Book #48: Middle England by Jonathan Coe
Middle England by Jonathan Coe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First off, I had not read the first two "Rotters Club" books, so perhaps I would have been more familiar with some of the characters if I had. I started with this one, as it was chosen for a book club that I've recently joined.
The book revolves around members of the same large family, and I spent a lot of my time making copious notes to remind myself how all the characters were related. The novel contains a number of intertwined stories involving the various characters, living in the Tory-run 2010s.
Family patriarch Colin has been widowed, and his middle-aged son Benjamin is a struggling author. Grand-daughter Sophie has finished university, and is in a relationship with a man called Ian, despite the fact that they have very different political views. Another character, Doug, works for parliament, and has to deal with a lot of the fallout from the Brexit referendum.
As well as being about the lives of the characters, the book has them observing the political situations of the time when this book is set, so it has them talking about Brexit a lot, and speculating what things would be like if Donald Trump were elected President.
I liked the fact that this was quite a simple book to follow, once I remembered who everyone was, and the characters' storylines always felt unpredictable, so one moment things would be going smoothly for one character, the next they would be embarking on an extra-marital affair. I also liked the fact that the book provided an accurate portrayal of England and British attitudes, particularly at the time of Brexit, with one character summing up Britain by stating that "we are a nation of cranks".
Overall, I was glad that I read this, and am definitely tempted to read the previous novels in the series.
View all my reviews