Reviews with content warning for Child death - Brother of the More Famous Jack

Great in places, but hard to sympathise with any of the characters. There were hints that Kath, the protagonist, wasn't nearly as silly or passive as she thinks herself to be, but they were... uncertain and probably the stuff of English degrees. Dated at times, and I did not like the casual use of rape as a term of endearment (repeatedly and across time and countries). But overall enjoyable?

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schopflin's review against another edition

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funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is an absolutely lovely book - I enjoyed it so much! I have a slight issue with it in that the family portrayed at the centre are the quintessence of 60s and 70s middle class lefties who made up the tiny British cultural establishment in those years. The character of Jake is like a very benign Jonathan Miller. But that's a problem for me, and needn't be one for anyone else.

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funktious's review

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emotional funny relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An excellent bath read. A good family chronicle, like The Cazelets but shorter and with nicer characters, on the whole. Very 70s. I liked Kath a lot and was pleased that she refused to give up her knitting.

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charliemjs's review

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dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

It's very apparent that this book was written in the 80s. I would have given it a much higher rating had it not been for the amount of casual racism and sexism (the latter of which got worse as the book went on), which made it very difficult to enjoy the book.

I definitely liked the character of Jane the most, she had the most sense and I was glad Katherine had her as a guide. There were too parts of the book I found particularly distasteful. The first was Michele's treatment of Katherine - he was clearly abusive which was acknowledged but never properly dealt with and overall Katherine seemed to think of him fondly which was odd (unless I misunderstood this). The second was Jonathan's child with and marriage to a pupil of his. This was especially strange since Jonathan was meant to be some great guy.

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