Customer Reviews

Without a Backward Glance

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

*SPOILER ALERT* I couldn't put this book down, having found the dialogue and plot so intriguing. While I didn't like most of the characters, I still felt obliged to look deeper. Deborah was particularly fascinating for her bitterness, her own clear lack of a mothering instinct (seems she had had enough mothering by default in her younger years), her attraction to feminism, and perhaps the most shocking outcome in my opinion - that *she* ended up the family villian for a time when Rose re-entered the picture. In fact, that's the key point that I found most frustrating - the kids' ultimate acceptance of Rose and Alex's complete lack of recall of his wife's abandonment meant Rose essentially "got away with it," despite the wreckage she left behind over the decades. But I still find myself wondering, what baggage would the kids be holding had their depressed, outward-looking, dissatisfied mother stuck around? How much better or worse would it have been for each family member?

A page-turner! Looking forward to a sequel! Complex characters we can all relate to. Impressive for a first-time novelist.

This book deals with a very compelling (and sometimes difficult) storyline -- a mother who abandons her four children and her husband on Christmas Eve. I hesitate to admit this, but at the beginning of the novel when the mother was sharing her feelings, I could almost relate to some of what she was saying. I have to say that I would never leave my husband and children; in fact, I don't even have those thoughts -- but this book definitely made me think about what makes some people act in these extreme ways. Is there something that pushes certain people over the edge; what separates them from "normal" people, are they really that different from the rest of us?

I really enjoyed how the author allowed the reader to see into the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the book. I felt as if I could understand each of them (notice I did not say like or even relate!) Each of the children were definitely affected in their own way by their mother's abandonment; and I found it fascinating to see how each one handled it -- especially since most of them were not healthy, constructive ways. I appreciated how this book dealt with the ultimate of family crises with a great deal of compassion and also with so much honesty.

I found myself very intrigued with this book. Despite not really liking most of the characters, I still felt sorry for them and wanted them to find some peace in their life (except for the mother, I positively hated her!) I enjoyed watching each of the characters "reconcile" with their mother and ultimately come to terms with her departure. I also liked seeing the dynamics between the children and their father as well as their interaction with each other! What was even more interesting to me was the relationships these children ended up having with their spouses and their children. It's incredible how one event (albeit a huge one) can have such long lasting effects on so many people!

I was thoroughly impressed with Ms. Veitch's writing -- it's hard to believe that she is a first time novelist! I found it very interesting that WITHOUT A BACKWARD GLANCE was published in Australia with a totally different cover (partial shot of a woman) and the title LISTEN. (I think I prefer the U.S. title, so I guess they did a good job with the U.S. marketing of this book.) Not only did I think that Ms. Veitch's told a wonderful story, but I also found that she wrote with so much honesty. I look forward to reading more from Kate Veitch in the future.

Make sure you have a few days to pour over "Without a Backward Glance" -- you won't want to put it down. What struck me most about the book was the author's ability to weave so many characters into a solid family fabric; it takes real skill to have wildly different personalities actually read as coming from the same upbringing. I particularly enjoyed how multifaceted the women are in the book; so many fiction writers create female characters who just don't have the complexity of desires and reason that real women do. Highly recommended!

Early on in Kate Veitch's novel, Without A Backward Glance, the young and ever inquisitive Olivia eavesdrops from under her parent's window, having decided that "being good was no match for being well informed". Throughout the novel, Veitch's characters each grapple in their own way with the complexities of action and responsibility, with the ways in which baffling loss might be reconciled in their own lives and in their relationships with others.

Veitch's characters are beautifully and believably written. Her use of multiple perspective is a device that works particularly well in revealing the intricacies of each character and showing the ways in which loss can be so deeply embedded it is often unable to be fully understood or articulated. Veitch's writing is sophisticated but not to the detriment of great storytelling, so this book should appeal to a broad audience. Like many other reviewers here have expressed, the novel draws the reader in with a compulsion and a voracity that feels a little bit like listening at the door - it's hard to pull yourself away. Highly recommended.

'Without a Backward Glance' takes you on a fast paced read and anyone with family - dysfunctional or not - will find resonances in the book. I can quite see why the book has been such a hit with readers around the world. Pretty good result for a first time author and I eagerly await her next offering. Interesting to also check out the author's website as it has some information on the `how' of writing.

This is a wonderful story about that most difficult of subjects, an abandoning mother. It tells the story of what might plausibly cause a woman to leave her family without a word. The consequences of this disappearance for her family are profound. It examines with great insight and sensitivity the situation from each member of the family's perspective. Each character copes in a different way and struggles to connect with the others in sharing the grief of their mother's disappearance. I felt empathy for each of them in turn. There is great satisfaction in the writing, it is nuanced and keenly observed. A fabulous read. Highly recommended.

Without a Backward Glance challenges the anti feminist thesis of "natural motherhood". I know it had the ladies in my Bookclub (all mothers) in strong dialogue (bordering on conflict) about the possibility of a mother leaving her children. "Not possible", "it could never happen" were some of the forceful cries. As a counselling psychologist I know that it can and does happen more than we like to believe. Kate Veitch seems to examine, in fictional form, the outcomes of John Bowlby's seminal theory of attachment. In short, research into this theory shows that children who appear secure tend to have mothers who are responsive to their needs, while children who appear insecure often have mothers who are inconsistent or rejecting in the care they provide. Furthermore, the theory has been expanded to propose that the quality of emotional attachments in childhood contribute to the foundation of later emotional and personality developments.
This is not just a good read. Through the exploration of the lives of the four siblings following the interruption at various stages of their childhood by the disappearance of their mother, Kate has shown a deep understanding of human nature and interaction and presents it in an entrancing first novel.

'Without A Backward Glance' delves into the hard family issues that most of us find it easier not to confront. I read most of Kate's book all in one evening and when I put it down, I felt as though I had been holding my breath the whole time. When you're so involved in the plot that you're internally congratulating/chastising the characters at every twist and turn - you know you're on to something good!

Kate Veitch in 'Without a Backward Glance' is raunchy but sensitive, vernacular but stylish, tough but also tender.
A complex, fascinating novel about siblings, a father, their disintegration and healing, set against a backdrop of middle-class suburban Australia, the portrait is rendered in vivid, honest and wrenching detail. Universal themes plunged in a culturally-specific environment. Written with great verve. Highly recommended.