My Real Children
Ratings27
Average rating4
This was a lovely book. I had no idea what I was in for when I started reading, but very soon could not put it down.
This novel was an incredible work of literature. Walton creates characters that live and breathe beyond the page, and her prose is subtly beautiful and poetic. Patricia's lives are filled with easily recognizable moments of everyday life, which makes them all the more tragic as we experience them along with her. Throughout Patricia's lives, Walton creates emotional connections that will stay with the reader long after they've turned the last page.
More details at https://northerntomorrows.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/my-real-children/
This is a 4.5 stars for me.In a sense, not much happens (which can also be said about [b:Among Others 8706185 Among Others Jo Walton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317792367s/8706185.jpg 6449955]) though two lives shouldn't really be described as “not much”. This is a relatively gentle story and beautifully written - I can't wait to read [b:The Just City 22055276 The Just City Jo Walton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416448145s/22055276.jpg 39841651]
The brilliance of this book is in the details. Both lives of Patricia contrast in obvious, clichéd ways. The details of both her lives is what made this book lovely. The awful, soul-destroying relationship, and the wonderful, supportive relationship. The life with no career and the life being financially independent. The life with children who love and respect her in her elderly years, and the life where her children shove her in a home.
The book isn't without flaws. Most of the dialogue was stilting and felt unnatural. The awfulness of one life in contrast to the ‘fantastic' other life really was predictable and annoying. The threesomes with Michael without the need for making babies? Ehhh. I'm also really not a fan of alt history at all, although that isn't really a big thing in the book (think Forrest Gump: the story is about his life, rather than the history that happens around him).
But, I love that things happened to Patricia at the same time in both lives. The description of those lives is the best part. The tedium of a boring life with a boring husband. The joy of finding an equal to spend your life with. The awfulness of pregnancy and childbirth and raising toddlers. The wonderfulness of finding something fulfilling to do with your life and time. I relate to a lot of those things. I cried a lot.
This reads like a long list of things that happen to Patricia. Patricia went to Oxford. Tricia met Mark. Pat met Bee. Tricia had four children. Pat wrote travel books about Italy. The background of her life is interesting, such as nuclear attacks on Miami and Kiev, an alternate assassination of Kennedy, but the overall style of the book becomes tedious. The parallel lives are an interesting concept, but are barely addressed, leading to a feeling of reading two plotlines simultaneously without a satisfying intersection. You might as well read two books at the same time to get a similar effect.