(Book #41) Sharon hosted and her meal was inspired by the June’s wish to take her gay uncle’s partner back to England before his health prevented it. Our meal was British meat pies, peas and salad and Sharon served a berry cobbler for dessert.
The book was well appreciated by most of us and it sparked some interesting conversation — about art and about the mother and two daughters daring to paint on the brother/uncle’s canvas. I wasn’t convinced about the relationship between the two sisters but Geri and Susan found it realistic. My Goodreads review reveals that I was the odd one out opinion-wise:
I wasn’t as enamored by this book as I had expected to be. I liked Finn and Toby and I could appreciate that June had a crush on her uncle. I enjoyed the references to Finn shining through Toby or the other way around, but that was about it. Danielle did not seem at all real to me, the meanness of the older sister, her drinking and the leaf burial — was so out of proportion for its emotional source. And the lying was maddening. –we all fall into lying as teenagers but nothing ever seemed to mean enough to anyone to be honest with sister, brother, uncle, parents or themselves.