worst book ever. slow, slower, slowest. ( )

It is a credit it Graham Swift’s writing style that I, mostly, made it through this story at all. During the span of one evening the narrator, Paula Hook, reveals, in painstaking and inappropriate detail, the story of her and her husband Mike’s meeting, their family histories, her one night infidelity, and their infertility problems. You will already know as soon as you begin reading (or listening) that this infertility problem is somehow resolved because Paula’s entire dialog is really a preparation for the talk she and Mike will be having the next day with their now sixteen year-old twins. The denouement, that it is not the virile veterinarian that was so comforting to their lost and recovered cat, Otis, as well as to Paula, but an anonymous in vitro process is a letdown that is only slightly less off-putting because it has been preceded by so many intimate details that no child, in vitro or not, would care to know about their parents. ( )

Well-written, but ultimately a long drawn-out portentous pondering by a woman about what turns out not to be a very big deal - telling their children the truth about their father. ( )

I couldn't even finish it. The main character went on and on about this big earth shattering secret to the point that I wanted to reach through the book and shake her. And then when I found out what it was I was unimpressed. I felt no reason to continue so I shut the book and breathed a sigh of relief. ( )

Nicely structured novel, discussing everyday worries and concerns as the narrators lies in bed awake, but the concerns were over-dramatic - I was unclear if this was deliberate - this is how it is during the night and everything looks better in the day light. Sometimes too long-winded, but well written and tight enough. Nice observations about relationships, which I liked. ( )

This book just didn't work for me. The story is basically a monologue where the mother of twins lies awake one night, knowing that in the morning, she and her husband will reveal a family secret to their 16 year old twins.

SPOILER ALERT....

My problem with the story is that, if the mother was that conflicted about artificial insemination, she wouldn't have gone through with it. Her views on "real" parenthood are so far removed from the route she chose, it's difficult to understand why she did it in the first place. There was just too big a disconnect between the thoughts and actions of the narrator to make the story believable in any way. ( )

Very disappointing. I am a big Graham Swift fan but I hated this book. I found the narrator irritating, self-satisfied and self indulgent. ( )

A mother lies in bed, the night before she and her husband are planning to tell their twin children a big family secret, while her husband is deep asleep next to her. The entire book is basically what's going through her mind as she lies awake, sleepless. She relives pieces of the past - including how she and her husband met, big life events that occured, and even little mundane things from everyday life. Family intricacies. She works through how they plan to break the news to their children, she conveys to the reader just how much she loves her family.

As the reader, I felt like I was a privileged fly on the wall of her inner thoughts, and her thought process was not unlike my own (and probably not unlike yours too) when I let my mind go unchecked - flitting from thing to thing, giving equal treatment to things both great and mundane, letting your mind drift in any direction it decides to go.

This is a subtle, lovely book, a quiet testimony to family bonds. ( )