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Family Album
A novel of family intrigue from "one of the most accomplished writers of fiction of our day" (The Washington Post)
All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real "old-fashioned f...more
All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real "old-fashioned f...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
November 29th 2009
by Viking Books
(first published January 1st 2009)
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Family Albumis the sixteenth novel Penelope Lively has written for adults. As the title suggests, it is a series of snapshots, episodes from the life of an upper middle class family. Charles, the father, is a writer who, it seems, never wanted marriage and children and who spends the majority of his time hidden away in his study, working on his next book. His wife, Alison, was the original 1960s Earth Mother whose whole life revolved around having and bringing up children. The children have all,...more
. I'm tempted to say that Lively's book isn't lively. She is a highly regarded writer, but I think she mostly missed with this one, although it was short–listed for a Costa Prize (used to be called Whitbread, which may be more familiar). It's the story of a rigid man who writes extensively researched intellectual non–fiction books and his wife who is obsessed with having lots of kids, a big house, and lots of happy family memories and celebrations. It's also (even more so) the story of the s...more
I was listening to Penelope Lively talk about one of her earlier books, Moon Tiger, and she described memory as a "series of slides" where everything is jumbled up . . . not chronological, not complete, but rather different things from different times all crowding in on each other.
This novel is like that . . . no linear narrative, but just alternating voices -- all with their own version of "what happened," with some of the details, as always is the case, being ...more
This novel is like that . . . no linear narrative, but just alternating voices -- all with their own version of "what happened," with some of the details, as always is the case, being ...more
There is both good news and bad news about this book. The good news is that it was only 200 pages. The bad news is that it was 200 very boring pages. I finished it, but barely, and I am hard pressed to think of a more unpleasant 200 page book.
While the concept was somewhat intriguing, the characters were so unpleasant, and the writing so trite, that it was a highly unpleasant reading experience. The book was about-- what? There didn't seem to be any particular plot; while Jerry ...more
While the concept was somewhat intriguing, the characters were so unpleasant, and the writing so trite, that it was a highly unpleasant reading experience. The book was about-- what? There didn't seem to be any particular plot; while Jerry ...more
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Although most critics acknowledged that Family Album was not her best work, they thoroughly enjoyed Lively's latest tale of middle-class family dysfunction, a theme that fans will recognize from earlier novels. Lively is particularly skilled at exploring the small, seemingly inconsequential details of domestic life with an authenticity that will have readers cringing with empathy. There is a foreshadowed family secret that comes to light more than halfway through the novel: it's effective, but n...more
A me piacciono tantissimo le saghe familiari. Quelle dove si segue l’evoluzione di una casa, magari anche con lo sfondo storico di un certo peso e i personaggi che attraversano tutto un secolo turbolento, andando e venendo dalla loro dimora d’infanzia.
In realtà “Un posto perfetto” è meno pretenzioso e di episodi memorabili non ne racconta affatto, ma il modo in cui riporta la quotidianità della famiglia ti fa sembrare di essere a tavola proprio lì ad Allersmead, tra il vociare del nutrito...more
In realtà “Un posto perfetto” è meno pretenzioso e di episodi memorabili non ne racconta affatto, ma il modo in cui riporta la quotidianità della famiglia ti fa sembrare di essere a tavola proprio lì ad Allersmead, tra il vociare del nutrito...more
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Khaya
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People with an interest in family dynamics and an ability to tolerate a pretty nonexistent plot
This is one of those cases where many things that normally annoy me in books were forgiven because I liked the writing. Not so much a story as a character sketch of a family and its members, Family Album reads like a series of snapshots. Distant, self-absorbed Charles is married to Allison, a mom on steroids if there ever was one, raising her large brood of six children. The au pair, Ingrid, has been present since the children's babyhood and mysteriously never left, even though all the childr...more
I can summarize this book very succinctly: Brilliant!
I've been reading a lot of Lively lately, but this new novel really impressed me. It has a contemporary feel to it, it's clever and deceptively simple, and I really think she is just getting better with every book she writes.
It's a fantastic presentation of family life in a large group of siblings, with eccentric parents, and an au pair who stays for thirty years. I really can't describe much more of a plot; that's abou...more
I've been reading a lot of Lively lately, but this new novel really impressed me. It has a contemporary feel to it, it's clever and deceptively simple, and I really think she is just getting better with every book she writes.
It's a fantastic presentation of family life in a large group of siblings, with eccentric parents, and an au pair who stays for thirty years. I really can't describe much more of a plot; that's abou...more
Family Album by Penelope Lively was anything but lively. B-O-R-I-N-G. however, I was able to read the whole book thanks to very short alternating view from all 9 family members. This book is about a family with 6 children, 2 parents, and a permanent Au Pair who are pretty wealthy and raised in a mansion in England. Several of the six kids boo-hoo about what a horrible childhood they had. However, there is no abuse or anything else that I can say is any different from every dysfunctional family ...more
Wow, two Penelope Lively books in as many months! This woman is such a great writer, weaving her characters - all from the same family of course - with each other, casting different interpretations on the same events, relating past events to present situations. She weaves a delicious web; slowly, gently uncovering the mysteries and things that happen in families, all under the veneer and appearance of everything being 'normal'.
In this little gem, the children, all six of them, are retu...more
In this little gem, the children, all six of them, are retu...more
p.101
It seems to Gina not so much that people are unfathomable or inscrutable but that other times, other circumstances, are unreachable, are no longer available. That was the, and you cannot go back there, just as you cannot revisit your own former self... That person is herself, but also someone quite other, a distant stranger who occasionally signals, and there is a flash of recognition, but who is for the most part an alien being.
p.102
It seems to her that your family is at ...more
It seems to Gina not so much that people are unfathomable or inscrutable but that other times, other circumstances, are unreachable, are no longer available. That was the, and you cannot go back there, just as you cannot revisit your own former self... That person is herself, but also someone quite other, a distant stranger who occasionally signals, and there is a flash of recognition, but who is for the most part an alien being.
p.102
It seems to her that your family is at ...more
Skillfully written, engaging characters, but ultimately this was not as enjoyable or as gripping as I had been expecting. The constant shifting around of narrative voice and timeframe didn't bother me particularly, as it was always pretty straightforward to figure out where we were and who was doing the talking. There's very little plot to speak of - the "dark family secret" just didn't seem that big of a deal. So it really boils down to character, and Lively is very skilled at drawing...more
This is an English book by an English author. Traces the lives of a middle-class (which means rather wealthy in Britain) large family of 6 children, mom and dad and an au pair (who has lived with the family for like 40 years), living in a sprawling Edwardian mansion called Allersmead. The author changes voices and points of view and also switches b/w present time and flashbacks, and gradually the reader realizes that there is a family secret which everyone keeps dancing around but no one will ...more
I read Lively because she's such a great story teller and craftsperson. Just as I watch certain movies because you love to see a particular actor at work,I read Lively because I love to see how she puts a narrative together. I love her British wit and the way her books shimmer with the difference between her language and the American idiom. Her books feel real, authentic and effortless yet they entertain on so many levels. I say entertain, because her books don't really challenge me. Many revi...more
I disagree with those who were disappointed by this book. In my opinion, it is a very strong novel and it has not left my thoughts since I finished it a few days ago. I miss the company of all those people and their thoughts and I miss the big kitchen at Allersmead and the secret murmurings in the hallways.
Penelope Lively is such a clever writer! The way she slowly divulges the Big Secret and unveils some of the mysteries and neuroses of the real people hiding behind 'the au-pair'' ...more
Penelope Lively is such a clever writer! The way she slowly divulges the Big Secret and unveils some of the mysteries and neuroses of the real people hiding behind 'the au-pair'' ...more
I thought I would like this book more in that I am a sucker for a story where the drama revolves around an event or secret as perceived (or not) by members of a group (in this case, a family). I liked The Photograph, but sort of lost interest--and very near the end. I think it was maybe a bit too meditative for me, and maybe only at that moment. Perhaps I'd have been more up for the ponderous pace and pondering itself at another time. I did read through to the end though, and when the secret...more
Penelope Lively is a master of misdirection. Family Album tells the story of a family that includes six children, in which the house they grow up in is as much a character as any of the humans. The narrative is supplied by each family member as well as others close to them, rendering each as a distinct personality, transitioning between past and present smoothly and distinctly. Information is hinted at, revealed sparingly and all in good time. Like every family that ever existed, this family...more
I enjoyed Family Album, but not as much as The Photograph. This is a novel about family life, large family life, large, disfunctional family life. Alison planned this family many years ago as a young girl; Charles, her husband, is a necessary afterthought. However, Charles is no prize, even if he does help supply the children and the funds to keep the family afloat. In the second half, we hear from the children as adults and their memories and attitudes about life in the big house. This sec...more
Jenny
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Peeping Toms - or anyone who gives a damn about the boring day to day of family life.
Three stars for the writing. The story gets zero.
Unlike Microbe, which I just suffered through, this book makes for a great character study. Lively knows people, why they do and say what they do and say, how they interact. The title, Family Album, is perfect as reading this really is like flipping through someone's happy and not so happy snaps. And in just the same way the first few pages or so of someone else's pics are interesting - there's Uncle Ed at Rose's wedding, and there bab...more
Unlike Microbe, which I just suffered through, this book makes for a great character study. Lively knows people, why they do and say what they do and say, how they interact. The title, Family Album, is perfect as reading this really is like flipping through someone's happy and not so happy snaps. And in just the same way the first few pages or so of someone else's pics are interesting - there's Uncle Ed at Rose's wedding, and there bab...more
How families work--and don't.
Both delightful and insightful, with a satisfying conclusion. One generation is clueless about the next generation they set in motion--true for all of us, I think, although some of us remain curious about the intricacies. The Victorian house, Allersmead, works as symbol. "The appeal of the cellar game is privacy and secrecy; it is never mentioned aboveground, no grown-up knows what goes on. . . . Alison [mother:] does not care for the cellar and virt...more
Both delightful and insightful, with a satisfying conclusion. One generation is clueless about the next generation they set in motion--true for all of us, I think, although some of us remain curious about the intricacies. The Victorian house, Allersmead, works as symbol. "The appeal of the cellar game is privacy and secrecy; it is never mentioned aboveground, no grown-up knows what goes on. . . . Alison [mother:] does not care for the cellar and virt...more
It was okay...but barely okay. I actually found it fairly depressing. The story of six adult kids who look back on their upbringing and find both parents inaccessible and kind of bizarre. Yes, there's a big secret at the heart of their family - and it's a weird one. Which seems to be a theme for the whole history of the family - weird. I get that it's a British author so it's got a European remove to it, but I found this book on the bargain bookshelf at B&N and it was barely worth the barga...more
Family Album, by Penelope Lively, b-plus, narrated by Josephine Bailey, produced by Tantor Media, downloaded from audible.com.
The central character, Allison, wanted only one thing-a blissful childhood for her children, and to get that she pushed all kinds of secrets under the rug. The children, as they grew to adulthood, helped her keep her illusions, but one by one we see that it cost them. Why was their father so distant? Why did the au pair girl stay and grow old with the famil...more
The central character, Allison, wanted only one thing-a blissful childhood for her children, and to get that she pushed all kinds of secrets under the rug. The children, as they grew to adulthood, helped her keep her illusions, but one by one we see that it cost them. Why was their father so distant? Why did the au pair girl stay and grow old with the famil...more
Been meaning to read Penelope Lively since finding her on the Booker Prize list long ago.
Six, present-day, grown children of an English family reflect on their family experiences and particularly their Mother's dedicated pursuit of the sanctity of "a happy family".
Nothing dramatic, but interesting lives and childhood memories from what increasingly appears to have been a dysfunctional situation. Got drawn in about half way into the book on the impact of the handling of a ...more
Six, present-day, grown children of an English family reflect on their family experiences and particularly their Mother's dedicated pursuit of the sanctity of "a happy family".
Nothing dramatic, but interesting lives and childhood memories from what increasingly appears to have been a dysfunctional situation. Got drawn in about half way into the book on the impact of the handling of a ...more
i have thoroughly enjoyed all of Penelope Lively's YA novels. This is the first of her adult novels I have read. I tried reading both her first volume of memoir "Oleandar Jacaranda" and her Man Booker award winning novel "Moon Tiger". Neither of them caught my interest sufficiently to finish them. But after reading this I want to revisit them.
A lovely novel. Various points of view - a series of 'photographs' and what memories and feelings those photos evoke...more
A lovely novel. Various points of view - a series of 'photographs' and what memories and feelings those photos evoke...more
I'm a little undecided on this book. By the end I liked it a lot but there were some problems. The story is told by the different family members and it's rather awkwardly done (sometimes it's first person, sometimes not, sometimes a very peripheral character, making it all seem just inconsistent). The older generation - Alison, Charles and Ingrid were intentionally undeveloped (I think) but that resulted in rather one-dimensional characters. On the other hand it's an interesting family story ...more
Really enjoyed this novel by Lively, until i came to the end which I found really disappointing. I suppose she was attempting to tie up everything and demonstrate how each of the siblings moved on after the father's passing, but I still felt a big let-down. Otherwise this book would have received a five-star rating instead of only four starts.
As the novel opens, we are introduced to a quirky family, headed by a father who writes books and stays in his study much of the time. The big ol...more
As the novel opens, we are introduced to a quirky family, headed by a father who writes books and stays in his study much of the time. The big ol...more
Penelope Lively has long been one of my favourite contemporary writers. Once more she plays with the idea of memory in a novel that is not linear, but jumps around in just the same way that we remember the past.
Family Album is the story of a large middle class family and is told through the eyes of the parents, and the six children, who are all adults when the novel starts. What appears to be an ideal existence in a large and rambling home, Allersmead, actually turns out to be anyt...more
Family Album is the story of a large middle class family and is told through the eyes of the parents, and the six children, who are all adults when the novel starts. What appears to be an ideal existence in a large and rambling home, Allersmead, actually turns out to be anyt...more
Interesting- like Things Fall Apart, this does not have a standard European novel structure, although it is very different from TFA. The structure is loose and ragged, rather like the family and the house that nurtured it. It dots around in time, and there is no single viewpoint. It probably goes without saying that it is well written- but I can't imagine Penelope Lively writing badly. However, like many modern books, I find myself utterly unengaged: I don't care about the characters, or what ha...more
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Penelope Lively CBE (born March 17, 1933) is a prolific, popular and critically acclaimed author of fiction for both children and adults. She has been shortlisted three times for the Booker Prize, winning once for Moon Tiger in 1987.
Born in Cairo in 1933, she spent her early childhood in Egypt, before being sent to boarding school in England at the age of twelve. She read Modern Histor...more
More about Penelope Lively...
Born in Cairo in 1933, she spent her early childhood in Egypt, before being sent to boarding school in England at the age of twelve. She read Modern Histor...more
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“Far as I'm concerned, they're all still here, like a lot of dear little ghosts.”
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