The Facts of Life: A novel
by Graham Joyce
Overview
From the Publisher
Set during and immediately after World War II, The Facts of Life follows the fortunes of Frank Arthur Vine, the result of a tryst between his mother Cassie and an American GI. Because Cassie is too unreliable and unstable to act as his proper guardian, Frank is brought up alternately by his mother's six very different sisters - each singularly idiosyncratic - and by his beguiling and charismatic grandmother. But, as his mother knows, and his grandmother strongly suspects, Frank is no ordinary child. The Facts of Life takes place in Coventry, in the English Midlands, the notorious target of Hitler's fiercest bombing raid and, some nine centuries earlier, the scene of the infamous Lady Godiva's naked ride through the marketplace. Peopled with entrancing characters, it is an enormously affecting tale of family and sisterhood, of the kindness and the madness of women, of the fantastic breaking through in a troubled world.
My thoughts
Why did I buy this book? Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it (and am puzzled by it, as I often am after reading fiction) but it's not the typical book I read. What was I thinking when I purchased it?
After offering extreme self-control from the email sales announcements I get from www.bookcloseouts.com, I succumbed to their summer sale! 25 books, $60 -- who could resist?! As I was browsing the sales, I generously put books into my shopping cart intending to weed them out before ordering. But when I got through the bargains, the price wasn't so bad so I bought them all! When I finished a book and needed a new one, I reached, sight unseen, into the box, pulled out the book on top and that's how I came to read The Facts of Life.
I still don't know why I ordered this book because I'm not typically a fiction reader, but I started reading and couldn't put it down. I will admit that I don't understand fiction writers -- where do they come up with this stuff? What has happened in their lives that provokes them to write such bizarre stories? And yet I was glued to the storyline.
Do all fiction books have pages of intense sex scenes? I have to admit that I'm continually surprised when I'm reading along and suddenly the author crosses all kinds of lines that I wasn't expecting. I thought the "pink kazoo" was off limits to discuss, but apparently not! Aside from the shocking sexual exploits described in detail (keep in mind I'm VERY conservative), I found this book to be quite entertaining.
Favorite Passage
"So let me get this straight," Martha said more than once, trying to get a clear picture of life at Ravenscraig.
"And you all sit down to dinner together?" Aida had asked.
"Well," was about all Olive could manage.
Outside, the men discussed it differently. "So then Bernard," Tom asked mischievously,"everyone is married to everyone, sort of thing."
"It's not like that," Bernard said. He often didn't know when he was having his leg pulled. "Not at all."
"Eeeeeeeeeeee...a free...love...errrrr colony, that would..." Gordon wasn't going to miss out on the ribbing either.
"No, not free love. It's not as if people are sleeping with each other's partners. It's not like that. Just a loose arrangement regarding marriage, that's all."
"Loose arrangement?" William said, blowing smoke. "You don't want to let Martha in there hear you say that. She'd skin you alive!"
"Sounds like the beasts in the yard." Tom winked at William. "One good bull to cover the lot."
Bernard gave a good-natured laugh. "Not at all, Tom. You've got the wrong end of the stick."
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee a Roman...orgy...you might cal..."
"You have to shake your head at these young ones," William said. "Well, good luck to you, I say."
