At the Table: a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

Product Information

Set in 2018, Claire Powell's beautifully observed debut novel follows each member of the Maguire family over a tumultuous year of lunches, dinners and drinks, as old conflicts arise and relationships are re-evaluated. Thirteen days before they are due to be married, Kit reveals an awful truth, cracking the facade Piglet has created. this was easy enough to read and has some excellent isolated scenes (particularly love the blow job in the office!

For a novel that has virtually no plot, the characters should have been the focal point of the narrative; instead they were one-dimensional, unsympathetic, and just plain boring. Nicole starts to revisit in her mind an old relationship that ended badly, and begins to rely on alcohol more and more to get through the day. But as the siblings grapple with the pressures of thirtysomething life, their parents struggle to protect the fragile façade of their own relationship, and the secrets they've both been keeping.

So when Linda and Gerry announce that they’ve decided to separate, the news sends shockwaves through the siblings’ lives, forcing them to confront their own expectations and desires. Windows users should also consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, or switching to Firefox or Chrome. Any reader will recognise the behaviours and may also have experienced the family dramas themselves.

I felt secondhand embarrassment reading the scenes between one character and his love interest, the attempt at flirtation actually pained me. The characters and their motivations were so criminally underdeveloped, I still don’t know why anyone did anything or what I was supposed to feel when they did it.I found myself absorbed in them, caring about them, wanting them to do the right thing , and I was very sorry to leave them. Jedyne określenie jakie przychodzi mi do głowy to że ta książka jest bardzo płaska, bohaterowie też, niby coś się dzieje ale jakby nic. Her short fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and in 2017 she won the Harper's Bazaar short story contest. As he pulls out his phone, the next sentence reads ‘She could tell immediately that it was a video of a child. A gripping yet tender depiction of family dynamics, love and disillusionment, At the Table is about what it means to grow up – both as an individual, and as a family.