Customer Reviews

Accidents in the Home

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Accidents is an ambitious undertaking that's overloaded with characters and subplots, yet lacks the energy required for takeoff. Result: a quick read that gives us glimpses into the lives of way too many characters, most of whom seem so depressingly similar to one another that it's hard to care about any of them. Bland is the order of the day.

Clare is the chief protagonist, and the heart of the novel is her leaving her "partner" Bram (is he her husband? not quite sure, and what's the point of the ambiguity?) initially to spend time with her friend Helly's boyfriend and then for...well, nothing really. Another man, Tony, but we the readers know that relationship won't last very long.

Bram doesn't seem like a bad sort, and Clare and Bram do have three one-dimensional children (though it's hard to imagine a boy allowing anyone to call him Coco, the nickname of Clare's son, and it's a little silly to have daughters named Rose and Lily, but those are nitpicks). Bram easily replaces inoffensive Clare with the plastic but rich and worldly Helly as soon as he suspects something's amiss.

Ah, but isn't that the point of the book? Relationships are fungible; when you grow weary of one spouse, you find another--a pattern exemplified by Clare's father. What's particularly striking is the lack of passion that accompanies these transitions. The characters seem to spend their days in perpetual torpor, just as the author flits from character to character, seemingly tiring of one and moving on to the next. Even when Clare sees her kids together with Bram and Helly--one happy little family--she seems to feel nothing more intense than mild distress.

Three stars for the snappy writing and entertaining snippets of realistic dialogue, and for the fact that you can plow through this one in a sitting without any muss to your manicure.

Accidents in the Home is an interesting and well-written novel--an examination of human relationships and the various "accidents" made in these relationships. Clare Verey a 29 year old married woman is the focal point of the novel, with chapters alternating between her story and those of the various members of her extended family--half brother, stepmother, father, etc. Each character has his or her faults and foibles exposed to us. May of the characters seem to naturally gravitate to the wrong type of person, the wrong type of relationship. When I read back the words I have just written, I realize that I have painted a rather bleak picture of a definitely unbleak novel. Accidents in the Home is quite an enjoyable read, well-told and engaging. The characters are likeable, their flaws, forgivable. Enjoy.

Synopsis: Too many characters, though very few are particularly interesting, admirable or deep, behaving randomly.

Clare, the protagonist, breaks up her family for an affair, though it is never clear that she is really dissatisfied or with what exactly. The object of the affair then promptly evaporates as a character. Her husband turns to her former best friend, even though it's made clear that they don't really like each other or have anything in common. After this, they also reappear only briefly and superficially. Hadley drops hints of some real issues (Clare's mother-in-law's insomnia, Tamsin's cutting herself, Naomi's drinking) but then fails to follow up, leaving the reader to wonder at their being mentioned at all.

Better books on motherhood's frustrations include Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work and Karen Karbo's Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me

but I didn't. I liked the idea of this book, but found it very hard to follow. The characters were somewhat one-dimensional and there were sooo many of them! The author kept jumping from person to person and story to story making it difficult to keep up with who is speaking to whom! Overall a pretty bleak look on marriage and relationships.

I could not make it past the second page. Her writing style is horrible. Who doesn't use quotations? There are literary rules for a reason- some things are not to be "creatively" changed. It just takes away from the story.

There's a gentle comfort in Hadley's writing, even though the character's are straggling through fairly tumultous situations.

I wanted to wrap myself around the book, or get inside it & drink a cup of tea & eat something warm. Her tone is even- not monotonous.

While the character's struggle, it's easy to feel that somehow things will work themselves out without too much of an uproar. This largely stems from what must have been a concious & quite effective choice to leave the uproarious scenes out. The reader is then allowed to imagine the confrontations themselves- or not.

The novel doesn't get a 5 star rating from me, because I agree, like some of the other reviewers here, that there are too many character's in such a slim work, & that it is quite hard to keep them straight. Hadley does provide a family tree outline at the beginning of the book & it does come in handy.

I was quite moved by the last line of the book & found it to resonate nicely as a whole.

Recommended!

Tessa Hadley is up there with Alice Munro in terms of craftsmanship and talent but her characters skew a little younger, more Lorrie Moore territory. Hard to believe this is a first novel; can't wait for the second.