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welsh_person's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Abortion and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism and Racial slurs
absolutive's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a dark, harrowing and well-controlled short novel. It's an inverted fairy tale in which a woman, her unfaithful fourth husband, and their innumerable children build a tower in the countryside to live a life that has no meaning to any of them. They are starting life together again after an affair, mental illness and a runaway, and it will be a life unhappily ever after again. The book is largely told through therapy sessions, though its opening and closing lines are cleverly telling us that the book is unreliably narrated: "'Well,' I said 'I will try. I honestly will try to be honest with you, although I suppose really what you're more interested in is my not being honest, if you see what I mean.'"
"I have tried to be honest with you, although I suppose that you would really have been more interested in my not being honest. Some of these things happened and some were dreams. They are all true, as I understood truth. They are all real, as I understood reality."
The nihilism in this novel is a welcome antidote to the fairy tale of life that women and girls are told about husbands, children and meaning. In this novel, husband and brood are traps of unhappiness and emptiness, as they are in so much of Penelope Mortimer's fiction. I found this novel more cleverly constructed and literary than Daddy's Gone A-Hunting and Saturday Lunch With the Brownings, but those books were sharper and funnier with more devastating and pitch-perfect dialogue. This book left me sadder and colder, whilst those still laughing and engaged.
"I have tried to be honest with you, although I suppose that you would really have been more interested in my not being honest. Some of these things happened and some were dreams. They are all true, as I understood truth. They are all real, as I understood reality."
The nihilism in this novel is a welcome antidote to the fairy tale of life that women and girls are told about husbands, children and meaning. In this novel, husband and brood are traps of unhappiness and emptiness, as they are in so much of Penelope Mortimer's fiction. I found this novel more cleverly constructed and literary than Daddy's Gone A-Hunting and Saturday Lunch With the Brownings, but those books were sharper and funnier with more devastating and pitch-perfect dialogue. This book left me sadder and colder, whilst those still laughing and engaged.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Abortion, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
A racist slur appears without warning and there are two examples of racist idioms.
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