This was definitely a book unlike anything I've read before. I didn't particularly like it, but it made me think about things that don't usually occupy my mind and that gives it value outside of the realm of pure entertainment. Whitehouse has a gift of witty and to the point observations that make you understand exactly what was going on and how everybody involved felt, or mainly how Mal's brother felt. Sometimes after reading a paragraph I couldn't help but silently exclaim "Exactly! That's exactly how it is!" because his characters, who are definitely the highlight of the book, are very ordinary people with simple lives and what happens to them can and often has happened to any one of us at some point. His descriptions don't shy away from anything and his writing style is almost journal-like.
I keep referring to Mal's brother as "Mal's brother" because we never find out what his name is and that gave me some of that food for thought I was referring to earlier. On one hand how often do we talk about our own lives and address ourselves by our first name? On the other hand, why doesn't anyone else ever address him by his first name? Another thing I couldn't help but think about was whether Mal was selfish in making himself the focus of his family in such an unusual way or whether he was the glue that kept this family that would've fallen apart otherwise together. Did he destroy their lives or did he give their lives meaning, like he said he wanted to do in the beginning of the book.
The reason I didn't especially like this story lies in that as clever as Mr. Whitehouse is too often the book feels like a bunch of one-liners put together and called a novel. The "present" chapters felt tedious and with every meticulous description of Mal and his fat and how their mother cared for him I couldn't help but feel slightly nauseated, wanting to find out more about the past instead of focusing on the present that didn't seem to go anywhere. Another reason for my lukewarm opinion of this book is that I didn't really understand what happened to Mal in the end. The big climax was getting him out of the house and then he just... vanished from the story. Are we to understand that he died? But how? Did he pull the plug or simply didn't make it? I'm all for endings that aren't all cut and dried but there was just too much left unsaid in this book.
It all ends well for the main characters of this tragic story. They find love, they find themselves and things work out for them despite everything. I was glad that they were able to make a life for themselves in the end, although I wouldn't want to spend any more time with them than I did. They were all just too messed up. Then again, aren't we all messed up in our own ways?
Book received courtesy of Simon & Schuster
I keep referring to Mal's brother as "Mal's brother" because we never find out what his name is and that gave me some of that food for thought I was referring to earlier. On one hand how often do we talk about our own lives and address ourselves by our first name? On the other hand, why doesn't anyone else ever address him by his first name? Another thing I couldn't help but think about was whether Mal was selfish in making himself the focus of his family in such an unusual way or whether he was the glue that kept this family that would've fallen apart otherwise together. Did he destroy their lives or did he give their lives meaning, like he said he wanted to do in the beginning of the book.
The reason I didn't especially like this story lies in that as clever as Mr. Whitehouse is too often the book feels like a bunch of one-liners put together and called a novel. The "present" chapters felt tedious and with every meticulous description of Mal and his fat and how their mother cared for him I couldn't help but feel slightly nauseated, wanting to find out more about the past instead of focusing on the present that didn't seem to go anywhere. Another reason for my lukewarm opinion of this book is that I didn't really understand what happened to Mal in the end. The big climax was getting him out of the house and then he just... vanished from the story. Are we to understand that he died? But how? Did he pull the plug or simply didn't make it? I'm all for endings that aren't all cut and dried but there was just too much left unsaid in this book.
It all ends well for the main characters of this tragic story. They find love, they find themselves and things work out for them despite everything. I was glad that they were able to make a life for themselves in the end, although I wouldn't want to spend any more time with them than I did. They were all just too messed up. Then again, aren't we all messed up in our own ways?
Book received courtesy of Simon & Schuster
