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A Perfectly Good Family
 
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A Perfectly Good Family (Paperback)

by Lionel Shriver (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.91 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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A Perfectly Good Family + Game Control + The Post-birthday World
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  • This item: A Perfectly Good Family by Lionel Shriver

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Game Control by Lionel Shriver

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  • The Post-birthday World by Lionel Shriver

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Product details

  • Paperback
  • Publisher: Harper (5 Mar 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007271115
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007271115
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 14,329 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #2 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > S > Shriver, Lionel

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Product Description

Review

Praise for The Post-Birthday World: 'Those of us who rave about the dash and dare of Lionel Shriver's fiction can rejoice that The Post-Birthday World, a 'Sliding Doors'-style joint tale of alternative loves and lives, will garner the attention she always deserves' Independent 'Shriver gives us another passionate novel!Like Sliding Doors, the tale splits into two, following the dramatic turns of each choice. Brilliant' Cosmopolitan 'It's another domestic drama with a compelling twist!the power struggle between the sexes is spot-on. Shriver chalks her narrative cue with relish and, once the story gets underway, it's hard to take your eyes off the green baize' Tatler "The Post-Birthday World' is Lionel Shriver's forthcoming work about the dilemmas of love -- a must if you were gripped by 'We Need To Talk About Kevin" Harper's Bazaar


Product Description

Following the success of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' and 'The Post-Birthday World', 'A Perfectly Good Family' is coming back into print after being unavailable for years. Following the death of her worthy liberal parents, Corlis McCrea moves back into her family's grand Reconstruction mansion in North Carolina, willed to all three siblings. Her timid younger brother has never left home. When her bullying black-sheep older brother moves into 'his' house as well, it's war. Each heir wants the house. Yet to buy the other out, two siblings must team against one. Just as in girlhood, Corlis is torn between allying with the decent but fearful youngest and the iconoclastic eldest, who covets his legacy to destroy it. 'A Perfectly Good Family' is a stunning examination of inheritance, literal and psychological: what we take from our parents, what we discard, and what we are stuck with, like it or not.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

A Perfectly Good Family
63% buy the item featured on this page:
A Perfectly Good Family 3.4 out of 5 stars (5)
£5.91
The Post-birthday World
20% buy
The Post-birthday World 3.6 out of 5 stars (43)
£5.96
We Need To Talk About Kevin (Five Star Paperback)
10% buy
We Need To Talk About Kevin (Five Star Paperback) 4.2 out of 5 stars (279)
£4.76
Double Fault (Five Star Paperback)
3% buy
Double Fault (Five Star Paperback) 2.7 out of 5 stars (26)
£5.96
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars sibling relationships, 7 Feb 2009
By Owl (Exeter, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Perfectly Good Family (P.S.) (Paperback)
It is ludicrous that more of Lionel Shriver's earlier books aren't in print in the UK and this, I guess, is where Amazon comes into its own! If you like her style and topics (and I do), this is a very interesting take on family life: in that case the adult siblings working out what to do about the family home they have jointly inherited. Bits seemed unrealistic to me, but the style is one readers of 'Kevin' and the 'Post-birthday world' will recognise. In the same way as both of these it makes me think about myself in similar situations (thankfully not one I've had to face yet) hope that my brother and I will acquit ourselves better when the time comes!! At least Shriver's fairly negative (or at least far from rose-tinted) views of family life, families leave some room for optimism in thinking about my own family!
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An insight into family relationships., 19 April 2009
In "A Perfectly Good Family" LS delves into the different relationships that form within a family and its members.
After the death of her mother, Corlis McCrea, who has been living in London, returns to the family home in North Carolina. The house has been willed to Corlis, her two brothers and the "fourth child", a charity organization.
As Corlis and her brothers cannot singlehandedly buy the others out, Corlis finds herself torn in two as she is asked by both brothers to take sides and together buy their home.
Who will she side with? The timid, orderly, younger brother who has never left home and seems afraid of change? Or the bullying, alcoholic, disorderly, black-sheep, older brother who left home at fourteen?
All three are now living in the same home and Corlis finds that deciding between two very different brothers is not as easy as it would seem.

The book is well written and characters are well potrayed.
During the unfolding of the story we learn more about how the relationship between Corlis and her brothers has developed during the years.
Little by little the relationships between all the McCraes is brought to the reader and as Corlis delves into the past and examines her family's relationships we understand whether their's is or is not "A perfectly good family".
LS manages an unexpected and "perfectly good" ending.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing compared to her other books, 10 Jan 2009
By Lorna Corner (Yerres France) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Perfectly Good Family (P.S.) (Paperback)
Having thoroughly enjoyed other books by Lionel Shriver, notably the excellent '...Kevin', I bought this with enthusiasm and was quite disappointed. Although it is well written and has memorable characters and a few memorable lines which have stayed with me, I felt it was a bit slow overall and nothing I cared about really happened.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars If you think your family is dysfunctional......
.....this story will be a great comfort!

For all middle aged orphans, this story will strike a chord. Read more
Published 3 days ago by G. Squires

4.0 out of 5 stars Families are funny things
Families are funny things. WE can moan about them all we like to our mates, but stand up for them with grit if anyone else pipes up. Read more
Published 9 days ago by NB

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