August

I'm not positive this is a five star book, but it was such a relief to read a book by someone who a) can write, b) is alive and c) doesn't feel the need to resort to gimmickry in plot or prose, that I can't go any lower. Easily the best written book I've read in a long, long time; easily the best character development I can remember. A few reviewers complain that the characters' actions aren't always motivated, and this highlights the one problem with the book: not that their actions aren't motivated, but that everything - death, love, self-hatred... eating breakfast, the shape of mountains, light-hearted conversation - really, everything, is narrated in more or less the same voice. It can be difficult to distinguish what's really show more important. But that's kind of like life, and [*slight plot spoiler*, but really, there's not much plot] the developments are motivated. Colette gets addicted because her mother died and her children change; Janus is incapable of dealing with disappointment or, in fact, anything; and on it goes.
So if you like early Henry James, but wish he was funnier, pick this up. I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know. show less

An excellent book for me, very close to 5-star. It has a focus on family relationships and that's what appeals to me most. But more than that, the observations of the world, and its people, around the family are also very insightful and make for great reading from my (limited!) perspective. The mother clearly has some major mental health issues, and so too does at least one of the children. The question of just how 'abnormal' they are, though, is one that the book addresses. This is a very real question for many people, I think - how much deviance is required to justify a diagnosis of mental illness? . . . and institutionalisation? There are many other middle class family issues dealt with in this book and it's all in the context of show more late 20th century England and Wales which was an era and social context in which I grew up myself. I recall that I obtained this book on the basis of praise by a hero of mine, Patrick Gale, and I can see now why this might be the case. They both write with a similar style and perspective. show less

August tells the story of an ordinary family from London, who go every year to a farmer's field in Wales to camp out for a few weeks. Beginning in 1955, when Aldous meets the farmer and is invited to stay, until their last visit in 1970, when all but the youngest Jones is too old for a family camping holiday, Woodward tells of Aldous, a promising art student who finds contentment in teaching and loves his vivacious wife Colette, who loves her family and is devastated at the death of her mother. Their children, Janus, James, Juliette and Julian, grow up loving the Welsh countryside.

This isn't a book with a clear plot line. Rather, it follows the ups and downs of the Jones family, changing in point of view from one to the other. It's a show more book about family relationships. I liked it quite a bit. Woodward writes well and provides a vivid picture of what ordinary life was like fifty years ago. show less

Loved this story of a family and their holidays in Wales. The characters are so odd, yet so believable that I wasn't surprised to find that the story is based very closely on the author's own life and family.

I felt slightly disappointed in this, although enjoyable I personally feel that the two following novels have more depth.

A wonderful novel about family.