Slightly disappointing this first Orange prizewinner in 1996, well written and beautifully descriptive but the plot leaves so much to be desired. Many books get away with a dodgy plot or gaping plot holes by having superb writing styles or outstanding descriptive passages. This book fails in my view the plot appears disjointed, unfocused and in places unpleasant and confusing. The narrative appears to start as if a chapter was chopped off at the start; I spent the first few chapters trying to work out whom the people were and why they were doing what they were doing. Centring the plot on a rambling country house at the end of the 19th century - though this is in doubt as I thought it seemed more like the early part of the century but as the story jumped in a page to the First World War I'll have to take it as the end of that century. A dysfunctional family is centre stage with a strange history we never find out about but it is eluded to throughout the book, the strange brother and sister with a collection of servants, ex nannies and grandparents sleepwalk through the narrative never really engaging the reader at all. Then out of the blue - bang - straight into the incestuous relationship. Now I realise weird relationships are the mainstay of literature - they look ok in print but in reality they are disastrous and destructive - usually though they do seem to work on the page. Here it didn't, incest with no consequence at least no psychological consequence though the tedious inevitability of issue does rear it head its quickly dealt with. Difficult and not pleasant to read the chapters in the middle of the book drag awkwardly as the incest plot mire the narrative, then as though the book has taken laxatives the blockage passes and the whole thing moves up into the higher plane it should have been on all along. Sadly by now it's almost three quarters over though one is treated to excellently descriptive passages and flowing dialogue with the semblance of a good plot albeit with a muddled murder thrown in for good measure.
Those chapters in the last quarter of the book are quite good indeed and it really was a shame that the rest of the book didn't match the quality of those. All in all not a terrible book, just a bit muddled and unfocused in places with some (in my view) unnecessary plot lines and unpleasantness that really seemed not to fit into the book at all. I would look at other books by this author as the writing style isn't bad at all so perhaps given a different story a work by this author I might find more entertaining.
Those chapters in the last quarter of the book are quite good indeed and it really was a shame that the rest of the book didn't match the quality of those. All in all not a terrible book, just a bit muddled and unfocused in places with some (in my view) unnecessary plot lines and unpleasantness that really seemed not to fit into the book at all. I would look at other books by this author as the writing style isn't bad at all so perhaps given a different story a work by this author I might find more entertaining.