Caro Fraser
Autor(a) de The Pupil
About the Author
Séries
Obras de Caro Fraser
Fugitive from the grave 1 exemplar(es)
The Summer House Party 1 exemplar(es)
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome padrão
- Fraser, Caro
- Nome de batismo
- Fraser, Caroline
- Data de nascimento
- 1953
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- UK
- Local de nascimento
- Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK
- Locais de residência
- Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK - Educação
- Glasgow High School
The Buchan School - Ocupação
- novelist
copywriter
commercial and maritime lawyer - Relacionamentos
- Fraser, George Macdonald (father)
Membros
Resenhas
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 19
- Membros
- 633
- Popularidade
- #39,816
- Avaliação
- 3.1
- Resenhas
- 16
- ISBNs
- 105
- Idiomas
- 3
- Favorito
- 1
The promising blurb, about a post-war country house party involving a 'scandalous' couple and a dark family secret, is over in the first fifty pages, killing off one of the few bearable characters in the whole book. What's left, after more convenient deaths of the 'old guard', is a motley crew of 'young things', who are self-obsessed, pathetic and believe in keeping it in the family. Covering fifteen years, in fits and starts, we follow feuding half-sisters Avril and Laura, obnoxious orphan Max, random godson Philip and Max's dodgy mate Alec. After falling for a black musician, because of course she does, Beautiful Laura - her looks are her whole personality - sleeps with former evacuee cockney Sid, who makes her a modelling star overnight, Avril's beloved Philip, and then her Uncle Dan. Both she and Avril are obsessed with Philip for a time, and I could not figure out the attraction, for the life of me. Max ruins Laura's relationship with the black musician - called Ellis Candy, I kid you not - and then realises he doesn't actually love her and ends up shagging his cousin instead. It's suggested that he's actually gay, but I suspect the views of various characters that 'homosexuality' is 'disgusting' and 'a sin' actually belong to the author, so there is little positive inclusivity to be found here. Avril and Laura bicker over men and Laura's lost inheritance - Avril's father 'seduced' his daughter's seventeen year old nanny and Laura was the result, brought up by 'Aunt Sonia', Avril's mother. Max hates Dan for killing his father with the revelation of his affair with poor Meg, even though Max actually did kill his mother by throwing a tantrum and making her chase after him while heavily pregnant. Hey ho!
The writing is also terrible - Caro Fraser, daughter of George 'Flashman' MacDonald Fraser, is patron saint of tell don't show and lacks any kind of subtlety or nuance. Every character is analysed to within an inch of their life, and we get passages like 'She caught sight of her reflection, and the way she looked reassured her, reminding her of what he saw, what everyone saw. Sometimes her beauty felt like her only strength', instead of - oh, I don't know - letting readers deduce from actions and dialogue what motivates the characters.
From the narrow lives of the ten per cent, with their art galleries and misogyny, to the latent homophobia and distinctly male bias - are we sure that George MacDonald Fraser is actually dead and didn't write this himself? - I can't honestly believe I kept reading. Bonus point for not giving Laura her HEA with Ellis Candy in the end, though.… (mais)