Regina McNamara

Hilarious, with great dialogue in that very British, wealthy-witty way. Think a female, hetero version of “Brideshead Revisited” with a bit of mystery thrown in with the coming of age and set in relatively recent times in Scotland.

I am going to break with everyone’s pattern of one or five stars and give this book three. It is archly written and can be incredibly funny at times, but the level of self-involvement of the main character eventually becomes tedious and very CRINGE. I have to admit I finally gave myself permission to stop reading by looking at these reviews. Unlike many one star reviewers I don’t object to the explicit sex, and found the honest references to the various levels of satisfaction and eroticism in marriage to ring true. I also wasn’t bothered by her use of plural pronouns for her child.To be quite honest, I wasn’t sure if readers are meant to take this as some modern-day female version of Updike’s Rabbit Run, or if we should be in on the joke that she is satirizing LA’s overly self-involved performative women and the exhausting efforts they make for the sake of appearances that would ultimately lead to this level of bleak disconnection.I liked her writing style, but eventually found the aimlessness of the plot coupled with the main character’s professed inability to present herself genuinely to her husband filled me with angst. It feels autobiographical and it is just terribly sad that this is who this character, and perhaps this talented, honest and observant writer, is. I want to say : find a better therapist; whatever happened to you that made you this way you can work on it. You are clearly very talented, so give yourself a hug, tell yourself you are enough, stop reopening the wounds and let them heal.

Sorry not a fan. Writing was a little rote and the plot was pretty easy to figure out very early on.