Customer Reviews

Family Baggage

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

 

 

i picked this up in a used book store although i was not familiar with the author. the cover looked interesting. i was surprised at how much i enjoyed reading the book and how caught up i got into the character's lives. i was sad when it ended and i wanted it to go on.

Never having read any of Monica McInerney's books before, I didn't know what to expect with Family Baggage. I have to say, the first chapter kept me only mildly interested. However, the further I read, the more I enjoyed the story. For anyone interested in the dynamics of a large extended family, this book will provide a fun, interesting read. The characters really grew on me - none were stereotypes and I particularly enjoyed the Patrick Shawcross character. Although I suspected the truth about the main area of conflict pretty early on, that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story and how it unfolded. Any book that can make me both laugh out loud and get teary-eyed certainly gets my appreciation. My only complaint - no hospital would have kept James there for so many days!!!

I will certainly be checking out Ms. McInerney's other books.

I have read all of Monica Mcinerneys novels and I found that this one and the Alphabet Sisters have been hard work to read.
Her first three novels were fantastic - kept you interested from the first to the last page with a funny, believable storyline.
This one (Family Baggage) was such a chore, its not a small book (482 pages)and to be quite honest could have been written in about 300 pages without missing anything. I hope she realises that her reading audience is basically, the chick lit audience, that are cash rich and time poor - so either keep the novel more interesting or shorten the size. I'll think twice before reading another one.

Monica McInerney was born in South Australia, one of seven children of a railway stationmaster. She now lives in Dublin and is the author of The Alphabet Sisters.

Harriet and Lara are sort-of sisters who were raised by Penny and Neil Turner, along with their older brothers Austin and James. The Turners run Turner Travel, in the small coastal vacation town of Merryn Bay, Australia. Lara's parents died when she was only 8, and she was raised by the Turners, who became her legal guardians.

Family Baggage opens with Harriet being asked to take on a special tour unexpectedly, when her brother James breaks his leg. Harriet used to lead tours all the time, only she is recovering from a breakdown which happened after both her parents died in quick succession--her father suddenly of a heart attack, and then her mother of a stroke a few months later.

James and his wife Melissa, who are running the agency now, have put Harriet on light office duty. Lara is already in England and is to be assisting with this special tour: Australian fans of the old British TV series Willoughby, will be touring special spots associated with the series, which was shot in Cornwall. Willoughby was a handsome postman who solved crimes as he delivered his mail. Lara has set up the tour, and roped in the actor who played Willoughby 15 years ago, Patrick Shawcross.

When Harriet and the tour arrive in England, Lara is missing. She asks the family for help, and brother Austin, who is touring in Europe (he is the percussionist with a symphony) is able to spend a few days searching for her. While he is doing that, Harriet ably takes on the tour--and Shawcross--and manages to deal with some potentially disastrous situations with aplomb. When Lara is finally discovered, along with a long buried secret, the family is pulled apart. But will it be forever?

Armchair Interview says: If you like Maeve Binchy, you will love this book--plus it has a reading group guide.






From

This is the first Mcinerney novel I've read, but it won't be the last. The novel shifted point of view between several family members, but I was happiest when Harriet was the focus (and was disappointed that the last point of view of the novel was her niece instead). I found Harriet to be both a likable and believable character. Maybe it's just because I'm the youngest girl in my family like Harriet was, but I think there's more to it: Mcinerney shows how family members tend to misread each other and focus more on their own place in the family than on trying to understand each other's difficulties.

It's true that some of the "big deals" of this story were actually very little things...but isn't that how it is in real life? For us worriers, the smallest of hurts can turn into monstrous offenses---sure, it's all in our heads most of the time, but that doesn't change the emotional impact.

All-in all, the story line was charming (perhaps predictable but never boring), the writing style was easy to read and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, and the insights often hit close to home.

I loved Mcinerney's previous book, The Alphabet Sisters. But this book was weighed down with weak characters and a plot centered around a discovery that I didn't think warranted the reaction of the character most affected. Mcinerney was reaching throughout the whole book. She reached with a weak main character and a weak discovery that was supposed to be shocking but fell short. If you haven't read her previous book, go for that one and skip the Baggage.

Monica McInerney's writing style is one that takes the reader directly into the hearts and minds of the characters she creates. So it is that you feel Harriet's awkwardness, embarrassment, joy and fear as she works her way through her journey through Cornwall and through a difficult time in her life. Equally we can feel Lara's desperation to know and understand her past in order to work out her future. We get a glimpse of the plight of a couple preparing for retirement where one is hindered by blindness.

In contrast to McInerney's previous novel, The Alphabet Sisters, there is no blindsiding of the reader by a catastrophic event. Instead, in contrast to most romantically inclined novels, the central couple have a straight forward, honest and open entrance into their relationship rather than the usual formula of `get together, break up then get together again'. It is once again, real.

This absorbing novel features the Turners of the small, family run, Turner Travel and in particular Harriet Turner, daughter of the founders. Following the death of her parents, she suffered a breakdown and quit leading the tour groups she loved working with before. Now circumstances will force her to face her fears and lead a group of elderly people on a TV program themed tour through Cornwall. She will also be forced to do this alone, since Lara, who has lived with her family since the age of eight following her own parents deaths, has not shown up to help lead the tour. Harriet will need to contend with the difficulties of being back on the job, as well as worrying about Lara's mysterious disappearance.

Family Baggage was a great read dealing with family relationships and family secrets. While sometimes sad, there are also hilarious parts with the tour group and their eccentricities. The descriptions of Cornwall and of Australia are fantastic as well. Highly recommended as a great summer read!

I thought this book would never end. It could have been over with in 200 pages tops. The characters were uninteresting and the story was boring. The writing was tedious and read like a romance novel. I am not passing this on to anyone, I wouldn't want to put my friends through the torture.

In Merryn Bay, Australia, Turner Travel escorts local residents on themed trips out of country. However, the recent deaths of the family leaders, Neil and Penny Turner, within a couple of months of one another have left their adult children grieving and the business in jeopardy.

Though still in mourning Harriet knows her mother would have wanted her to lead the tour of twelve clients on a trip through the Cornwall countryside. However, her adopted sister Lara fails to show up at the airport as expected so Harriet is on her own pondering the future and dwelling on the past. James avoids confrontation hiding behind the skirts of his overbearing spouse Melissa so refuses to think about what will happen to Turner Travel without his founding parents to guide it. Austin refuses to do anything but party as he has no concern about the future. Finally adopted Lara, taken in by their parents nearly twenty-five earlier, tries to help manage the firm effectively, but suddenly instead of helping Harriet on tour, has vanished as she has learned something about why she was adopted.

This is a fascinating family drama though much of the story line centers on Harriet. Readers see how the four adult children react differently to the deaths of their parents as James and Austin hide from it in different ways as the former uses his strong wife as a shield and the latter uses hedonism as an escape; Harriet mourns her loss but grows as she is forced into new situations while Lara learns a shocking truth about herself that takes away from her chance to grieve. FAMILY BAGGAGE is an interesting character study that focuses on how the living cope with the deaths of loved ones though no one seems to just get on with their life.

Harriet Klausner