Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fault lines in family relationships are revealed by fate., 17 May 2002
By A Customer
As an introduction to 'Accidents in the Home' we are provided with a helpful diagram illustrating the structure of the complicated family that is featured in the novel. When reading it, from time to time I referred back to this family tree, in order to make sure I understood the position of the main characters featured in each chapter. This was particularly helpful because of the way in which the novel is constructed - each of the chapters being almost a short story, some of which did not at first seem to be part of the continuity of the novel. Only towards the end of the book did it become clear how well the author had knitted them together to construct the whole. Each chapter, while featuring key incidents and different family members, contributed to the reader's understanding of the main protagonists. As in the best modern short stories, there were what seemed to be almost gratuitous additional observations, both to entertain the reader, and to enhance awareness of the context. The style is deceptively simple. The presentation suggests the influence of those earlier authors that the heroine is studying. Happily the author sufficiently distances herself from her characters that any excess of sympathy for them is avoided. I hope that if I suggest that 'sensitivity' is avoided this will be read as a compliment. The men in the novel get rather a bad press. They seem to have a part to play, the possibly reluctant seducer whose influence remains but whose presence is dispensed with, the dull and worthy husband, the selfish old patriarch, and Graham Menges, the potter who almost by accident collects wives. The women may be more fully drawn, but they too seem to have little control over their destinies. One gravitates to various men; another seduces her friend's husband. The characters seem to have only limited ambition to take charge of their own circumstances. But Ms. Hadley seems fatalistically inclined, as the novel's title suggests, and will not permit any of her creations to act out of character. The book is well worth reading. I felt as distanced from its milieu as I do from many Victorian novels, and rather relieved that this was the case. I am sure that any younger, female, reader would discover much to enjoy, and not a little to find disturbing, in this rewarding first novel.
|
|
|
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Purposeless, 3 Aug 2002
By A Customer
Sorry, but I really couldn't understand the purpose of this story! All the way through the book I felt as if nothing significant was really happening and I felt completely unmoved by the whole thing after I had finished the last page. I understood the idea of two friends at opposite ends of the scale each envying the other's lifestyle, but nothing really came of it here. None of the characters were really very interesting and I'm glad the author included a family tree because I had to refer to it quite often after losing track of 'who was who' throughout the narrative. Also, what did happen to Euen in the end?
|
|
|
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why is there all this hype about her?, 30 Jun 2006
Having read the quotes from what I class as the 'good' newspapers, I thought I would be on to a winner with this book. How wrong could I be! The characters are totally unbelievable, and time jumps forward, with no explanation as to what has happened to the characters in the meantime. The sub-plot concerning other members of the family is boring and unecessary - I would have prefered to stick to the main plot and learn more about them. There is no character motivation - I found Claire's reasons to have an affair very wishy washy, and just plain annoying! I don't think there is any depth to the writing - I found it clunky and awkward.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|