MADreads

Couldn’t help but like it

September 17th, 2008 Lisa - Central

As I’ve been thinking on what to say here about The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley, everything I come up with makes the book seem less than appealing. But I really liked this book. 

The main character, 40-something Kate Flynn, quits her college teaching job in London to go to Cardiff, Wales, to care for her aging and close-to-senile mom, Billie. She’s kind of mean to her. Though with Billie almost all the time, Kate bosses her around and is always trying to make her leave the room. Then, after she bumps into the married brother (David) of her oldest friend (Carol), Kate fancies herself attracted to him. And, she allows an affair to develop with David’s teenaged son, Jamie. He’s not even 18. Ewww.

So, what is there to like? The setting, for one. Billie lives in a big old house called Firenze, once part of an ancestral estate bordering a lake. It’s a heavenly place, with odd-shaped rooms, stained glass windows and lots of history. 

The characters, for another. I liked Kate despite her being a real mess. You can’t help but think she ran away from a pretty good life. Yet she seems almost incapable of caring for her own self, let alone her mom. But in a ethereal, not ditsy, way.  And she really isn’t mean to Billie. While she talks gruff, she’s attentive to her, filling her with the sweets she loves, playing music with her, taking her to the local coffee shop.  Billie is a dear. Always positive, loving and happy. 

David is a bit of a mess. His second wife,  Suzie, stepmom to Jamie, is having some sort of mid-life crisis, which she won’t speak of. But she’s galavanting about with her friends, who drink and smoke (yes, marijuana) and live the bohemian life. Poor David’s a bore, and completely bewildered by Suzie’s behavior, and just wants his family back. Though he finds he has feelings for Kate, which sets up a nasty triangle.

And Jamie is just finishing his A levels, unsure about what to do afterwards. When he learns Kate knew his mom (she committed suicide when he was little), he meets with Kate so he can learn more. Soon he’s smitten, and torments her until she gives in.

I found all of Hadley’s characters oddly appealing, and her slow unfolding of the story elegant and sympathetic. And I found myself a little sad when it ended.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction