Author: Matt Haig
Publication date: July 1, 2010
Genres: Vampires, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Supernatural, YA
Book description (from back of book): The Radleys are an everyday family who juggle dysfunctional lives. Except, as Peter and Helen Radley know but their children have yet to find out, the Radleys happen to be a family of abstaining vampires. When one night Clara finds herself driven to commit a bloodthirsty act, her parents decide to explain a few things.
Review:
A very typical family, with everyone facing their own fears.
It feels very realistic. We have a pair of teenagers feeling like they don't fit anywhere. They are not part of the popular crowd. The young man is tall, and lanky; his awkward attitude makes him an easy target for bullies. The bullies are of course everyone, he is always alone and his only friend is his younger sister. High school is a nightmare for these kids.
The young woman is pretty average, but she is referred to as- weird. And even worse she is referred to as the sister of the weirdo. But she does not seem to be as ostracized as her brother. She wants her brother to stand up for himself but still, she is trying to fit in as well.
The parents are shown as a middle-aged couple, and their relationship is awful. The husband feels completely ignored (in his sexual needs mostly) and also the wife does not know how to communicate. They both feel like they gave up so much for their family and their spouse is an ungrateful bastard. This is a perfect example of where half the problems can be solved by a sincere heart-to-heart.
This touches on a few interesting points of everyday life:
-Underage drinking
-The hostility teenage girls face- young men being entitled and thinking they deserve the young women to simply provide sexual favors simply because. At the same time the men are champions for getting what they want and the women are considered skanks if they put out and even are insulted if they do not. So it's a typical lose-lose situation.
-We have several dysfunctional families. The Radleys are not the only example. But each of the different families mentioned has its own issues. A father who does not provide economic or emotional support to his daughter, a family who condones their son's bad habits, etc. The fact that each parent tries to show a good front in favor of the community does not mean they are good parenting examples.
-Parents impose lifestyles and keep secrets from children simply because they are too young. Even if this means the children cannot make their own decision in a health-related aspect for their own lives.
-Spouses lying to one another- possible cheating.
Among other things, it's pretty good to dissect the society represented here.
It was a terrific story, with up and downs, the family is very flawed but still, you are rooting for them. The only weak point would be the last chapter.
The husband looks spineless in front of the kids, the family friends etc. And the wife looks very detached and like she could care less about the husband. It seems like they are both keeping secrets, the guy wants to cheat, the wife seems like she had a past with the brother-in-law. Again this is a very realistic family drama.
The whole thing goes to hell, their perfect family pretense crashes and all because of a very stupid detail.
Clara, the Radley daughter, decides to become Vegan. She stops eating meat. Her parents, Peter and Helen know this is a bad idea. But because of their own ideals, they do not share the real reason they think their family should continue their protein-rich diet.
Clara is becoming ill, pretty often since she adopted her vegan diet; puking, and very aggressive weak spells. Until her body can't take it and she kills an awful example of a teen boy, a classmate of hers who tries to force himself on her in the typical aftermath of an underage drinking party.
The parents go to her, Clara is a panicked young woman having no idea what overcame her so she just calls her parents. They find her covered in blood and having a mental breakdown. The Radley parents finally after going in circles let the kids know what they are: Vampires. That's the start, now the family needs to figure out how to handle that revelation, avoid police investigation and save their family ties.
Clara gets used to the idea of vampirism pretty quickly, her brother though needs a bit more convincing. Enter the long-lost elder brother, the one uncle they didn't know existed on their father's side. Here is where you get the cheating spouse vibes.
A lot of family secrets are exposed. But overall their main issue is that the police know about vampires, they recognize the vampire attack and they're zoning into the Radleys.
This is very recommended. It is well-written and makes a quick read.
I read this book to cover several challenges:
The A to Z for book titles.
Author challenge- Matt Haig. I hope to get through all of his backlog titles.
Around the world. The author is British.
Rapid Readers Annual Readathon 2023- Starts with the letter R.
Books from my existing physical TBR.
On that last note, I managed to get a lot of my books pretty cheap from the used bookstore site https://www.abebooks.com/
They have a lot of options with free shipping within the US. The quality is pretty good. Some prices are better than others but it's worth to keep checking in for what you're looking for. Not sponsored but sometimes is hard to find out online bookstores. Hope this is helpful for others.
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