Customer Reviews

A Southern Family

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

 

 

I've read all of Gail Godwin's books, and this is my favorite. She's working with material that seems to mean a great deal to her here --and it shows. The book is basically several character's reactions to a very tragic death. Each character is drawn exquisitely, coming alive through his or her own point-of-view chapters. In fact, this is the only one of Godwin's books to present the point of view of so many complex characters. I saw her in a bookstore seveal years ago and asked her what the origin of the book was, and she said she was working from a similar incident in real life--the death of her half-brother. So in this book she seems to be trying to come to terms with family conflicts by bringing each family member to life on the page. She does a wonderful job, going beyond any kind of therapy for herself into true art, taking her own pain and making it universal. I reread this book every once in a while, and found it especially useful recently because I was going through my own reactions to a death in my family. Yes, to respond to one of the other reviews, there is hatred here, and conflicts are not resolved. It's very, very true to life that way, complex and rich.

Not for those looking for a suspenseful thriller, Gail Godwin is one of our best modern day writers, who is interested in character driven novels as opposed to those focusing on plot. Here, Clare, Ralph, Lily, Theo, Snow and others are feeling and thinking human beings who have positive and negative traits -- in other words, they are real people, living through a tragic and uncertain event. Even though the book is rather long, I did not want to leave these people, even in their grief.

If you enjoyed this book, I would also recommend Stuart O'Nan's "Wish You Were Here," as well as three Susan Howatch books: "Wheel of Fortune," The Rich are Different," and "Sins of the Fathers," which are all excellent examples of rotating the first person in each chapter (as is done here).

If you are looking for a cheerful fluffy book ~~ this book isn't it. This is a detailed look into one family's life ~~ before, during and after the middle child dies. Actually, this book is more of reminisces ~~ a cluster of stories that revolved around the dead character as well as each individual characters' lives.

It's an interesting book ~~ but it did feel like it was dragging on too long in some places. It's depressing but uplifting at the same time. It's a look at the complicatated relationships between mother and son, husband and wife, wife and inlaws, brothers and sister, friends and so on. It's very fascinating ~~ a glimpse into people's private lives. The Quicks will be a family that you won't soon forget. There is Lily, the mother, Ralph, her husband, Clare, her daughter, Julia, Clare's friend from childhood on, Snow, the daughter-in-law and mother of the only grandchild, Felix, Clare's lover, Rafe, the younger brother and Theo, the middle child who kills himself and his girlfriend, leaving behind broken family ties that his family had to begin to ravel together again.

It's a book on life and grief and hope. It's well-written and thoughtful ~~ but it could have gone at least a 150 pages less ~~ but that's just my opinion.

3-30-04

When black sheep Theo Shaw is found shot to death, along with his girlfriend, the only survivor,his young son, his already quirky family is thrown into turmoil. Told from multiple perspectives, including the deceased's former girlfriend, his writer sister, his mother and his golden-boy guilt-stricken brother, A Southern Family is an intriguing meditation on family ties, present and those that exist from beyond the grave.

Claire, a middle-aged author, living in New York, returns to her home in the south, and attempts to come to terms with her brother's suicide and her alienation from her family. She both loves and hates them and can not extricate herself from the emotional turmoil that each visit brings.

The novel centers on her brother, Theo, who commits suicide. There is also Theo's ex-wife, Snow, a mountain hill-billy woman who sues Theo's parents for custody of her son, Jason. Lily Quick is an aging southern belle who must maintain a decorum of inner sanctity despite any emotional upheavals in her life, including a destroyed marriage. Ralph Quick, an outsider to himself and unable to relate to his wife, Lily, because of the guilt he has carried with him from an early love affair is well characterized. Claire tries to understand her family's patterns of circuitous communications and how they mislead one another, acting like characters in a play that they themselves are authoring.

"Oh what a charade. Each of them piling up points against the other - - for whose benefit? And yet, since they've become their own audience, for the most part, the game's ante seems to have risen. Wounding retorts are sharpened, their stings savored in advance. Each has become so cunningly vigilant, lying in wait for the other to 'act in character'. Knowing someone all too well, without affection or charity, can be a vicious weapon". (P. 446)

As Claire tries to navigate the stormy seas of her family, it sometimes appears to be a recipe for a shipwreck. I am a fan of Gail Godwin and also recommend her other novels, The Finishing School (Ballantine Reader's Circle) and Violet Clay: A Novel.

When I wanted to stop reading this book, I already had read half of it and kept plodding through it, waiting for it to get better. This definitely is not an unlifting book. Each chapter is spent on members and close friends of this Southern Family and their own personal histories up to the time their brother, friend, or father dies--and how they react or don't react to his death. What I found unbelievable is how this dead man's 3 year old son supposedly acts. What three year old thinks in full paragraphs? Can there really people that many dysfunctional people all in one family?

Where has this book been hiding? I had the great fortune of finding it in a used bookstore and could not put it down. The prose is beautiful, characters seem real (all of them!), and the theme makes one think. Not your typical brain fluff kind of book - read this one to get in touch with feelings, exercise your mental skills, and enjoy reading. Highly recommend! I will be on the lookout for more by this author.

this is not as bad as G. Godwin from Indie, Ind makes it out to be. True, there are some things in it I did not understand, but it rates more than a 1 as does all of G.G.' books do.This is a complex story of a southern family, the Quicks, who live in a mansion, which is a mess. The whole family is a mess, but isn't that fun to read about as we try to be good, upstanding citizens in USA? Snow is a wonderful little lady and someone to be admired. She is uneducated, but determined and a winner. People wind up hating each other and it is not the most tender of books but worth a read

I'm sorry to say I just can't get into this book. I try to read at least 100 pages but nothing so far has sparked me to go even that far. It is very slow going and I just can't get interested in any of the characters.