The White Family (original 2002; edition 2003)

This is the story of the White family. Alfred, the father, is a bigoted tyrant in his home and a long-time, proud London park keeper who abides by all the rules. May, his wife of many years, is devoted to Alfred and never interfered with his brutal treatment of their three children, who are now all grown and carrying the emotional scars he inflicted. When Alfred is facing death, he seems to regret the damage he inflicted on his children, and we are left to wonder how different their lives would have been had he rectified his rigidity sooner. This is a difficult novel to read because it reveals the ugliest side of human nature and people who despise anyone who differs from them. Shirley, the only White daughter, is perhaps the most likeable character in this narrow-minded, shallow family. ( )

This ambitious, groundbreaking novel takes on the taboo subject of racial hatred as it looks for the roots of violence within the family and within British society. The Whites are an ordinary British family. Alfred White, a London park keeper, still rules his home with fierce conviction and inarticulate tenderness. May, his clever, passive wife loves Alfred but conspires against him. Their three children are no longer close; the elder son has left for America and the youngest son is a virulent racist. The daughter is involved in an interracial relationship with a black social worker. When the father’s sudden illlness forces the children to come together, their deep fears and prejudices come to the surface, raising issues about kinship, trust, and hatred. Maggie Gee expertly illustrates the tensions and prevailing social problems of modern day England in this fascinating novel.

Alfred White has had a long career as a London park keeper. His days are spent patrolling the park, monitoring its condition and making sure visitors adhere to park rules. Alfred is close to retirement, and has seen a lot of change over the years. He longs for the Britain of his youth, during and after World War II. He is especially upset by the influx of foreigners, changing the ethnic mix of his London neighborhood and, consequently, the park visitors.

One day Alfred collapses on the job and is hospitalized. His sudden weakness shocks his wife and adult children, who have grown accustomed to Alfred's firm, controlling hand. His adult children have all gone their separate ways, but are brought back into contact at Alfred's bedside. Darren is an established journalist living in the US, and is on his third marriage. Shirley is in a relationship with a black man, which caused a rift with her father. Dirk has been unable to establish an independent adult life, and lives at home while working in a corner shop. He has developed disturbing extremist political and racial views.

May, the wife and mother, held this crew together over the years. Like many women of her generation, her husband made all the decisions. When Alfred went into hospital, May found she couldn't even withdraw money from the bank on her own. But May is also strong inside, in her own way, and she has a suppressed intellect that remains an important part of her life:
She always liked to have a book in her bag. In case she got stuck. In case she got lost. Or did she feel lost without her books? There wasn't any point, but she liked to have one with her, a gentle weight nudging her shoulder, keeping her company through the wind, making her more solid, more substantial, less likely to be blown away, less alone. More -- a person. (p. 19)

Through short chapters narrated by different family members, Maggie Gee develops the White family's history and the nature of the parent-child and sibling relationships. Each of the children bear scars from their father's discipline and temper. Darren appears successful on the outside, but is deeply wounded inside. Shirley has been unable to have children, and struggles with issues of faith. Dirk is a ticking time bomb, prone to alcohol-infused bouts of temper as he acts out his resentment towards anyone better off than himself. Alfred and May, for all their flaws, have shared a long and loving marriage, and are likeable in their own ways.

This book is not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of sadness, as the entire family copes with Alfred's medical condition. May considers, for the first time, that Alfred may not always be there for her. Alfred struggles with weakness & infirmity. Each of the children relive their childhood and their relationship with Alfred, and rather than bond together each of them struggles individually. There are also many disturbing moments, particularly Gee's portrayal of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. This would have been a 4.5-star book were it not for a too-tidy denouement about Shirley which struck me as both unrealistic and unnecessary. Still, this is a well-crafted story, with a strong emotional pull and an intense and startling climax. ( )

Alfred White, a man who has ruled his family with an iron fist, has been Albion Park’s park keeper for almost fifty years. During that time he has witnessed many changes in the neighborhood, but none scares him as much as the influx of foreigners and blacks. One day while on duty he suffers “an event’ and is admitted to the hospital. His stay brings his family to his bedside. They include May, his seemingly passive wife and mother who actually undermines Alfred’s brutish ways; oldest son and golden child, Darren, a journalist, flown in from the U.S. with his third wife; daughter Shirley, who has disappointed her father not once, but twice, first by marrying a black man and then, when she was widowed, by taking up with another black man; and youngest son Dirk, a skinhead, with a dead end job in a news shop, who seems to have inherited his father’s bigoted ways and carried them to an even further extreme.

I would not describe this as a “normal family,” but, unfortunately, a common family structure in the 20th century. Alfred’s manner of toughness and hatred in the way of bringing up his children leaves them with a void that is almost impossible to broach. Bringing together Shirley and her younger brother Dirk created a powder keg, sure to ignite. Darren’s psychologist wife wants him to “have it out” with his father, but when he finally does, his explosive temper prevents any good from coming from it. And finally, there is an incident that will change the family forever. Alfred, in the end, allows his sense of duty overcome his sense of family in order to do the right thing.

Maggie Gee has written an important novel, exposing the violence and hatred commonly found in cities all over the world where multi-cultural changes take place and the original inhabitants can’t acclimate themselves to the new “now.” I can’t say I actually found the characters of Alfred, Darren and Dirk likable, but I could certainly sympathize with them. And I was pleased in the end that Alfred did the right thing. Shirley was important as a character who bridged the gap between black and white.

I also liked the way Gee had a way of nostalgically looking back at the past, which were such happy times for May and Alfred, such as when May realized that her neighborhood was in decline:

“Almost trotting down the street, her blue coat clutched around her, she saw that more than half the shops were boarded up, or had their fronts covered with aluminum shutters, which rattled coldly in the winter winds. ‘To Let’, the boards said, hopefully, but no one new came except charity shops, and they already had three, full of wrong-coloured garments. So the boards got battered, and looked grimy, guilty, each one a confession of failure and emptiness. It was over, Hillesden Rise was over, over, and May found tears welling up again, and realized she was crying for herself and Alfred and the silly young couple they had once been.” (Page 100)

This book is not for the squeamish as it is a frank, honest, no holds barred look at racism and in telling her story, Gee uses vernacular that would be common to the streets of London. Nonetheless this is a book I found hard to put down and would highly recommend it. ( )

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this book isn’t better known. It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2002 but I just heard about it from another LTer (kidzdoc) two months ago. With the exception of not knowing what to think of the ending, this was an excellent book.

The White Family is comprised of Alfred and May and their three grown children. Alfred has been a Park Keeper in London for decades and, at the beginning of the book, collapses on the job following a tense encounter with a young black family he believes are breaking park rules. As his family gathers at Alfred’s side in the hospital, they each tell their stories along with several family friends and a picture begins to emerge of what life is like for the Whites. While there is real affection between Alfred and May, their kids are mostly alienated from them and Alfred emerges as a bully and a racist. Even worse, his youngest son, Dirk, has embraced these traits with a vengence.

The true genius of this book was the author’s ability to make the reader sympathetic to Alfred and Dirk. Alfred doesn’t get to explain himself right away so your initial impression of him is shaped by the mixed feelings his wife and children have of him. I was surprised to like him more than I thought when he finally gets to tell his own story. Dirk, on the other hand, is introduced in the beginning and it seemed like a roller coaster ride being in his presence. I was alternately repulsed by his violent nature and overpowered by the amount of emotional pain he suffered.

I was totally engaged by this book from the beginning and so the end was a disappointment to me. I felt like I was being ripped out of the characters’ lives and out of the story and the way everything was wrapped up felt wrong. Despite this, I really cared about these characters and want to know what happened to them so, although I’m deducting a ½ star for the ending, I would still highly recommend the book.

This book would make a great choice for a book club discussion. The main themes are racism, domestic violence and cultural diversity but homophobia, sibling rivalry and the social and economic changes in Britain in the last 60 years are also addressed. Reading and writing also play a role in the story and the following quote of James Baldwin is important to one of the characters: “Books taught me that the things that tormented me the most were the very things that connected me to everyone who was alive and who had ever been alive.” Ironically, this book made me feel connected to two white racists.

4 ½ stars and one of my favorite books for 2010. ( )