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The Child Inside
Brand new book in plastic!
- GenresFictionContemporary
343 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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September 8, 2012
By Suzanne Bugler. Grade: B
As a teenager, Rachel lived through the death of a friend and discovered that even the most enchanted of lives can be easily shattered. When tragedy strikes her own life as an adult, and she loses her unborn child, Rachel ought to turn to her husband for support. But in trying to protect one another, she and Andrew end up further apart than ever and Rachel finds herself resentful and lonely.
Haunted by the past, she contacts the brother of her old friend and the two of them are drawn into a dangerous and destructive affair. But betrayal comes at a high price, and having lost one child, how can she bear to face losing another?
Let me just begin by saying that the cover is amazing, and drew me in instantly; ditto for the blurb and the title. All of them served to pique my curiosity, and I was looking forward to a feast after weeks of fasting from books due to my examinations. The beginning was pretty good. The way Bugler writes is very progressive, meaning that the story proceeds in a very gradual way without either seeming to rush, or seeming to be slow. The pace is perfect.
The setting is good, with the bored and resentful mother, the overworked father and the pressured and angry teen constituting an unhappy and financially unstable family trying to fit in.
However, there was a whole list of things that I didn’t like.
Firstly, why the hell would anybody be so fixated with their dead friend’s mother? What happens is that Rachel goes to a coffee shop where she hears the last name of some lady, a name that also belonged to her dead friend. So Rachel decides on following this mystery woman and finding out whether her hunch is correct or not, and whether this woman really is her friend’s mother or not. She then lurks around her house like a thief, trying to work up the courage to go up to her and ask her directly. So far, so good. I didn’t have a problem until here. What strikes me as weird, though, is the fact that after she finally meets this Mrs. Reiber, she asks her whether she is Vanessa’s mother or not, and is told by the lady that she has never had a daughter. Despite this, she still persists, and goes to her house again. Yes, I know that Rachel did turn out to be right in the end but I just cannot figure out why anybody would be so obsessed.
I also couldn’t understand why, after being told off again, somebody would still investigate into the matter and try to contact the brother of her dead friend. After all, it must be painful for a teenaged child to lose a friend. To dig into the whole thing again seems like an odd thing to do.
I also did not like the characters.
Rachel, with her self pity, was too annoying to be a good protagonist. I could have shaken that woman, and told her that she should make the effort to get her life back onto track. I could also have told her that instead of having an affair, she should be trying to save her marriage. I understand that she was hurt, and deeply so, but I still couldn’t forgive her for wallowing in self pity for so long. You may accuse me of wanting perfect characters, but that is not true. I think that flawed characters make for the most flawless of stories. But, Rachel was just not likeable. And when the main character, the one from whose point of view you are looking at the story is not likable – chances are you won’t be able to like the novel either.
Another character whom I disliked was Janice (Rachel’s sister). She was a hypocrite, and although she did redeem herself in the end when she opened Rachel’s eyes to what injustice she was doing, I still couldn’t bring myself to forgive her. And don’t even get me started on Simon. He was a selfish character, and I gathered that from the very beginning. How he never contacts Rachel after giving her the cheque was not only disgusting, it was cowardly as well. I hated him.
The only character in this slew of bad characters I liked and empathized with was Andrew. He struck me as being the only victim in the entire story, who at least tried to bring his life back together.
However, after picking out so many faults, I must say that the story itself has many layers and depth to it. It is engrossing and to an extent, addictive as well.
Although this is the first time I am reading this author, I have loads of hope attached to her now, and will look forward to her next book. All in all, a nice book, one that leaves you thinking about the complexities of life if you manage to suspend logic for a while.
Originally reviewed at www.vaultofbooks.com
As a teenager, Rachel lived through the death of a friend and discovered that even the most enchanted of lives can be easily shattered. When tragedy strikes her own life as an adult, and she loses her unborn child, Rachel ought to turn to her husband for support. But in trying to protect one another, she and Andrew end up further apart than ever and Rachel finds herself resentful and lonely.
Haunted by the past, she contacts the brother of her old friend and the two of them are drawn into a dangerous and destructive affair. But betrayal comes at a high price, and having lost one child, how can she bear to face losing another?
Let me just begin by saying that the cover is amazing, and drew me in instantly; ditto for the blurb and the title. All of them served to pique my curiosity, and I was looking forward to a feast after weeks of fasting from books due to my examinations. The beginning was pretty good. The way Bugler writes is very progressive, meaning that the story proceeds in a very gradual way without either seeming to rush, or seeming to be slow. The pace is perfect.
The setting is good, with the bored and resentful mother, the overworked father and the pressured and angry teen constituting an unhappy and financially unstable family trying to fit in.
However, there was a whole list of things that I didn’t like.
Firstly, why the hell would anybody be so fixated with their dead friend’s mother? What happens is that Rachel goes to a coffee shop where she hears the last name of some lady, a name that also belonged to her dead friend. So Rachel decides on following this mystery woman and finding out whether her hunch is correct or not, and whether this woman really is her friend’s mother or not. She then lurks around her house like a thief, trying to work up the courage to go up to her and ask her directly. So far, so good. I didn’t have a problem until here. What strikes me as weird, though, is the fact that after she finally meets this Mrs. Reiber, she asks her whether she is Vanessa’s mother or not, and is told by the lady that she has never had a daughter. Despite this, she still persists, and goes to her house again. Yes, I know that Rachel did turn out to be right in the end but I just cannot figure out why anybody would be so obsessed.
I also couldn’t understand why, after being told off again, somebody would still investigate into the matter and try to contact the brother of her dead friend. After all, it must be painful for a teenaged child to lose a friend. To dig into the whole thing again seems like an odd thing to do.
I also did not like the characters.
Rachel, with her self pity, was too annoying to be a good protagonist. I could have shaken that woman, and told her that she should make the effort to get her life back onto track. I could also have told her that instead of having an affair, she should be trying to save her marriage. I understand that she was hurt, and deeply so, but I still couldn’t forgive her for wallowing in self pity for so long. You may accuse me of wanting perfect characters, but that is not true. I think that flawed characters make for the most flawless of stories. But, Rachel was just not likeable. And when the main character, the one from whose point of view you are looking at the story is not likable – chances are you won’t be able to like the novel either.
Another character whom I disliked was Janice (Rachel’s sister). She was a hypocrite, and although she did redeem herself in the end when she opened Rachel’s eyes to what injustice she was doing, I still couldn’t bring myself to forgive her. And don’t even get me started on Simon. He was a selfish character, and I gathered that from the very beginning. How he never contacts Rachel after giving her the cheque was not only disgusting, it was cowardly as well. I hated him.
The only character in this slew of bad characters I liked and empathized with was Andrew. He struck me as being the only victim in the entire story, who at least tried to bring his life back together.
However, after picking out so many faults, I must say that the story itself has many layers and depth to it. It is engrossing and to an extent, addictive as well.
Although this is the first time I am reading this author, I have loads of hope attached to her now, and will look forward to her next book. All in all, a nice book, one that leaves you thinking about the complexities of life if you manage to suspend logic for a while.
Originally reviewed at www.vaultofbooks.com
July 6, 2018
I give high praise to Suzanne Bugler because this is simply another great book from Suzanne Bugler. Suzanne is one my favourite authors. It does not matter what book suzanne writes, I totally love them all. I have read them all and I do not have favourite. I can not wait for Suzanne Bugler to publish another book. Be sure I will be reading it. Doaes any one know what Suzanne Bugler 4th book is? or when it will be published?. For any one who does not know what to buy some one as a present Suzanne Bugler's books are simply an excellent choice for a present.
February 22, 2012
A page tuner. I was hooked from the start and fell in love with the characters. I empathised with Rachel's loneliness and hunger for love and touch. The ending was somewhat unexpected but a good conclusion nonetheless.
January 28, 2012
Rachel Morgan is married to Andrew they have a teenage son Jonathan (who they seem to treat like a baby) Rachel is still grieving the death of her teenage friend Vanessa and death of her unborn child
Andrew and Rachel have an empty marriage.
Rachel contacts vanessas brother Simon they start an Affair, Simon tells her it's over he has to concentrate on his family, but is Rachel pregnant?
I thought this book was a little bit weird at times, I was drawn to the book and wanted to see what would happen, I really enjoyed this book I would definetely recommend.
Andrew and Rachel have an empty marriage.
Rachel contacts vanessas brother Simon they start an Affair, Simon tells her it's over he has to concentrate on his family, but is Rachel pregnant?
I thought this book was a little bit weird at times, I was drawn to the book and wanted to see what would happen, I really enjoyed this book I would definetely recommend.
April 1, 2012
What can I say other than brilliant - the second book I have read by Suzanne Bugler and loved.
She is a Richard & Judy book club author and she certainly deserves that.
Its a book that will engross you and has a dark side to it and makes you think as its just a normal family - whatever normal is!
Go on read it, you won't be disappointed.
She is a Richard & Judy book club author and she certainly deserves that.
Its a book that will engross you and has a dark side to it and makes you think as its just a normal family - whatever normal is!
Go on read it, you won't be disappointed.
May 4, 2012
A compelling but ultimately sad look at the effect losing a baby has on a family.The parents each cope in different ways and their older child suffers too.. wonderfully written, but not for a day when you are already feeling blue..
November 16, 2013
I'm not sure what to make of this book. It's not the sort of thing I normally read - it's contemporary, and might perhaps fit the literary genre. I'm not even sure why I bought it now. The premise is a straightforward one: Rachel, a married woman with a son, gives birth to a stillborn baby daughter, and this event colours her family's life for years afterwards. She retreats into herself, her husband does the same, and the surviving child becomes the focus of all their attentions. There's also an event in Rachel's past, a childhood friend from a higher level of society, who died of a brain tumour, and that too becomes something which defines Rachel.
The problems with this book are the typical ones for the genre. Because the setting is very ordinary, there's an element of over-writing the descriptive passages to make them more evocative. Sometimes this works quite well, as the author is quite perceptive, but sometimes it just feels like... well, over-writing. Then there's the plot. Given the premise above, what would be the tritest, least original plot-line you could think up? Yep, that's exactly how it goes. I won't reveal it, in case there are two people left on the planet who might be surprised by any of it, but it's a total cliche-a-thon.
The biggest problem, for me, is that the story fails one of my standard tests for plots: if the entire plot would collapse if the characters simply talk to each other, then that's an epic fail. Romances typically depend on the author finding ingenious ways for the main characters to misunderstand each other, and fantasy depends on wizards or dwarves who talk in cryptic riddles, but in modern settings it all has to be done by character. Is Rachel believable as the sort of person who simply doesn't talk to her husband? Is the husband believable as a man who quietly accepts his miserable life for nine years? Is it really credible that Rachel's sister is such a cow, or that the man she confides in is a total jerk? Some people would probably let such issues slide by, but for me it just didn't work.
Ultimately, this is the sort of story a reader might well enjoy by simply accepting the characters as they are, and empathising with their tragedy. I was never tempted to abandon it, even when it descended from contrived plot devices into a farcical level of melodrama at the end. Up to a point, I even enjoyed it, but other people's miserable lives aren't that interesting to me, and there were just too many obstacles to full enjoyment so that for me it never rose above three stars.
The problems with this book are the typical ones for the genre. Because the setting is very ordinary, there's an element of over-writing the descriptive passages to make them more evocative. Sometimes this works quite well, as the author is quite perceptive, but sometimes it just feels like... well, over-writing. Then there's the plot. Given the premise above, what would be the tritest, least original plot-line you could think up? Yep, that's exactly how it goes. I won't reveal it, in case there are two people left on the planet who might be surprised by any of it, but it's a total cliche-a-thon.
The biggest problem, for me, is that the story fails one of my standard tests for plots: if the entire plot would collapse if the characters simply talk to each other, then that's an epic fail. Romances typically depend on the author finding ingenious ways for the main characters to misunderstand each other, and fantasy depends on wizards or dwarves who talk in cryptic riddles, but in modern settings it all has to be done by character. Is Rachel believable as the sort of person who simply doesn't talk to her husband? Is the husband believable as a man who quietly accepts his miserable life for nine years? Is it really credible that Rachel's sister is such a cow, or that the man she confides in is a total jerk? Some people would probably let such issues slide by, but for me it just didn't work.
Ultimately, this is the sort of story a reader might well enjoy by simply accepting the characters as they are, and empathising with their tragedy. I was never tempted to abandon it, even when it descended from contrived plot devices into a farcical level of melodrama at the end. Up to a point, I even enjoyed it, but other people's miserable lives aren't that interesting to me, and there were just too many obstacles to full enjoyment so that for me it never rose above three stars.
June 30, 2013
I read this in two days - absolutely riveting. The narrator isn't a sympathetic character but the more one reads, the more one finds out why. The child in this is revolting, but again, it comes to light quite why he's been allowed to grow up to be like this. Noen of them are nice people, nobody is well-behaved, nothing good happens - and yet it's unputdownable. I was horrified to realise I'd finished it so quickly and so happy to find she has another, by all accounts, better book for me to read.
January 4, 2016
I began reading this because the theme ~ the loss of a stillborn baby ~ something close to my heart ~ but soon tired of rachels relentless self pity .. I have never read a book where I have felt less empathy for a central character. having said this, I am almost at the end and am looking forward to discovering rachel's eventual demise.
March 16, 2012
Riveting. Disturbing. Engrossing. But not an easy read. SB really got inside her characters head & got all her emotions across. So well written. Cant say I either enjoyed it opr liked it - but I thought it was very good!
February 6, 2014
Not great. It had an interesting premise about how a family deals with the grief of having a still born child, but the characters were so frustrating and selfish, especially the central protagonist, Rachael. Also, you could tell 'the twist' coming a mile off.
August 16, 2015
Blurb sounded interesting, but the characters were full of such self pity that it made it difficult to like. Combined with reliving a past that didn't really include the main character was annoying. And the son was a nightmare. Got through it but not fabulous.
August 23, 2012
I really loved this book. I felt it was a really poignant summary of child loss as it is quite often seen as only the females loss.
July 25, 2024
Rachel is a wife and mother lost in her grief for her baby girl, born sleeping ten years previously but never really mourned with her husband. Many years ago she had a friend, Vanessa, who died, and when she is in a cafe she hears the cashier call out Vanessa’s unusual surname.
Rachel follows the woman who the cashier called home and confronts her but she denies ever having a daughter. Rachel becomes obsessed and gets in touch with Vanessa’s brother, Simon and instead of concentrating on her own family she embroils herself in Vanessa’s.
Without spoilers I can’t write much more but save to say the story was an interesting one with a first person narrative in Rachel as she slowly slides into fantasy world while ignoring her very real one.
This is the second Suzanne Bugler book I’ve read and I would certainly read another. The narrative is always interesting and the pace of the book is not too fast, not too slow. Well worth a read.
Rachel follows the woman who the cashier called home and confronts her but she denies ever having a daughter. Rachel becomes obsessed and gets in touch with Vanessa’s brother, Simon and instead of concentrating on her own family she embroils herself in Vanessa’s.
Without spoilers I can’t write much more but save to say the story was an interesting one with a first person narrative in Rachel as she slowly slides into fantasy world while ignoring her very real one.
This is the second Suzanne Bugler book I’ve read and I would certainly read another. The narrative is always interesting and the pace of the book is not too fast, not too slow. Well worth a read.
December 30, 2017
A (woe-is-me) woman who feels life has slipped her by while she takes care of her family starts an affair to recapture her youth. In a way, I could empathize with her but felt she got out of the mess she had created much too easily.
*
First Line: I walked out of that hospital in that hazy sunlight, and forced myself to smile.
First Published: 2012
Source: Bought @ 2015 WBF, Delhi
*
First Line: I walked out of that hospital in that hazy sunlight, and forced myself to smile.
First Published: 2012
Source: Bought @ 2015 WBF, Delhi
September 20, 2017
a bit kitschy
March 30, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. There were definitely some parts that dragged on too long but the characters were so full of detail. I definitely recommend this book. =)
October 6, 2021
Depressing. Main character is annoying and miserable. The whole book is just her complaining about life
November 27, 2022
Well written just wasn't a very nice character in the end
July 12, 2025
Good book, gripped me to the end!
January 4, 2012
The previous novel by this author, 'This Perfect World', was a gripping emotional read, and deservedly went on to become a Richard and Judy Book Club selection, thereby also garnering a much wider readership. With this novel, the author has again chosen a very emotional storyline. Rachel is devastated to have lost her baby daughter seven months into her pregnancy. Unsurprisingly she is haunted and tormented by the loss of her baby girl, ‘hers is the ghost that will not let me go’ she says. Her relationship with her teenage son, Jono, is strained at best, and she feels distanced from her husband Andrew. They have put their son in a private school, and Rachel feels she has no real friends amongst the mothers there, further alienating her. Her isolation is mirrored by Jono, himself isolated amongst his richer school friends, and this becomes another thing that eats away at Rachel; ‘We shoved him among them, and now I can only watch as I see him measuring himself against them, and falling short.’
Rachel begins to think back to a friend, Vanessa, ‘a friend by association’ really, who she had and lost during her teenage years. A chance encounter one day brings the events from that time back to the forefront of her thoughts, and she knowingly becomes obsessed. She actively seeks out the Vanessa’s brother, and a clandestine affair begins. What results will cause her further torment.
This is a dark, compulsive, well-written tale, with a chilling portrait of this desperate, lonely, obsessed mother who feels trapped in domestic life. She feels invisible, like she doesn’t matter. ‘I am just a middle-aged woman out of nowhere. I am what you become when you disappear.’ I felt sympathy for Rachel, but also a bit of irritation. She can only change her life herself, but she chooses something negative in having an affair. She knows it can’t lead anywhere. She doesn’t, or can’t, appreciate what she’s got. But, it’s easy to judge her when standing on the outside looking in. She is incredibly hard on herself, ‘sunk in the grip of self-loathing.’ She is full of sadness, it tragic to read how disconnected from the world she feels. ‘I feel myself to be outside life, looking in’ and has always felt ‘the outsider, the one on the edge of other people’s lives.’
If you enjoyed 'This Perfect World' I think you'll get a lot out of this novel, too.
Rachel begins to think back to a friend, Vanessa, ‘a friend by association’ really, who she had and lost during her teenage years. A chance encounter one day brings the events from that time back to the forefront of her thoughts, and she knowingly becomes obsessed. She actively seeks out the Vanessa’s brother, and a clandestine affair begins. What results will cause her further torment.
This is a dark, compulsive, well-written tale, with a chilling portrait of this desperate, lonely, obsessed mother who feels trapped in domestic life. She feels invisible, like she doesn’t matter. ‘I am just a middle-aged woman out of nowhere. I am what you become when you disappear.’ I felt sympathy for Rachel, but also a bit of irritation. She can only change her life herself, but she chooses something negative in having an affair. She knows it can’t lead anywhere. She doesn’t, or can’t, appreciate what she’s got. But, it’s easy to judge her when standing on the outside looking in. She is incredibly hard on herself, ‘sunk in the grip of self-loathing.’ She is full of sadness, it tragic to read how disconnected from the world she feels. ‘I feel myself to be outside life, looking in’ and has always felt ‘the outsider, the one on the edge of other people’s lives.’
If you enjoyed 'This Perfect World' I think you'll get a lot out of this novel, too.
November 14, 2012
I thought Suzanne Bugler's first novel This Perfect World was superb and was looking forward to seeing what she would come up with next. The Child Inside deals with a very emotive subject; the death of a child, and like her previous novel it is well-written and at times a very compelling read, but for me there was something lacking.
The lead character Rachel is a woman in mourning, not only for her dead child, but also for her dead teenage friend, and also for the death of her marriage. The death of her unborn child and the death of her friend (albeit many years ago) seem so firmly linked together. Rachel seems to view the death of Vanessa all those years ago as a turning point in her life, even though they were not particularly close. Rachel spends much of her time looking back, trying to imagine what life would be like if Vanessa had not died. She also thinks that life in general, her marriage and her relationship to her son Jono would be perfect if only her unborn daughter had not died in the womb.
I found Rachel a very depressing character, although I was sympathetic to her losses, I found her very self-centred and her actions throughout the novel seemed purely to make herself feel better and disregarded anyone else around her.
Despite this, the writing is good and the story is at times quite fascinating. There were times when it dragged a litttle and I found the ending a little unsatisfactory, but I will certainly read her next novel.
The lead character Rachel is a woman in mourning, not only for her dead child, but also for her dead teenage friend, and also for the death of her marriage. The death of her unborn child and the death of her friend (albeit many years ago) seem so firmly linked together. Rachel seems to view the death of Vanessa all those years ago as a turning point in her life, even though they were not particularly close. Rachel spends much of her time looking back, trying to imagine what life would be like if Vanessa had not died. She also thinks that life in general, her marriage and her relationship to her son Jono would be perfect if only her unborn daughter had not died in the womb.
I found Rachel a very depressing character, although I was sympathetic to her losses, I found her very self-centred and her actions throughout the novel seemed purely to make herself feel better and disregarded anyone else around her.
Despite this, the writing is good and the story is at times quite fascinating. There were times when it dragged a litttle and I found the ending a little unsatisfactory, but I will certainly read her next novel.
June 26, 2015
This was just an ok book. For me it really only started to get interesting in the last few chapters, up till then it was just so slow and tedious and nothing much happened other than the affair.
It was hard to feel any sympathy with Rachel as she came across as a very sad depressive person, not so much that losing a baby made her this way but she was always a loner looking for the approval of others as a teenager and so by losing a baby she has let it take over her life and turned her into this she'll of a person, constantly wondering what everyone thinks of her and wanting to be someone else, thinking up scenarios in her head of the rest of the world having a great time without her.
She just always felt sorry for herself and she is boring.
Her husband Andrew comes across as pathetic up until the end where you realise he has simply been living with his grief all these years.
I really hated their son Jono, I know he's only 12/13 years old and obv his parents problems are causing him problems but he really is an ungrateful selfish immature brat.
I loathed her sister Janice and was hoping n waiting for the day Rachel would finally stand up to her but no it never came, she lets her sister walk all over her, it's pathetic.
Basically there's not a single likeable character.
The ending pages were the best parts of the whole book and I was so glad and relieved to finally get it finished.
It was hard to feel any sympathy with Rachel as she came across as a very sad depressive person, not so much that losing a baby made her this way but she was always a loner looking for the approval of others as a teenager and so by losing a baby she has let it take over her life and turned her into this she'll of a person, constantly wondering what everyone thinks of her and wanting to be someone else, thinking up scenarios in her head of the rest of the world having a great time without her.
She just always felt sorry for herself and she is boring.
Her husband Andrew comes across as pathetic up until the end where you realise he has simply been living with his grief all these years.
I really hated their son Jono, I know he's only 12/13 years old and obv his parents problems are causing him problems but he really is an ungrateful selfish immature brat.
I loathed her sister Janice and was hoping n waiting for the day Rachel would finally stand up to her but no it never came, she lets her sister walk all over her, it's pathetic.
Basically there's not a single likeable character.
The ending pages were the best parts of the whole book and I was so glad and relieved to finally get it finished.
August 11, 2013
This is another great book from Suzanne Bugler. Unlike Laura in This Perfect World Rachel, the protagonist of The Child Inside, isn't one of the yummy mummy's. Rachel has spent her life on the periphery of everyone else's life wanting to be part of the group but instead had the role of the observer in life.
Giving birth to a still-born daughter ten years previously caused Rachel to draw her husband Andrew and son Jono close to her. Poor Jono has been Rachel and Andrew's sheild against the world and the centre of theirs. Suzanne Bugler's descriptions of the cloying and suffocating result are so realistic it is almost painful and as a reader we observe Jono struggling with growing up and fighting against his parents. Rachel is then drawn back to the past and the death of a friend of a friend who died aged sixteen, following her mother and trying to involve herself in her life. As Rachel's interest in the past increases her marriage disintegrates further. Rachel can't let go of the past but thinks she has found a way to live her life....
As in This Perfect World the author's words bring the scene's to life. Her observations on how cruel, selfish and unkind the human race can be are captured perfectly creating dark and compelling stories. I can't wait for the next one!
Giving birth to a still-born daughter ten years previously caused Rachel to draw her husband Andrew and son Jono close to her. Poor Jono has been Rachel and Andrew's sheild against the world and the centre of theirs. Suzanne Bugler's descriptions of the cloying and suffocating result are so realistic it is almost painful and as a reader we observe Jono struggling with growing up and fighting against his parents. Rachel is then drawn back to the past and the death of a friend of a friend who died aged sixteen, following her mother and trying to involve herself in her life. As Rachel's interest in the past increases her marriage disintegrates further. Rachel can't let go of the past but thinks she has found a way to live her life....
As in This Perfect World the author's words bring the scene's to life. Her observations on how cruel, selfish and unkind the human race can be are captured perfectly creating dark and compelling stories. I can't wait for the next one!
March 20, 2016
This author's descriptions are brilliant. With this and her other book 'This Perfect World' you get a clear and horrifying description of what it is like a belong to the world of middle class, competitive, private school families - thankfully not a world I've ever belonged to. However unlike 'Perfect World' I could not warm at all to Rachel the main character at all. Mainly when I realised that Jono was 13 and not about 6 as I had originally assume from how she treated him. She fell into the trap of giving her whole life to her only son and expecting him to love her back unconditionally. It all falls apart when he becomes and teenage and a bit of a s**t, but that's life. I wanted to tell her to get a life, literally, and back off the kid. Jono will respect you more and once the teenage years are past he'll become a nice person again. I felt for her previous loss obviously and her angst as a teenage, something I can identify with. I'm not sure I liked the ending but am not sure what else could have happened. All a bit of a car crash waiting to happen really, but a really well written book.
April 22, 2014
Such an introspective book, and fairly depressing for the most part.
I didn't warm to Rachel at all. I get it that she had suffered a tragedy, but surely she should have begun to move on. And for a mother who kept on about how her son was her whole world couldn't she step outside herself and see how unhappy she was making hom? I felt really sorry for Andrew and Jono both. Rachel just became a self obsessed irritant. She was constantly seeing herself on the outside of things, and I can undersatnd why. Who on earth would welcome such a person into their midst.
I began to warm to her a bit in the last couple of chapters, and I thought that the ending was good, but on the whole, although I enjoyed the writing and the style, the main character was just too much.
I didn't warm to Rachel at all. I get it that she had suffered a tragedy, but surely she should have begun to move on. And for a mother who kept on about how her son was her whole world couldn't she step outside herself and see how unhappy she was making hom? I felt really sorry for Andrew and Jono both. Rachel just became a self obsessed irritant. She was constantly seeing herself on the outside of things, and I can undersatnd why. Who on earth would welcome such a person into their midst.
I began to warm to her a bit in the last couple of chapters, and I thought that the ending was good, but on the whole, although I enjoyed the writing and the style, the main character was just too much.
March 24, 2015
Dark and unsettling in places but a definite page turner! I was confused for a while at the relevence of the 'childhood friend's death' backstory but I feel this particular trauma in the lead characters' past contributed to why she was so obsessive, impulsive and full of a deep rooted sadness. This book was very easy to read - everything flowed well which kept me gripped to the end. I'm looking forward to reading more from Suzanne Bugler.
February 5, 2012
I loved this perfect world one of my favourite books I had read - so i thought I would try another book by Suzanne Bugler. This book was depressing. I found the characters were unlikeable. It was an easy read though and I did want to finish the book but I was very disappointed as I expected it to be as good as this perfect world.
May 11, 2013
It was well written and it had everything it needed in order to create a world that the reader could fall into. However, the main character was seriously annoying with the amount of self-pitying crap that surrounded her.
May 26, 2013
After 25% reading I gave up on this book. I can't even remember the narrators name but she was severely depressed, probably with a few other disorders thrown in for good measure. I did not find it enjoyable reading.
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