Blue Archipelago

Secrets of a Family Album - Buy this book

Rating

5 stars - a book so comfortable you’ll want to read it more than once

Description - from Amazon

Compulsively neat, obsessively organised, Lily is a writer who writes about writers. When she is asked to contribute to a book on lost icons, she visits Rita Boothe - photographer, journalist and wit - who took LSD when she was forty and never lived up to her promise. Rita shows Lily some of her photographs, including one of a beautiful, sexy creature drinking Jack Daniels in a white limousine. It is Mattie, Lily’s mother. Lily stares in wonder and with envy - she wishes she could live with such abandon. But Mattie is no longer the woman in the limo, and she and Lily’s father live in a neglected house with their neglected marriage. Lily and her siblings want to mend their parents’ rift, but Marie’s husband has walked out, and Rory avoids coming home altogether. Unless something happens, the family’s going to fade away. But something is about to happen…

Why did you choose to read this book?

The honest answer? I put my TBR books in alphabetical order and this one was next! I picked it up from the shelf and really didn’t want to read it - but that was the rule I set and so I did. Of course you could ask why I have the book on my TBR pile - and I honestly have no idea - the cover isn’t too inspiring and the blurb on the back could be more inviting - so i can only think it must have been on sale and found it’s way into my shopping basket some time ago!

A review of the book

So I’ve admitted I wasn’t too keen on reading this - and it was a little slow to start so I nearly gave in - but I forced myself to stick it out and I’m glad I did - for I really enjoyed this book. Despite the fact that the description focuses on Lily, this book doesn’t really have a main character - or a plot for that matter - rather it is a year in the life of a family, told from the point of view of each and every family member - as they go through normal life events.

It’s heart warming, it’s friendly, it’s comfortable - and it’s oh so true to life that you’ll find yourself smiling as you realise that you do these things too.

If you are part of a family, you’ve ever gone to bed on an argument, or looked at another person and assumed their life was better than yours - then you need to go and buy a copy of this book today.

And now for the book exploration

If you haven’t read this book - and plan to do so - do not read any further for there will be spoilers. If you have read it and would like to share your views then keep reading…

Could you relate to the characters? Did you empathise with them and their plight?

While the changing voices of the characters threw me at first I really enjoyed learning about each of the characters - the way they were thinking and feeling - and could empathise with each of them. Mattie - the mother - is a worrier - when someone says they have a problem she instantly fears the worse and her imagination runs away with her. Lily can be quite paranoid - and thinks that people are saying negative things about her, completely misunderstanding their words and actions.

It was interesting to see the same plot from the different points of view - to see that perceptions and assumptions are not always right - and that this can often stop you doing things that will make you happy for fear of what other people will think.

Is this book driven by the plot or the characters?

The book is definitely driven by the characters - the plot isn’t at all obvious - it’s not like a crime novel where there’s a murder to be solved, or a action adventure where there’s treasure to be found - it’s simply a year in the life of an everyday family, experiencing everyday events.

Share a quote from the book

“She still thought this family like starlings, flying together, whooshing apart, then joining one another again, milling and calling, coming back to where they’d started. She knew, of course, that she’d never truly be one of them; she just hoped that now and then they’d invite her to stand back and observe their flight”

I’m rather sad that this book has come to an end - I feel like I know these characters so well and I’m going to miss them!

Have you reviewed this book?

If you have reviewed this book on your site please fill in the boxes below to link me up to your review - don’t forget to link to the specific post to make it easy to find:

Tags: Bookreview, Secrets of a family album, Isla Dewar

If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe here to have future posts delivered directly to your inbox or subscribe here to get them in your feed reader.