Saturday 4 November 2017

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

"Here was the most remarkable thing about the Keating children: they did not hate one another, nor did they possess one shred of tribal loyalty."
Families are complicated, their strange inconsistencies are a never-ending source of fascination. Patchett's novel really captures the ins and outs of the strange way that families function. An unlikely dalliance combines two very disparate families and some rather earth shattering consequences. It took me a little while to get into this and when I did I was hooked. The author beautifully captures multifaceted dimensions of the same story through the perceptions of all the players. There is also another level to appreciate there, the tale within a tale, first in the form of Leon Posen's novel and then its cinematic interpretation. Indeed there is something particularly post modern about the whole conceit and it is a delight. It is rare to find a novel with so many emotional and cerebral touch points and that can only be a testament to the work of its creator,


5 out of 5 would be authors dream of that kind of skill.

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