Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I found this a powerful narrative., 19 Dec 1998
By A Customer
A difficult read emotionally as Forster hits sensitive nerves to do with family values and expectations. It is very easy to read and carries you along with the characters. I a not sure that it will be enjoyed by men. It is mainly about female family relationships and unwritten rules, guilt and communication. I found it fascinating and uncomfortable at the same time
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, yet at times distinctly difficult and dislikeable, 23 Sep 2009
I'm of two minds about this book: part of me applauds the gritty frankness of the emotions laid bare and the honesty of the feelings that are taboo (to find one's elderly mother a dreaded burden, to consider oneself before one's children), but part of me found it a tiresome and dragging read, for one main reason: the main character, Angela, is very dislikeable.
The narrative follows Angela's relationships with her increasingly feeble mother and her increasingly disdainful daughter. She is determined not to force upon her daughter the sticky and impossible-to-escape web of duty that her mother enforced upon her. Some of Angela's burdens are understandable and even sympathetic: we recognise the hypocrisy and self-pity of her mother - but the problem is that Angela is by far more self-pitying. In fact, her self-pity becomes cloying, drenching the action and the other characters in its irritating greyness.
As a result of Angela's self-centredness, some of the other characters are underdeveloped. Her husband, Ben, for instance, is merely more than a kind, dutiful shadow. Angela's daughter, Sadie, is more interesting, capturing quite well the perceptive sharpness of teenagers towards their parents and the mix between frustration and care. Angela's mother is, too, at times sympathetic: social issues are called into question by Forster as she touches on the lack of options for women at the time, the regrettable waste of talent as young wives became young mothers and gave everything they had and more to their children.
Thus this novel is not without its merits - Forster's easily accessible, often insightful writing is one - but it is severely hampered by its shortcomings. The lack of action contributed to the dreariness, and the ending I found a little unsatisfactory, if hopeful for Angela and Sadie's relationship. Angela is the main flaw, which is problematic as her thoughts and feelings overwhelm the narrative, but overall the novel is not an unbearable read, and throws up some interesting issues about motherhood and family duties.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Twisted logic, 14 Sep 2009
This is a story of motherhood - at least a certain kind of motherhood. It is not a motherhood I recognise, but I do recognise the mistake that might make readers think it is true to life. The main character, Angela, does not like her mother very much but she dutifully responds whenever there is a crisis and Dad calls to say Mother is ill again. I recognise the awful weight of responsibility, but not the sheer, paralysing dread that prevents mother and daughter from making any kind of meaningful contact. The premise is that Angela escaped (into a very happy marriage with four children of her own) and that even though her mother was not the cause of her unhappiness when a child (that was Dad), she has come to dread having to be in her mother's company.
There is some kind of twisted logic in this that Forster relies on to hide the strangeness of the premise. Mother was a comfort in childhood, but in old age she has become a terrible bore with her illnesses and her inability to enjoy herself. And yet this mother is not a monster - she makes touching efforts to remain on her dignity in difficult situations, and she responds well to Angela's husband Ben, who, it seems, knows how to accept her dignity for what it is. Not so Angela.
In addition Angela is struggling with her relationship with her own daughter, Sadie. Throughout, this family is presented as though boys never cause any problems, only girls. That's just another quirk employed to fit the premises, of course.
So the novel is predicated on strangled communications between mothers and daughters and who am I to say it never happens? But there needs to be a logic behind it somewhat stronger than just an awkward kink in personalities. At least, there needs to be something on which to hang the premise.
Well, you see, there needs to be a book written, doesn't there - and perhaps that's all Forster is about here? Get it out, get it sold to a set readership-base, and one's lifestyle is assured for another year or two.
It is well-written, many of the relationships ring true and the characters are distinctive and well-drawn. It is just a pity that the central premise doesn't do the job it was set up to do.
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by Margaret Forster
by Margaret Forster
by Margaret Forster
by Margaret Forster
by Margaret Forster
