like mundane and maybe even gimmicky in the first chapter intensifies as the novel progresses until the last chapter (which in some ways is a lot like the first chapter) crashes down on you in a way that's anything but boring.

nadyne's review against another edition

Other thoughts/reviews:

My Porch: http://myporchblog.blogspot.be/2014/01/book-review-family-and-friends-by-anita.html

balancinghistorybooks's review against another edition

3.0

Family and Friends is a study of a family - matriarch Sofka Dorn, and her four children. Unlike many of Brookner's other books, I did not find the character studies here overly convincing. Something about the narrative, and the following of five different characters in quite a brief novel, made the whole feel quite detached, and I was unable to immerse myself within its pages quite as fully as I have with the likes of Look at Me and Leaving Home. Family and Friends is rather a light read, and whilst it is filled with familial dramas, not a great deal happens. The structure, which followed wedding photographs in an album, and then told the stories of individuals involved, was simple and did work well, but I feel that more could have been made of these connections. Family and Friends is probably my least favourite Brookner to date.