The Red House - Mark Haddon

I was genuinely thrilled to have the opportunity to read the new novel by Mark Haddon. Like millions I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.  I really enjoyed A Spot of Bother too. I liked the idea behind this book. A brother and sister holiday together after their mother’s death, taking their children with them to spend a week in a rented holiday cottage on the Welsh border near Hay-on-Wye. The siblings, Angela and Richard, aren’t at all close, so we realise that this may be an uncomfortable week, and sit back with some relish to discover the clashes and confrontations that may occur in amongst the attempts at forced friendliness. There are eight characters in all, and the narrative brings together the thoughts and conversations of all eight of them. Angela and husband Dominic, and their three children, teenagers Alex and Daisy, and young Benjy, and Richard, and his new wife Louisa and her teenage daughter Melissa. There is also the additional character who features prominently in Angela’s thoughts, her stillborn daughter Karen.

In one sense the author’s use of so many different voices is a wonderful approach as it gives us eight different perspectives on things, eight very individual characters, all with their different anxieties and concerns for us to discover. We see how each of them interacts with the other family members when all suddenly thrust together at such close quarters for a week. For all of them, the time away sees them thinking about what is really happening in their lives, and exposes the realities of their lives, the shortcomings in their friendships and relationships; the truths behind things that are normally shelved away at the back of the mind during daily life come creeping to the fore here. There are some keen insights into how the generations view each other; there is one moment where teenager Daisy actually realises her mother is a human being, but only for a moment – she soon becomes just her mother again. And when Melissa, the same age as Daisy, realises that she hates something her father has suggested to her about her life, predominantly because she sees that it may well be true, and that is unbearable.

On the other hand, this number of perspectives makes for rather a disjointed narrative, jumping from one person to another sometimes every page or even more often. Additionally, the author has added in excerpts from books the characters are reading, mentions of the music they are listening to, aspects of the house’s history, which does add another dimension to the characters and the setting, but again halts the flow of the narrative significantly. Further, we have the character’s random thoughts about past events and people in their lives. There are also passages where there are various thoughts or ideas expressed in a ‘quick-fire’ way, a barrage of words hitting us.

It felt like the presiding view was a rather gloomy outlook on life and the world overall, which actually felt realistic and accurate to me; at the end of the day, this is what people are like, full of insecurities, regrets, anxieties, and the author captures that so well here.

It is a thought-provoking read, and it is perceptive, at times poignant and certainly insightful.  I felt from reading the premise that I would love this story, and I jumped in eagerly. I very much admire anyone who can write a novel and I always hesitate to say I didn't love a book but somehow this one wasn’t quite a favourite for me despite many aspects of it which I admired.

Published by Jonathan Cape