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i thought it was really well written...but not exactly a feel good book! Enjoyed it but felt so sad. thinkgs have changed for the better since the '50s.
I didn't enjoy the book- I didn't like the characters, or the writing particularly, and also found it repetitive. Got to about page 300 and could quite happily have not finished it (had to, though, it was for bookclub )
I enjoyed discussing the book, though, it was good to hear other people's perceptions and opinions (most people enjoyed it)- but then that's what's good about bookclubs, isn't it!
I read this recently and am v much of the same opinion as others here - good to start off with, then it went on and on a bit. I think the 50's setting was interesting, though probably because I'm a child of the 50's myself. People were so repressed then. My half-sis and bro lost their mother when they were 4yo and 10mths. My sis was told her mother was 'away on holiday' until months later when someone insisted she be told the truth. So I can imagine the father acting as he did.
Also, the other father, the way he treated his family would have been accepted then. Women had no rights, although I thought the mother was particularly spineless in allowing her children to be mistreated too.
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