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Sto caricando le informazioni... The Promise of Happiness (2004)di Justin Cartwright
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. 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 Another saga of dysfunctional families from Cartwright. In this novel the Judds (Charlie and Daphne) await the release of their daughter Juliet who has been in prison in America following her conviction for art theft. Charles has not coped well - Juliet was always the favourite of his three children, and since her arrest and subsequent incarceration he has succumbed to depression, becoming increasingly acerbic and isolated. Cartwright gives an excellent portrayal of Juliet's return to freedom and the difficulties she experiences as she tries to shed the institutionalisation she has recently undergone. As always with Cartwright, the writing is beautiful. However, I just felt that for too much of the story too little happened. 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 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. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
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The Judds, formerly of London N1, now scattered, are about to be thrown together again by the eldest child Juliet's release from prison in New York. The family is devastated by Juliet's conviction for art theft. The nature of this theft and the reasons for it plague all the protagonists. For Charles, the father, it is a challenge to his sense of rightness and proof of the disintegration of society. For his wife Daphne, it is a source of resentment and puzzlement. Brother Charlie and sister Sophie are less worried by the morality of the theft than by the dissolution of the certainties of family. For Juliet herself is bitter and wounded at being the scapegoat for a victimless crime. And she feels guilty for the pain she has caused. A powerful elegy to the idiocies and intimacies of family love, this is the captivating story of an apparently ordinary English family caught up in uncontrollable events, united again, as much by apprehension as celebration on the return of the prodigal daughter. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813Literature English (North America) American fictionClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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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. ( )