Richly drawn in its intimacy with sexual inuendo building tension throughout, it kept me engaged from start to finish. I was pleasantly surprised as you can not really judge a book by the title. ( )

Boring ( )

Kate Flynn, a London academic, has decided to abandon her life in the city, and has moved back to the Cardiff of her youth. The move back is a difficult one for Kate; she is bored and lonely. She reaches out to an old friend, David, who is currently having problems with this own marriage, and simultaneously starts a relationship with Jamie, David's eldest son.
I requested this book because I was intrigued by the idea, but I never really felt as though Hadley followed through on the premise. If I hadn't have been reading the novel for review, it is likely I would have abandoned it somewhere around page 50. Although I'm glad I persevered and finished the novel, unfortunately, it didn't grab my attention and demand to be read - it took me a long time to get through it. I didn't particularly like any of the characters in the novel, but did find Kate interesting, particularly her relationship with her mother.
I intend to seek out other Tessa Hadley novels; friends have long recommended Accidents in the Home as a great read. If you are new to Hadley's work, however, I'm not sure this is the place to start. ( )

I definitely had to push myself to finish this book. I'm not sure why I did. The main character, Kate, returns to her childhood home to care for her aging mother, leaving behind her career and life in London. From the beginning, Kate is self-absorbed, caustic and generally unlikeable. Somehow these qualities attract her best friend's brother and his son. Her sexual relationship with the under-age son is odd (and illegal in the U.S.). The ending was quite surprising to me; at long last, her arrogance and disregard for everyone else leave her alone with her problems and, worst of all, herself. ( )

I wasn't able to read this book the first try around, so I read several others in between and finally picked it up again. I can't way I would reccomend this slow-moving novel. The story lacked substance, strong characters and moving dialogue. I was diappointed. ( )