Juliet Rodgers
What a remarkable novel. It is indeed beautifully written - and that doesn't happen often enough - and unfolds a fascinating, gripping story. Readers may not entierely identify with all the characters, but the insight of the writer/narrator is considerable and, I would suggest, touches nerves in all of us. The relentless battles of bringing up this extraordinary child are very powefully drawn without creating a depressing read. A truly fascinating study of parenthood, evil -and where it comes from - and love. I am recommending it to my teenage children.
A-M Tootell
This book left me breathless with anticipation.I am a mother of young children myself and totally in love with both my small girls. Even so how refreshing to read a book about a mother who doesn't actually like her child. How refreshing to read a story about a mother who might have got it wrong!A welcome change from the usual deluge of child-rearing literature telling us either how to be uber-mums or moaning about lack of sleep/"me-time" and social-life!!!
Rowena Hay
I very recently read this novel and consider it to be one of the best books I have read in many years. It generated a number of debates in my house: Is there such a thing as a person who is completely evil? What do the future generations have to aspire to? What is the impact of our society's obsesion with fame and celebrity? Is the media responsible for promoting extreme acts? Once I finished the novel I lent it to my mother and that opened up another can of worms, including the unexpected ending, how much we both cried and the idea that this is actually an incredible love story! Unlike lots of recent prize winners (the Booker is particularly guilty), this novel is intelligent and articulate without being deliberately clever, wordy and overly self-aware. Can anyone recommend a book that won't seem disappointing after this one?
ursula worlock
Enthralling book. Years ago I read The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, a similar dark tale. I was haunted by it for years, and then discovered Lionel Shriver's book. It is incredibly detailed with a huge amount of social observation of American attitudes to teenage angst and criminality.The suspense is almost unbearable as awful cruelties are revealed one by one, and it is truly gripping.I shall definitely be including it in my Book Group box.
Nicolas Berkowitz Werner
This book was quite appallingly brilliant, unremitting in its unfolding horror. My only reservation is that it was written entirely from the mother's point of view. Although, given the way the story ends, another narrator would be impossible. Horrifyingly good.
lisa pettit
An amazing book. I knew little about the author when I read it and am very surprised that she has no children or ever likely too. The characters were very extreme but I believe this is what made it such a good read. And what about the ending! One of the most surprising ends - I cried in lots of places, but maybe most at the end. One of my top 5 novels of all time. I probably would not have picked this up to read, so am grateful for my Book Club which featured this for our summer read. I have read 4 of the other Orange prizewinners but I think this deserves to win!
Carrie Parker
I have only read a handful of the other books on the list, but I found this one the book that most impressed me, held my attention, and made me think. I could not put it down. I think the most scary thing was how believable it all felt. The mother isn't wholly sympathetic and yet you can't help but feel desperate and trapped on her behalf. I've been trying to make all my friends read it so I can have somebody to discuss it with. Depressing, thought-proviking, fascinating
Sue Earney
I was intrigued and disturbed by this book which I have just finished. I also thought the characters were not quite real. However, as I have issues with both my children aged 16 and 21 I wanted to consider some of those darker thoughts and worries that can swirl around as guilt and regret rather than understanding. I would be unsure about recommending it though, maybe because people would think of me as macabre!
Michelle Scott
I understood the basics before I tackled this book – that this was a novel comprised of a series of letters from the mother of a high school mass killer to the father of the boy, going over the past and, in some ways, attempting to answer the question “Why did he do it?” Along the way there is some discussion about the frequency of such occurrences, such that a broader “Why?” question is posed, the American psyche and culture, and a range of other issues that give the reader food for thought. Lionel Shriver is a very talented writer and obviously very intelligent. The book is beautifully crafted and well thought out. However I don’t know that I would highly recommend it to others. One word that continually came to mind as I read this was “unrelenting”. The characters and attitudes seem to me to be too black and white – the son too unlovable to be true, the father too forgiving to be true, the mother too perceptive and detached to be true. Hence I felt more that they were all concepts rather than people – I didn’t feel that I got to know an American upper middle class family, and I certainly didn’t identify with them in the way I had anticipated I would. I felt that the book should have left most of us parents with a feeling of “There but for the grace of God….” but because the characters weren’t quite believable, it didn’t. This is a lengthy book, which would probably have benefited from shortening, and because I could early on guess at the likely outcome, there was also an unrelenting feel about the drawn out passage to this – to me inevitable although to some others shocking – conclusion. I was pleased to finish the book, but on balance probably glad I had read it. I give it two stars for the craftsmanship, the originality, and the food for thought it provides today’s parents with.
Tina Constantinou
This book deserves to be the winner. The story is dark and bleak and forces women to think about areas in their lives which are never ever discussed. Shriver contracts simple paragraphs which force one to stop and think. A very thought provoking book.
carol foster
I'm delighted this book won this year's Orange prize. I confess I haven't read the other books on the shortlist, but this is possibly the most exciting and challenging modern novel I've read. It is so bleak and yet laugh out loud funny at many, many points, and I think Shriver has brought into the open what many women feel on occasion and are loath to admit. It is brave, controversial, thought-provoking, beautifully written - everything you would want in a book. Brilliant choice!
