Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2140 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Evening Standard: Rev'd Catherine Shoard
`It's a resolutely unpretentious read: drily, almost flatly funny,
but with a deep, sharp humanity...'

The Independent
One of the '50 best holiday reads'

The Daily Telegraph
'[a] comedy of suburban manners'

Customer Reviews

POOR
I'm sorry to say I couldn't get into this book. The writing is poor, the characters are forgetable and it all drags on...until I finally gave up reading it halfway through.

Enjoyable but unremarkable
It took me a while to get into this book...about 200 pages to be more accurate.
The 'plot' took some time to develop but one could say it was worthwhile. On the surface, this is a pretty normal family...noted that some say the way these characters emerge is a bit clichéd and could be compared to a TV sitcom - the feisty daughter, the gay son, the hand-wringing wife, a dopey and cuckolded husband.

However, I found the way the author dealt with these issues intelligent, and although simply worded, quite profound in places. Indeed, there were some amusing vignettes which I wish I'd written down whilst reading as it would involve a re-reading to find them again! The descent into mental illness/hypochondria/depression/whatever you want to call it of George was especially well dealt with and gives someone an idea of how it may be to live with someone going through this if one hasn't experienced it before.

The book has an underlying humour but the issues are all real and some specifically raw. I sometimes found myself guiltily chuckling at parts that perhaps were really not amusing at all.

Criticisms are that the book, at 500 pages, is arguably too long for what is essentially an elongated family episode. Also, to be picky, I found Jacob's language a bit unrealistic for what I presume was a 3/4 year old.


Overall, stick with it and you might find yourself rewarded and having learnt something (specifically the 'illness' of George).

Not something I would re-read or a book that would stick in my mind..if there were a 3.5 stars, it would have got that, but 4 is too generous and 3 is probably fair.

disappointed
This one was ok but nothing exciting. The author is obviously trying very hard to show us how CRAZY everyday life can be in seemingly normal families. I found the story totally unbelievable(in particular the description of the scissors incident, disgusting) and strangely boring at the same time. It has its moments but overall I couldn't wait to get to the end. The Curious Incident... was a masterpiece, this one is not.