24 March, 2014

Book Review: The Radleys

From Goodreads: Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret.
From one of Britain's finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain – and lose – when we deny our appetites.


Thoughts: I struggle to write reviews for books like this - I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I feel nothing about it. While I don't think every book you read should evoke a strong emotional reaction, I figure it should evoke something! I am surprised how quickly I read it, being surprised every time I opened it at how far through the book my bookmark was -if it had been a slower read, I would have given up. Maybe I kept sensing what other reviewers who raved about it loved about it and it made me keep reading, but in the end when I closed the book, I simply shrugged, put it to one side and didn't even think about it. All loose ends are tied up and every one is happy in the end. Nothing memorable though and not one I'd be recommending.