I read this book late in the summer in the midst of our own heatwave. It’s still pretty warm in fact even in mid October. So, this book about a heatwave in 1976 London felt very relatable and topical to me.
About the Book
Gretta Riordan wakes on a stultifying July morning to find that her husband of forty years has gone to get the paper and vanished, cleaning out his bank account along the way. Gretta’s three grown children converge on their parents’ home for the first time in years: Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing; Monica, with two stepdaughters who despise her and a blighted past that has driven away the younger sister she once adored; and Aoife, the youngest, now living in Manhattan, a smart, immensely resourceful young woman who has arranged her entire life to conceal a devastating secret.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
After reading Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, I know I am in good hands with Maggie O’Farrell, and I have every intention of reading all her books. However, I do have to say that this time around, I noticed some tics in her writing that has begun to annoy me.
She has a habit of writing elaborate sentences in patterns of threes. I noticed it in the very first paragraph of the book, and then this pattern repeats throughout the novel, and once seen, I could not unsee it. In fact, I went back and reread portions of Hamnet, and The Marriage Portrait, and it’s right there as well. This is her style, and it’s very repetitive.
The story about an Irish family’s travails was also not that interesting or unique. It just feels like a slightly more literary Marian Keyes novel. I was mildly interested in the three siblings, but again this novel is a bit too cliché, and I could see what was coming from a mile away.
What I did like was how skilfully all these characters were portrayed in a very nuanced way. In another lesser writer, it would have become all hysterical and loud, and over the top. But the relationships between the siblings and their mother grows and evolves in a more natural manner. They are not very likeable people, but they are all very human, and even their terrible life decisions start to make sense after looking at it from their perspective.
I loved the depiction of dyslexia as well, and was very moved by Aoife’s struggles with it, at a time when this was not caught and diagnosed routinely.
The story of the missing father and husband was a bit of a damp squib; it’s merely a plot device to bring the dysfunctional family together and have a shared mission. There are some secrets shared from the past, but nothing of note, and while I didn’t mind too much about this, I did feel that there would have been no difference to the main storyline if the father was in hospital or suddenly dead.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad read. I enjoyed it and read it in the space of a weekend. But, I am a little disappointed that I have started noticing these tics in her work. I am not sure that this will not mar my reading experience with her books in the future.
