Other Family

I resented the time I had to spend away from this novel (pesky things like jobs and meals!) and was disappointed when it ended! I must admit, my sympathy is all with Margaret and Scott and even Amy. I mean, Chrissie is what the girls would call a "cow" about his first family - conveniently managing to forget it was she who deliberately broke up that family, and Tamsin and Delia are such self-absorbed, self-centered little twits. If I feel strongly, it is because Trollope has drawn such interesting characters, and placed them into such an interesting situation. My only idsappointment - the attourney and his family - she drew them so well, too, I wished to know more about them, too! And, as always, Trollope's sense of place is so captivating! I even loved the cat!

Joanna Trollope helped me with my own life of feeling stuck in "grief" and being unable to move forward. This book is helpful to me, in the sense my grief psychologist is. And yet is is not wholly about grief, and I shed not a tear, and felt no pain. It is one of those stories that simply vacuums you in because it seems so relevant to the human condition. The two families of the genial musician in the story are estranged from each other. The first is the REAL family, the wife with a wedding ring and official marriage to the genial musician and contains her musically gifted son. The second wife was a blond fan, I think, a woman who latched onto the musician by presenting an image of him and his future, managed his musical career, and bore his three daughters. One of the daughters has a musical aptitude. What is valuable in this novel is that you find yourself learning about ways to think about life in a way that is enjoyable. The characters could be your next-door neighbors. They are stable people you would see in the grocery or on the street. Even the first of Richie's families is very steady even though cast off by him. If you are looking for a sense of pity for the rejected wife, you would be wasting your time. She is strong even if "stuck" after his death--and she is one of the two sturdiest people in the novel. If you think the second woman, the common law wife, is either a strong person or a weak person, you would be wrong. She is both. And aren't most of us. Joanna Trollope is someone who writes real stories of modern life, but I won't claim this is her best novel. I have liked each one she has written for its own strengths. This is no less true for this fine novel. I copied a lot of the dialogue out into my journal, and highlighted some of it, because I felt that I could glean something from fiction that would help me find truth. Trollope is in a category of writers almost alone. There should be more of her, but maybe they would have had to live her life and her ancestry to have her content, tone and style.

This is a really great book about what happens to a man's two families when he passes away. It's interesting how the two families deal their husband/father being gone and how they handle finding out about each other! I highly recomend this!

A quiet and lovely book that explores the themes of loss, growth, love, loyalty, decency, and the meaning of family. This is contemporary women's fiction at its best, and a joy to read.

I really enjoyed this book it kept me up past three in the morning out of the sheer enjoyment of excellent writing. A study of beravement complicated by the existance of more than one family which has a kindly but clear eyed view of human behaviour.