Helpful Score: 1
This is a clear departure from his Stalin era crime novels. In The Farm, Daniel receives a call from his father informing him that his mother has been having psychotic episodes, is imagining things, and could turn violent. While he is still reeling from this information, Daniel gets a call from his Mom warning Daniel that his father is lying, that she has evidence his father is involved in a heinous criminal cover up and is trying to silence her. Having his idyllic notion of family shattered, Daniel must try to make sense of allegations about parents he doesn't recognize. The layers of the story are peeled away piece by piece a deliberative manner. This would have been a compelling psychological mystery on its on but the revelation by Smith that this novel is based on actual events in his family made the novel even more fascinating.
After the trilogy of Child 44, I was eager to devour this book. It was a big disappointment. Not in recent history have I disliked the main character so much. His previous books were thrillers that kept you turning the pages. This one was drudgery to read and finish. The plot was thin; the dialogue was from a busy body woman you cannot sympathize with, and the ending was weak. It was as if he was making it up as he went along. Cannot recommend this book. D.
I don't know exactly how to review this
Just very boring, the mother is telling her son a story and it gets so so very very boring, by half way into the book I started skipping and skimming
I didn't like any of the characters at all
A story of child abuse, mental and sexual and the mother ends up in an asylum, maybe she had a reason---
It first starts out with the story of the son being gay but that doesn't add anything to the main story so why insert that into it other than it is his partner that provided the money for him
I guess you'd say it's written in chapters but they aren't numbered, they are just short pages that end the 'chapter'
I doubt I try anymore by Mr. Smith, I liked his first book Child 44 but after that---haven't liked any
Just very boring, the mother is telling her son a story and it gets so so very very boring, by half way into the book I started skipping and skimming
I didn't like any of the characters at all
A story of child abuse, mental and sexual and the mother ends up in an asylum, maybe she had a reason---
It first starts out with the story of the son being gay but that doesn't add anything to the main story so why insert that into it other than it is his partner that provided the money for him
I guess you'd say it's written in chapters but they aren't numbered, they are just short pages that end the 'chapter'
I doubt I try anymore by Mr. Smith, I liked his first book Child 44 but after that---haven't liked any
