Uncle Paul: Welcome to the Nightmare Summer Holiday
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Uncle Paul: Welcome to the Nightmare Summer Holiday
- Brand: Unbranded
Description
Guy has been doing some Celia Fremlin reviews lately and I have been trying to get The Parasite Person.
Isabel has married Phillip in some haste and seems to know little about him and Meg is the same, her fancy man, Freddy is fun to be with, but she has no clue who "his people" are. It all comes to a glorious climax which is, arguably, more 'psychological' than some of Fremlin's later books. All the organisation, the packing, the high expectations and then the panic that after all that effort, nobody seems to be having fun.Uncle Paul delivered on spine-chilling thrills but does not feel like a novel destined to live long in the memory. First, Mildred had to change into an entirely new outfit, including a different shade of nail varnish which took a quarter of an hour to dry. Rich in psychological insight and dark humor, the elegant, razor-sharp quality of Fremlin's writing provides page-turning excitement.
Fremlin is always wonderful for her acute observations and for the social history embedded in her books and, for the first half, the creepy element felt like an add on to me that rather distracted from all the delights of awkward children (Cedric, the boy who knows everything; Peter and 'sharkie' who lives under the caravan steps), squabbling with fellow guests at a nearby hotel over when to light a fire, and the inevitable colonel who wants to run everything.Yes, this book is entertaining, there are some funny moments and it's clever, but still I ask myself - the point?
It was a bit slow and I didn't identify with any of the main characters in the way that I did in her other books. She seems largely unknown, but maybe this will be another hit for Faber, and bring her some of the recognition she deserves. Fremlin had been on my ‘must try’ list for years, so I’m very happy to have finally got around to her!Mildred betrayed him to the police, and now he is due to be released and may be seeking revenge By coincidence, Mildred is staying in the same cottage they honeymooners in all those years ago. It’s a curious combination of wry humour (which I enjoyed), gentle suspense and an ending that rings rather hollow and melancholy.
The title to be read and discussed is sign-posted and on sale for the whole of the previous month (with a discount for those who make it known they intend to come) and everybody is welcome, whether first-timer, part-timer or regular-timer. Even with a bit of eye-rolling, this was a quick read and comes in toward the bottom of the 3-star group. The problem is that Isabel, who has two young sons, is currently on a caravan holiday at the seaside, with second husband, Philip. There's maybe one or two references to women being hysterical or not being able to "hang onto" a man (rather than the man simply being a womanizer) but they are few and far between.
Perhaps this is unsurprising - I identified strongly with the first novel's sleep-deprived protagonist and never felt the same sense of kinship with any of the characters here. It seems that Mildred has left Hubert and ended up at a nearby cottage – the very same cottage where she honeymooned with her first husband, Paul, some fifteen years earlier.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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