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Saturday 7 November 2009

Bradshaw Variations by Rachel Cusk * * * *

I found this a refreshing change from a lot of my recent reading. It's a harder book to review as I liked it a lot and it's always easier to say what was wrong with a book.
An enjoyable, engrossing book, charting a year in the lives of the Bradshaws told from the perspectives of various family members - the elderly mother, the three sons, their wives .Not a book of fast paced action but one of the gradual unfolding of characters, their lives, habits, histories and hopes, with the search for artistic inner self-exploration thwarted by the outer world of work and on-going family life .
Why only 4 stars? The title is taken from a musical concept and music plays an important part in the life of at least one of the major characters. Unfortunately I felt, as a totally non-musical person, that some of the analogies were lost on me - on a second reading I might take the time to find out what they mean.

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