First Aid [Import] [Paperback]

Janet Davey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2005

From the author of the acclaimed English Correspondence comes this story of fraught relationships, of a woman caring for a teenaged daughter, a son and toddler. It is a story of how everyone would like to escape the ties that bind them, and begin afresh.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Davey's mordantly affecting second novel begins with teenage Ella jumping off a stopped train to escape going with her recently divorced mother, Jo, and two younger siblings to Jo's childhood home in London. Reeling from a nasty breakup with loathsome rebound boyfriend Felpo (he cut her face with a broken wine bottle during their last fight), Jo makes no attempt to find Ella and lies to her family about Ella's absence during the visit home. In chapters that alternate between Jo's and Ella's perspectives, Davey plays out her dual running-away story lines: Ella grows increasingly desperate as she fends for herself"crashing on a junk shop floor and tracking down her father"while clinically depressed Jo grieves over the violent breakup with Felpo, but for reasons more sordid than the reader initially realizes. Davey's work will be appreciated by readers of Penelope Lively or Iris Murdoch"not much happens, but a great deal is felt. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Jo is one of those vague people who let life flow over and around them without ever taking control. She was raised by her very conventional grandparents, and she eventually married the equally conventional Peter and had three children. Peter tired of Jo's indecision and left her for another woman. Then handsome, charismatic Felpo appeared and moved in with Jo and her kids. Davey's story picks up when Felpo commits a shocking act of violence, and Jo flees back to her grandparents' home in London. Jo's daughter, Ella, refuses to go along, and it is through Ella that the dark secret behind Felpo's violence is revealed. The story is troubling and even frustrating at times (Why can't Jo shake off her malaise?), but Davey's languid prose and leisurely plot manage to capture perfectly a family's interactions and conflicts, the angst and uncertainty of the teenage years, and the challenges and rewards of single parenthood. A well-crafted, affecting mix of thriller and literary fiction with skillfully drawn characters and expressive writing. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099469642
• ISBN-13: 978-0099469643
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,454,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Live Up to Its Potential, August 8, 2006

By 

Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Aid: A Novel (Paperback)

Jo has lost her husband to another woman. Left with their three children, she does her best to make a decent life for them. When her live-in lover hurts her, Jo packs up the kids and takes off for London. Between stations, her teen daughter, Ella, jumps from the train and runs. Exhausted by life, Jo lets her.

Over the next few days, Jo and her other two children stay with her grandparents, and Ella makes her way back to familiar surroundings. Jo never reports Ella missing, never tries to find her. Instead, she focuses on finding her equilibrium. Ella will find her way, Jo decides.

From seaside Kent to metropolitan London, a broken family must reach out to bridge the gap created by betrayal, inattention, and pain.

While Davey's style is engaging and, at times, entertaining, the overall plot leaves a fair bit to be desired. Each character takes a journey with the potential to learn and grow beyond their current circumstances. Unfortunately, it seems that the potential is barely reached, if at all. At the end of the story, the reader is hard pressed to say what they have taken from this novel. She remains the same part-loving, part-indifferent mother that she was at the beginning, mired in her own problems while her children struggle to find meaning in life at home. A stunning lack of consequences for not taking action to find her runaway daughter makes it had to cheer for Jo.

It was hard to like Jo. The book was written as Jo's story, but it really should have been Ella's. This is where the heart of the book resides. If Davey had made this Ella's story and combined it with her fine writing style and a more meaningful conclusion, this could have been a hit. As it is now, First Aid limps to a finish that leaves a lot to be desired.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
8/8/2006

4.0 out of 5 stars People and their motives, September 1, 2006

By 

Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Aid: A Novel (Paperback)

Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (8/06)

Imagine yourself on a train from Kent to London and a loud, chaotic family enters your car. Out of nowhere, the teenage daughter jumps off the moving train. Her younger brother is distraught, yet the mother just sits with her eyes closed and reacts calmly, while her third child, a toddler, rests on her lap. This is the way "first aid" begins. You are a character witnessing these acts. Janet Davey uses second person point of view in the first chapter drawing the reader into the book. You have no choice but to be involved. As quickly as you have been thrust into the action, you are then released to being only a reader when the family (minus one) gets off at their stop.

Jo, a divorced mother, is the central character. She and her family are fleeing from an act of domestic violence. Jo's boyfriend Felpo has cut her face with a bottle. The kids fix her up and they leave for Jo's grandparent's house in the city where they try to patch up their life. The teenage daughter Ella knows more about the reason for the sudden violence than she is letting on. After she jumps from the train, we follow her story as well.

The entire book takes place over four days, a Friday through a Monday. This is a short glimpse into the lives of the characters. Yet, getting to know Jo, the mother, we realize this is the way she wants it. She is a very private person. She prefers to go through life without being seen or getting to know others. Jo has a quiet, detached way about her. Her lack of reaction to her daughter jumping from a moving train sets the mood for the entire book. The pace is slow and peaceful, while the subject matter is active and painful.

"first aid" is the American literary debut of London author Janet Davey. I recommend "first aid" to anyone who wants a good quick read that really makes you think about the strangeness of life. One minute all is going fine. The next thing you know life is in an upheaval. This does not happen by chance. People and their motives, cause and effect, actions and reactions, truth and lies are all a part of the intricate web we call life.

Received book free of charge.