This is about a middle class family living in Oxford. I know they are middle class because they called their son Hector - no clearer benchmark of Middle-Classdom in my opinion. Names got in the way of it a bit for me. The father’s name is Ezra Pepin, which conjured up in my mind a Quentin Blake illustration. Any Quentin Blake illustration. They had to stop sounding ridiculous before the story could stop feeling like fiction.

Oddly enough I rather liked the family - there was something endearing about a family group who go swimming together at the weekend without the teenagers objecting to being seen out with parents. There was an unrushed quality to the writing here and elsewhere as the author seems to sit back and simply observe his characters going about their day-to-day business. His observation of small insignificant details is excellent and frequently amusing (“...he tracked a pocket of air around his colon, until it left his body with an agreeable report.”). I also very much liked the depiction of family friends Simon and Minty’s dissatisfaction with their marriage, despite outward appearances. As an aside, the idea of marketing something called ISIS Water in the Middle East.....well, hindsight is everything!

The blurb on the back cover implies that the family is going to implode. And yet one cannot initially imagine such a family imploding. And this implosion takes a very long time. It is a long time in which assumptions made by the reader are gradually and subtly revealed as false. Those who enjoy implosions are unlikely to be disappointed. ( )

The story of an apparently happy family, who have a lot going on under the surface. I liked some of the people, and loved the early chapters of this book, which were written with observational skill to rival Anne Tyler, describing the family minutely in every day activities, with an amusing style.

Gradually I found it getting more sordid, and the climax was shocking, though not entirely unexpected. I found the ending somewhat disturbing... overall it was an interesting read; perhaps three-and-a-half stars rather than three, but I doubt if I'll read it again. ( )

I've had this audiobook knocking around for so long and listened to it in such small segments that it feels like it's been more soap opera than novel. The Archers transplanted to middle class Oxford, the trials and tribulations over a few months of the Peppin's family life: mostly Ezra and Sheena and their relationship with the eldest of their three children, teenager Blaise. I think I spent longer getting through it than the timespan it covered. It's difficult to think of it as a whole novel with a coherent plot but the ending seemed out of kilter with the rest of it - maybe it wouldn't have been if I'd read it at a reasonable pace. Point of interest: mentions of Ezra's childhood come up from time to time, he went to one of my almae matres: Devizes School. A most odd thing to find in a book!

This book is a bit disjointed, and I'm still not sure how we got to where we did in the end. Still an enjoyable read though ( )

Just not that great. It was all a bit obvious - a portrait of a supposedly typical middle-class family with ridiculous names, who are politically active and oh-so-moral on the surface of things, who are actually really horrible people.

For me, I found the main characters irratating from the first chapter - I liked Ezra and hated the way his wife Sheena treated him, but he also acts pretty disgustingly later, so I revised my opinion to 'they deserve each other', as Pears no doubt intended. I couldn't identify with Sheena in any way - least of all when she sugested that they should celebrate the fact their just-turned 14 year old daughter lost her virginity to a forty-something man.

In summary, the characters weren't plausible - they were purely satirical, and I just didn't find it enjoyable. ( )