Write your own review!
Paula J.
A captivating book most of the way through
"The Children" is captivating from the beginning. Leary writes in a conversational style from the point of view of the main character. She does a great job making the characters known through Lottie's voice. However, very near the end of the book, a crisis occurs to unsettle the family. Something had to happen, but the situation seemed out of place and not believable based on the lead up to that point. I'd recommend it though, still a good summer read.
Virginia P. (Tallahassee, FL)
The Children
I felt like this book never got off the ground until the last pages. It is a cautionary tale about marrying someone you don't know well and all that happened in the story is repeated every day in real life. However, getting to that point was meandering and boring. This story needed more structure in the beginning to hold my interest though I finished the book. I really rate it average to poor.
Molly K. (San Jose, CA)
The End of the Family
I was hooked on the first page and loved the first third of the story. Quirky, likeable characters, captivating plot, and some laugh out loud funnies. Then, the plot began to meander with a house tour and Mr. Clean. Neither added to the story, and Mr. Clean was a obvious distraction.
Then, for me, the story fell apart. Suppressed hostilities, outright lies, deception, broken relationships, and no opportunities for reconciliation.
The End.
Gretchen M. (Martinsburg, WV)
wrapped up too soon
The early descriptions of this book are deceiving. I thought I'd be reading a story about a family dealing with the death of a patriarch. But it's really much more than that. The characters are believable and well developed. They felt like people I know. But I didn't expect the dark twist of the story in the form of the character Laurel. Sort of a Gone Girl character, whom I didn't enjoy at all. I know stories don't always have happy endings but I was disappointed in how the author wrapped up the loose ends in this book. The descriptions of the lake and the family home are very well done. Easy to imagine and beautiful.
Susan K. (Dartmouth, MA)
Wish I could rate it 2 1/2.
I was so looking forward to this. I LOVED "The Good House", and also enjoyed "Outtakes From a Marriage", which I would call a good beach or airplane read, thanks to its page-turning writing and humor.
"The Children" just meanders through many pages of dialogue, as its unreliable narrator segues through one scene or character after another. A good editing might help, but, ultimately the book didn't seem to have a plot, and, to be honest, I didn't care for any of the characters. Sorry, folks, them's my thoughts. I am, however, looking forward to her next book.
Kate G. (Bronx, NY)
A Disappointing Beach Book
I enjoy a good beach book ( set at a summer house, functional or dysfunctional family) and sadly, The Children was not it. The story started with potential and then spiraled into a darker place. There seemed to be a current of real mental dysfunction through most of the characters which went unrecognized. The narrator seems to be housebound and the reader is never given an explanation or reason. The other characters are types or tropes and are never fleshed into real people. While several awful situations occur, this family is unable to get out of its own way to deal with them in a rational manner. The family
…more ultimately was very sad, but I was unable to muster enough empathy for them. (less)The writer grabbed my attention within the first few pages with her story about the grandparent who decided "to just go upstairs to die." Just as I settled in for an anticipated great read, I found myself confronted by a group of unlikeable family members and other characters who neither captured my interest nor my sympathies. It felt like this was a family who would have been blest to have given birth to a resident psychiatrist. After struggling through the middle of the book which seemed full of trite conversation, there was a point where a pending confrontation/mystery arises, and I hoped it would save the
…more book for me. It didn't. The outcome was predictable and disappointing. While some have suggested this is a good beach read, I would offer that there are many other great reads available this summer. (less)As a native New Englander, I had been aware of Ann Leary for awhile in a peripheral manner, but somehow never read any of her books. I was excited to read her newest novel, set on a lake in Connecticut. At the outset, The Children appears to be a family novel about a non-traditional blue-blooded WASP family with eccentric ways. The beginning of the book is filled with dry humor depicting the frugal Yankee ways of this rich family and I enjoyed (and recognized) some of their habits; native New Englanders will appreciate these anecdotes which seem to reflect a dying breed of New Englanders.
Despite enjoying the
…more beginning of the book, the narrator, Charlotte, never feels completely compelling or relatable. Despite her wariness of others in regards to a lack of honesty or integrity, she unapologetically writes (and is paid substantially for) a mommy blog despite being a single woman with social anxiety. Leary also introduces difficult topics through both Charlotte and her sister Sally but never explores them in a meaningful way - serious issues don't always feel sensitively handled or researched, and as such, their effects on the characters are shallow.
A bigger problem with the novel is the sudden tonal shift in the second half of the book. Rather than continuing to explore the characters, the book turns dark and twisty and feels like a somewhat predictable thriller towards the end. Unfortunately, Leary doesn't use any of the dark plot points to effect change in her characters, or to create increasingly complex characters. The characters feel rather two-dimensional in light of all of the drama in the book, and this contributed to my disappointment in the resolution of the novel.
Overall, this feels like a family novel that never fully explores the family at hand, but the setting of the novel is rich and believable, and readers who enjoy plot-driven fiction may enjoy the plot twists within. (less)
.png)
