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wendoxford's review against another edition
3.0
So much a novel forged out of time, place and inhibition fed by family history. It captures the same kernels as Chesil Beach albeit with a double layer of narrative. This novel first published in 2000 set in 1968 and On Chesil Beach set in 1962 first published in 2007.
A beach house in Cornwall becomes the theatre of family conflict over thirty years apart. Same family, with old secrets and new secrets that play out. Whilst this is primarily a novel about men, the mother son relationship is key and the best narration comes via the women, in my view.
40 year-old Will/Julian has been sleeping with his brother-in-law since his sister’s marriage, and dealing with his mother who has Alzheimers, our perfect storm. What could possibly go wrong? In the alternate plotline he is a child who lives within a prison complex his father being the head warden.
I loved the story development and character development but I did find some of the "resolutions" rather pat and contrived. Two brother-in-law plots also seemed unnecessary. Life does not tie up loose ends and I think other books by Gale respect that better. I enjoyed how the two timelines coalesced but my gut reaction was that this would have been sharper and more poignant if all the gaps had not been filled.
A beach house in Cornwall becomes the theatre of family conflict over thirty years apart. Same family, with old secrets and new secrets that play out. Whilst this is primarily a novel about men, the mother son relationship is key and the best narration comes via the women, in my view.
40 year-old Will/Julian has been sleeping with his brother-in-law since his sister’s marriage, and dealing with his mother who has Alzheimers, our perfect storm. What could possibly go wrong? In the alternate plotline he is a child who lives within a prison complex his father being the head warden.
I loved the story development and character development but I did find some of the "resolutions" rather pat and contrived. Two brother-in-law plots also seemed unnecessary. Life does not tie up loose ends and I think other books by Gale respect that better. I enjoyed how the two timelines coalesced but my gut reaction was that this would have been sharper and more poignant if all the gaps had not been filled.
seaswift14's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
nocto's review against another edition
5.0
Declaring literary blogging bankruptcy as I'm now eight months behind on logging books read and I would like to get back into the swing of things without dropping further behind!
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