The Promise of Happiness

This was a great read, despite most of the action taking place in the past so the text was concerned with looking back and analysing, I fairly zipped through it. It’s a family based novel, concentrating on an ageing couple and their three grown up children, and the various unfortunate turns their lives have taken. Particularly good value is patriarch Charles, grumpy old curmudgeon and borderline Daily Mail reader that he is.

The prose is well sculpted throughout, managing to be both literary and easy to follow. The only shock was perhaps the swearing (a decision seemed to be made to bypass the tamer profanities at the author’s disposal and jump-shift straight to the hardcore stuff). Also I couldn’t decide whether I liked sock show more tycoon Charlie’s habit of, like, inserting the word ‘like’ into, like, every sentence, like. But I guess that’s how his generation speak.

All in all a book I thoroughly enjoyed, a book full of wisdom that extends beyond its fictional scenario and shines a light on the real world beyond. One of those happy instances of finding an author I’d never previously heard of and knowing instantly that I want to go on and read everything else he’s written. show less

Hmmmmm. I should really hate this book. It's about a middle class family, a fact that is regularly rammed down the readers throat with constant repetition that some of the characters live/have lived in Islington and Hoxton in London, places that reek of three-wheeled pushchairs, achingly trendy clothes for the young 'uns, Habitat furniture and people with nicknames like 'Ju-Ju'.

In many ways I did dislike it. As I've said, Cartwright seems to be going out of his way to reinforce the middle-classness of the Judd family around who the story centres. Apart from their Islington roots, the parents have moved to Cornwall, the mother tries Rick Stein recipes, the youngest daughter uses cocaine, the son is about to make an fortune selling his show more internet company.

The eldest daughter, Juliet (Ju-Ju), is a bit different. She's just completing a sentence of two years in New York prisons for art theft. The novel starts just as she's released and follows each of the family members over the next few weeks as they all prepare for her to return home. And it's this that saves the book for me. It provides me with a reason for the crisis that her father is going through that affects everyone else and explains why his wife puts up with him being such a prick. I enjoyed reading about how this seemingly comfortable family have dealt with an event of such incomprehension, shame and guilt. Unfortunately the too-neat ending then ruins this and potentially gives everyone except Ju-Ju a very easy route out of the shame and embarrassment.

As well as the class thing being over-emphasised, Cartwright is keen to stress the deeply emotional relationship between Juliet and her father, Charles, to the point where it feels creepy and a bit incestuous. There's also an odd sexual tension between Juliet and her brother, Charlie. It's all very weird and I don't quite understand what Cartwright is trying to say with this plotline.

Overall I enjoyed reading about Juliet's experiences and the repercussions on her family, but other aspects of the story were unsatisfying. show less

Justin Cartwright is not an easy writer to place. This book is an everyday story of dysfunctional middle class families - parents and three children; the golden girl about to come out of prison in the States for an inexplicable and questionable crime. The book cycles through motivations, relationships, love (romantic, family, troubling) and juxtaposes Cornwall with US correctional facilities; the media world with the golf club; church with mammon. Thoughtful and thought provoking

An easy read although I felt constantly irritated by the characters. I just wasn't able to engage with them so they felt rather under developed and pathetic much of the time, which was disappointing.

Juliet is her father's favourite and seems to be the centre of the family. She is released from an American prison after serving two years for art theft and the book is about the affect of her release on the various members of her family.

I enjoyed this book very much even though it took me a long time to read it. It is a book not to be rushed and looks very closely at the interaction of a family through a very difficult period in their life. It was very interesting indeed.

Ju-Ju has been in prison. As her release arrives this story explores the effect of her sentence on other members of the family - her parents, brother and sister; along with snapshots of their lives that brought them to where they are today.

Another book with a non-ending.

A British family's travails: aging spouses, daughter in prison for art theft, other daughter on drugs, son. Good writing but I got a bit bored with it.