Blood is Thicker Than Water

The Old Romantic
Louise Dean
Fiction


This book lost me quite a few times. Not in the sense that I had to put it down because I was fed up with it, but because I got confused. There were POV changes and flashbacks and so many different people that I had to pay very close attention and read every single word. It was exhausting.

The Old Romantic is the convoluted tale of Ken, Nick, Dave, June, Pearl, Astrid and a bunch of other people. But those six are all connected via family ties. Of course, Louise Dean doesn’t bother to give us the family’s last name. Can I just say how much that irks me? I like knowing those kinds of little details. In fact, when I’m writing, one of my favorite parts is thinking up character names—first and last. Anyway, Ken’s a cranky old bugger who’s been estranged from his son for awhile but decides he’s ready to die now and wants to make peace. With Nick (who used to be Gary and don’t ask me why he changed his name because I’m pretty sure it was never explained), who is living with Astrid, who has a daughter, but not by him, because they’re not married. Dave is Niry’s younger brother, who actually is happy with his wife and kids (unlike pretty much every other guy in this book). Then there’s June, Ken’s second wife, who is very unhappy. But not as much as Pearl, his first wife, because... Well, I won’t give it away. Mainly because I’m already sick of explaining it all.

I loved the details of the English towns. Being part English myself and having been to the UK a lot, I love reading descriptions of the lovely small towns and thatched-roof homes. That’s probably the only thing I loved about this book, though. The POV switches way too much and without breaks so one second you’re hearing Astrid’s thoughts and then suddenly Niry’s bitching and moaning about something. I hate that. It takes me out of the novel when I have to stop and blink at the page and wonder who the hell’s head we’re in now and who’s this new lady, how is she related to these other people. The end is weird, too. Nothing is really resolved. You have two characters just watching TV and then boom. The End. None of the characters are particularly likeable, either. I’ll give Louise Dean props for making them three-dimensonal and mostly interesting, but by the time I got to the middle, I realized I didn’t give a damn whether any of them lived or died.

I suppose someone who is into the gloomy everydayness of life might like this novel. But if frequent POV changes and lots of characters popping in and out give you a headache, you should skip this one.