cbr17bingo – red
This is an interesting book to review because it accomplished what it set out to do, and accomplished it very well; I’m just not sure I liked what it set out to do. It provides a snapshot of a family over the course of about 10 months. While much of it is from the first person perspective of daughter Miranda, who visits her parents monthly, there are sections that are brief scenes as though from a play, a couple of third person sections, and some letters. The novel focuses on the parents and how frustrating they can be—hence the title referencing Miranda’s feelings about her visits.
As a spectator, the novel is funny, sometimes bitingly so. Of course the characters are going to experience this differently because they’re in it, so the mom’s criticism, the dad’s pedantry, both of the parents being set in their ways—all of it would be hard to actually have to be part of. This is where part of the problem comes in. The author allows for little emotional connection to the characters, so I often don’t really feel what they’re feeling. By itself, this might not be a drawback. However, it’s combined with the fact that there isn’t any character development and there’s relatively little plot; at the end of the book, everything is essentially the way it was at the beginning, and I was left wondering what the point was.
Admittedly, readers do get a sense of why the parents are the way they are. In fact, we are left with a more complete picture of familial goings-on than any one individual character. And I do think that’s what the book set out to do: give a snapshot of a family along with a sense of understanding of the family dynamics. From a craft perspective, it’s very well done. The book knows what it wants to be, and Barnes is a good writer, especially with dialogue (perhaps because she is also a playwright; this is her first book). I also found the letters from the mom when she was young to be particularly compelling. I do think there are readers for whom this book would work very well, but I was left wanting more, if not in character development or plot, than at least in emotional connection.