As with anything else I've read or seen of Miller's, this novel disappoints. The characters are one-note, the plot is thin, and yet I kept reading it, hoping for better. Don't: it's not coming. ( )

I absolutely hated this book,most people seem to like it but maybe I am old fashioned as it seemed to me to be more pornagraphic than anything and I gave it away! ( )

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was a slow-starter for me - it took me a couple of weeks to make it through part 1, not because the writing is especially dense or difficult, but because the first fifty-ish pages barely captured my interest. However, other reviews suggested that the novel was worth persevering with, and I am very glad indeed that I did.

The novel opens with Pippa moving into a retirement community with her much-older husband, Herb. Decades younger than all the other residents, Pippa is alternately smugly aware of her relative youth and dismayed to be a middle-aged woman so accelerated into old-age. Pippa seems to have been the model housewife, catering to Herb's every need and providing him with bright, successful children. As Pippa's grasp on the present wavers, she begins to tell the story of her life from its inception.

This, for me, is where the novel really picked up. Pippa's journey from pampered child to perfect housewife - embracing a wayward adolescence - is fascinating. Pippa herself seems something of a cipher, buffeted from one experience to another but somewhat powerless as an actor in her own life. She is repeatedly clothed by other characters, moulded into a particular role according to their desire until the time comes to move on, to assume another identity. The novel documents the emergence of Pippa from these influences, the transition from moving through others' stories into living one of her own.

Miller's writing is detached, even in the middle sections which use first-person narration, and this does make it difficult at times to care about the characters. Not everyone will find Pippa a compelling character due to this, and the way in which her presence within the text is often difficult to grasp. However, despite my early misgivings, I found this a well-written and ultimately rewarding novel. ( )

it took me a while to get into this book. The first part when pippa & herb are settling into the retirement village wasn't keeping my attention. However, this merely sets the scene for the rest of the book. Once the story delved into Pippa's past, I was hooked. It was so well written. ( )

The book begins with middle aged Pippa married to Herb who is 30 years her senior. We are then taken back to her childhood and the bizarre relationship with her mother and then the book also focuses on the relationship with her own daughter Grace, who has a twin brother Ben.

I found this a weird and wonderful read that had me absolutely engrossed. Even though the start was slow, I found travelling through the book to be an emotional experience. It definitely felt like Pippa had lost a part of herself and she was just waiting for the moment where she could reconnect with her whole. Through her life she meets some interesting characters and is drawn to some of them and feels herself repelled by others.

I felt the book came to a fitting conclusion and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to those that have travelled through some dark times in their life.

Review here: http://bookannelid.wordpress.com/2008... ( )