This was definitely a marmite book, people either loved it or hated it. Many people in the bookclub didn't enjoy it because they couldn't empathise with or understand the characters. This was probably because emotions weren't often described or discussed, leaving the reader to decide how the characters were feeling. They also felt that it was really predictable, they knew were the story was going so there wasn't any reason to keep reading. Also, the fact that it keeps hopping backwards and forwards in time was not something that some of the club felt was useful to the story. Although others felt that this gave us a little bit of back story, just enough to undestand the characters a little more.
The parents in the book made some people react very strongly as it was felt that they traumatised their children, they didn't really seem to love them as they should just when the children did something the parents felt was worthy in their artistic world.
Other members of the group felt that the parents did seem to care for their children in their own way and that they children would never have turned out to be brilliant actors and writers if they hadn't experienced what they had during their childhood. Also, the children would never have been as resiliant to life as they were if they hadn't survived their childhood, it made them much stronger as adults. We discussed the question of creating adults from our children and whether we should molly-coddle them or whether being harsher with them teaches them to be better adults.
We felt that the central themes of parents and children is very similar to a lot of the other books we've read during bookclub. It is something that many authors seem to enjoy exploring, trying to discover the perfect family perhaps?
There were a lot of really funny moments in this book as long as you are happy with the complete chaos surrounding them. We decided this book was like modern art, either you are happy with a picture that leaves you to decide how to interpret it, or you aren't. The same is true of this book.
Overall we gave this book 5.5 out of 10.
The parents in the book made some people react very strongly as it was felt that they traumatised their children, they didn't really seem to love them as they should just when the children did something the parents felt was worthy in their artistic world.
Other members of the group felt that the parents did seem to care for their children in their own way and that they children would never have turned out to be brilliant actors and writers if they hadn't experienced what they had during their childhood. Also, the children would never have been as resiliant to life as they were if they hadn't survived their childhood, it made them much stronger as adults. We discussed the question of creating adults from our children and whether we should molly-coddle them or whether being harsher with them teaches them to be better adults.
We felt that the central themes of parents and children is very similar to a lot of the other books we've read during bookclub. It is something that many authors seem to enjoy exploring, trying to discover the perfect family perhaps?
There were a lot of really funny moments in this book as long as you are happy with the complete chaos surrounding them. We decided this book was like modern art, either you are happy with a picture that leaves you to decide how to interpret it, or you aren't. The same is true of this book.
Overall we gave this book 5.5 out of 10.
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