Black Boxes
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Julie Myerson meets Ian McEwan in this gripping novel of family breakdown.
Ana Lewis is trapped by her own expectations. Her intense relationship with fellow student Alex begins to crack beyond repair when she falls pregnant, and his subsequent withdrawal, emotionally and sexually are hard for Ana to bear. Eventually, following the birth of Pip and then Davie, Alex leaves Ana to a life of question and blame. Locked in her room for much of the time she woefully neglects her children, preferring instead to replay scenes from her life over and over, fighting the urge to blink for fear it should dissipate the memories.
Told within the context of two black boxes, one Ana’s and one Pip’s, the story reveals the key factors that have contributed to this catastrophic breakdown of life. In Black Box 01 we meet Ana as she begins to deconstruct her life. She rails against Alex and his inability to love her, or to put her ahead of his domineering mother.
Black Box 02 is Pip’s diary which details in a schoolgirl terms the neglect that both Pip and Davie have suffered. Pip talks of her mother’s deterioration, lack of cleanliness and of her mother’s obsessions. Pip and Davie communicate through finger sign language, as their mother demands silence. Davie retreats into his own world, permanently soiled and communicating only by sign, while Pip, fat and desperate, sneaks out of the house at night to have sex with a boy who hates her. Pip and Davie exist in parallel, with only Ana's bedroom door separating her from them. She does not want to see them. They are the present and Ana chooses to live in a past, continually raking over the ashes of a relationship that was never really hers.
Accomplished and affecting, Caroline Smailes weaves together a catastrophic tale of mismatched lives.
Caroline Smailes
CAROLINE SMAILES lives in the North West of England with her husband and three children. The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is her fifth novel. She can be found at www.carolinesmailes.co.uk and twitter.com/Caroline_S
Read more from Caroline Smailes
In Search of Adam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/599 Reasons Why Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freaks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disraeli Avenue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for Black Boxes
9 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ana Lewis is a woman who has had a tough life. She loves her ex, Alex, so much, but he doesn't love her and in fact has treated her appallingly. She in turn neglects her children, Pip and Davie. Ana is incredibly depressed, and we know from the blurb that she will be dead from an overdose by the end of the book. The story of Ana's decline is disturbing and distressing, as she records her life from meeting Alex into a black box (just like the ones that contain flight data and are recovered after the event to try to ascertain what went wrong). The prose is unusual to say the least, but this is a book that a reader can literally fly through, despite the nature of the subject matter. In the middle of Ana's black box recordings is Pip's diary. I actually found Pip's section much more disturbing, as she is a 14 year old girl who has no self-esteem and allows herself to be used, but is so naive with it. It is a great example of the effect bad parenting can have upon a child, and I felt so sorry for her as she gets bullied and abused. She communicates with her young brother Davie mainly by signing, as Ana doesn't like any noise in their squalid flat. Davie regularly soils his bed and his clothes. Caroline Smailes certainly writes interesting and thought-provoking books. In Search of Adam, which is a similar style to this book, was one of my favourite reads of 2009. She provides a real insight into depression in Black Boxes. I don't think her work would suit everybody and a potential reader should think carefully about whether they want to read a book that contains such issues and a lot of crude language (that isn't a criticism of the book on my part, simply an observation), but I think the author has a unique voice for which she deserves greater recognition, and I hope she continues to write such captivating and intriguing books.