Family Pictures [Mass Market Paperback]

Sue Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1991

A Masterful, Engrossing Novel About The Life Of A Large Family That Is Deeply Bounded By The Stranger In Their Midst -- An Autistic Child The whole world could not have broken the spirit and strength of the Eberhardt family of 1948. Lainey is a wonderful if slightly eccentric mother. David is a good father, sometimes sarcastic, always cool-tempered. Two wonderful children round out the perfect picture. Then the next child arrives -- and life is never the same again. Over the next forty years, the Eberhardt family struggles to survive a flood tide of upheaval and heartbreak, love and betrayal, passion and pain...hoping they can someday heal their hearts.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If Miller's new novel does not have the shock value of The Good Mother , it benefits from a deeper, more subtle conception of character and a sure sense of the complexities of family relationships. When their third child, Randall, is diagnosed as autistic in 1954, the happy marriage of Lainey and David Eberhardt begins to disintegrate. Subscribing to then-current medical theories, David, a psychiatrist, blames Randall's disease on Lainey. She retaliates with three subsequent pregnancies, "accidents" that result in the little girls whom their father sardonically calls "the last straws." Seguing among the points of view of various family members, the narrative poignantly illustrates the widening effects of a domestic tragedy. As the Eberhardts' marriage goes awry, the children are wounded by David's emotional withdrawal and eventual departure, Lainey's hysterical need to prove she is "a good mother," and the daily pain of living with and caring for a mentally impaired sibling with powerfully destructive urges. Miller again displays a perfect ear for the dialogue between parents and children. In depicting the contrast between the Eberhardts' responses to their son's affliction--David's scientific evaluation, Lainey's spiritual courage--she demonstrates the ways in which parenthood is a "kind of reckless courage . . . a possibility for anguish and pain, and yet a miracle." 125,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; BOMC main selection; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Family Pictures is a book that doesn't let go. You may want to read it twice: the first time to allow yourself to be swept up in caring and aching for this family, then again to savor Sue Miller's words and grasp their full impact. The story is told through the eyes of four different family members, and the complexity of family relationships is brought home through the various ways different characters interpret and react to the same events. The catalyst for this family's dysfunction is an autistic child, and each family member deals with Randall's mute power in his or her own way. The psychiatrist father withdraws emotionally and physically, unable to bear his family's pain as he does his patients'. The mother manifests her love, guilt, and shame through compulsive achievements, from wallpapering to having three more "perfect" children to compensate for Randall. The children foray into rebellious acts of teens in the 1960s. Each character comes to realize with varying degrees of poignancy "that each child represents such risk, such blind daring on its parents' parts - such possibility for anguish and pain - that each one's existence was kind of a miracle." This warm, gritty, realistic tale is about such daring. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Suzanne Leslie Simmons

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (May 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061099252
• ISBN-13: 978-0061099250
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,948,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Realistic Portrayal of an Autistic, March 31, 2000

By 

Liz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Pictures (Mass Market Paperback)

As the mother of an autistic child, "Family Pictures" wasnot easy to read, especially due to the eventual fate of the autisticbrother, Randall.

What I would like to say is that I have read a great deal about autism. Fiction, non-fiction, text books, first hand accounts and even how-to manuals, but this book, this NOVEL, was one of the most realistic, compassionate writings dealing with autism I have ever read.

It is heartbreaking in it's total honesty of life with an autistic. It deals with decisions and sacrifices that have to be made and yet, is told with love.

END

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of My All-time Favorites, March 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Family Pictures (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a great American novel, and one of my lifetime favorites. It is the story of how one family was forever changed because of a handicapped child, and how the entire family had to revolve around the needs of this child and his mother's selfless devotion to him, even at the expense of her marriage. She simply couldn't stop giving more of herself to him than to anyone else. This is a truly splendid book, and anyone who thinks there is trashy material in it is nuts.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific read that keeps echoing in my mind!, November 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Family Pictures (Mass Market Paperback)

A friend recommended Family Pictures to me when I was learning that my son had a disorder related to autism--although the impact of Randall's diagnosis created difficulties in this family's story, he also changed their lives in positive ways. I found courage in facing my son's diagnosis through the very human response of this family to Randall's difficulties. Sue Miller's writing is compelling. I loved the scene where the family photographs are viewed and one from Randall's babyhood portends the impact he will have on the family.