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5.0 out of 5 stars
You Only Hurt the Ones You Love..., Oct 22 2002
Sometimes it's hard to review Joanna Trollope's books for fear of putting off a potential reader. Such is the case with "Other People's Children," which is a brilliant look at what step- families are really like. I know that I, reading the above sentence, would think, "Oh, not again, it's been done to death, yuck." And then I would have missed one of Trollope's best works, one that is not boring in the least, and that has such insight, such truth, that it can enrich any reader.So. That having been said, please bear with me as I try to explain this book, which is slight on plot and heavy on insight. It involves a number of very nice people of all ages, from young Rufus, just 7 when the book begins, to a 20-something engaged couple, to a 30-something newly married pair who are blending their respective families, to a May-September relationship between a single woman in her early 40s, Elizabeth, and a twice-married architect with two adult children from his first marriage, and Rufus from his second. This man's name is Tom. It is his adult son, Lucas, who is engaged (to Amy), and his second wife, Josie, mother of Rufus, whose recent remarriage has blended two families. Her husband, Matthew, has his hands full with his teenaged girl and boy, and a younger girl as well, all of them products of a highly dysfunctional mother whose sick dependence on them makes it nearly impossible for Matthew and Josie to have a normal life, especially with Lucas added to the mix. It is Tom's adult daughter Dale, however, who causes the most destruction in this story, once again illustrating Trollope's favorite "no man is an island" theme. Having lost her mother at the tender age of 4, Dale, now a successful businesswoman in her 30s, cannot let go of her clinging (and cloying) attachment to her father Tom or her brother Lucas. She retains a key to her childhood home and barges in whenever she feels like it, despite the fact that Elizabeth, Tom's fiancée, now lives there, and that Dale's young step-brother Lucas spends some weekends there as well. Dale is the catalyst for the eventual destruction of some relationships, and the triumph of others. The rippling effect of her neurotic behavior is catastrophic, even though she consciously means no harm. Does love conquer all? Not in this book--and not in real life, either. Kudos to Trollope for pointing this out, and for having the courage to resist a pat ending.
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