The Other Son

A beautiful book that explores so many (for some people) uncomfortable topics concerning love, marriage and the need to see other peoples’ way forward as right for them, while preserving your own integrity.

This for me is a story of two halves. The first part for me was slow and up and down. It starts off with Alice who is married to a bully Ken who is insufferable with violent tendencies they have 2 sons Tim and Matt. Tim, hugely successful banker is never quite satisfied, he has the dream house, wife and children but is always wanting the approval of his parents who only point out the negativesThe other son Matt leaves home at an early age taking himself out of the toxic environment of his family. He is the reverse doing what Alice deems as menial, trivial jobs, travelling the world until on his travels he meets someone and decides to settle in France.One day the mother’s best friend Dot leaves her overbearing husband and the affect it has on Alice is amazing. She finds herself standing up to Ken and he thinks things are settled with his fists.After some wrangling Alice decides to visit Matt in France for a break to clear her head, Matt is dreading her visit because his partner’s parents are completely the opposite of his family and display genuine love for him and he dreads his mother Alice upsetting the apple cart.The second half of the book is my favourite section and there are a few revelations then we see the real Alice slowly evolving. It takes a few conversations with Matts much younger partner for Alice to wake up. This book finished where it starts to get interesting for me now I have seen there is a Christmas bonus mini sequel.

This book was a good read with good detail and characters but I felt that there was no real end it just seemed to stop

I judge the worth of a book by asking myself three things 1. Is it well written?, 2. Are the characters believable and do I care about them?, 3. Do I find it difficult to put the book down? I have read two of Nick Alexander's books: The Photographers's Wife and The Other Son and he passed my 'worthy' criteria on both counts.When I started reading The Other Son, I thought that I was going to struggle to maintain interest. The characters seemed a bit like middle-class cliches and very dull. I couldn't have been more wrong. The author's perception of the human condition was so keen, that I was drawn in.Troubled families dynamics always make interesting reading. I had little sympathy with some of the characters in this book initially, but did have a great deal of sympathy for Alice. Relegated to the role of housewife whilst young and abused by an alcoholic husband who holds the purse strings, she 'fails' in the role of a mother in that she fails to protect her children from her violent husband. This 'failure' and the fact that she stays and tolerates the abuse means that she develops poor relationships with her grown-up sons; one, Matt, being absent from the first half of the book.As the story unfolds, the reader gains a better understanding of why one son has disappeared and the other is so materialistic and judgementally intolerant of his parents. Like all good novels, however, there is some redemption for at least two members of the family as the story unfolds.There are some issues that prevent this book from being five stars. There are many unanswered questions. What happened to the materialistic son and his wife, Tim and Natalya? What was in that registered package delivered to Tim's home? I was sure that we'd find out that he was being made redundant. What about Ken, the husband who appeared to have a character change towards the end of the book?Although these issues were left dangling in the ether, this doesn't doesn't detract from the fact The Other Son is an excellent read. Perhaps the author is planning a sequel? I do hope so.

This book is very intense and brings home the effects of a brutal man upon his family. I felt no sympathy for the father and could only wonder that the long-suffering wife stayed as long as she did. The effect on the children was carried forward to adulthood and their own families; ends were tied up satisfactorily eventually but not as one would expect. A disturbing and thought-provoking book which would have had 5 stars if it hadn't all been written in the present tense, even the flashbacks - how is that possible? I'll probably read it again, but not for a long time.

Nick Alexander requested that readers of this novel should post comments so I will. Initially, I didn't think that I would finish this book as I was beginning to find it somewhat tedious after an otherwise excellent start. However, one of the things I have learnt from being a member of a book group is that I really should finish a book in order to make a valid comment. So I did! It was at that point when the atmosphere of the book began to change and me with it. I began to feel a strong empathy with the main character and in the last third of the book, I couldn't put it down! I have given 4 stars because of my initial reaction but feel that as the book reflected, earlier family life of a couple and their two sons and the lives they had led the content reached a point which slowly developed into an enlightening for the wife, now in her sixties. I too lived those moments with her and was anxious that in her Autumnal years, she would find it in herself to make radical changes. I enjoyed the philosophical aspect of comparisons between the various members of the family and the surprising revelations at the end. I am trying to say as little as possible about the actual content in order to avoid the spoilers. All I can say is that the book has left me thinking about it several weeks after I had finished it. ( Always a sign of a good read!) And after a shaky moment or two, it developed into a satisfying read. I also feel that it would make an excellent television dramatisation... with much to contemplate.