The Red House: A Dysfunctional Family Goes on Holiday

This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!

Last night I finished book number 5. The Red House by Mark Haddon.

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Mark Haddon

The writer of the book is most known for his title The Curious Incident With The Dog In The Night-Time. I loved that book so when I saw this title in the charity shop for 1 euro I decided to pick it up. Funny thing is that he mostly wrote childrens books and that even his books for adults are well known for including the perspective of children in them. I liked his previous book because it was different and it read super nicely. One of those books you take with you on the train and finish on the ride home already.

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The Red House

Immediatly after starting the book I realized this was a very different book than I expected. Instead of quirky, like his other books, this was going to be a heavy book, about people dealing with problems.

After the death of their mother, Richard and Angela decide to take a family vacation together with their spouses and children. They rent a house in the Welsh hills to spend a week together, something they have not done since their childhood. As the week unravels, so do the characters. Each coming to (sometimes shocking) realizations about themselves and those around them. In the wet hills of Wales one by one they slowly unravel their secrets to the reader.

So this book is pretty heavy. It deals with harsh realities and real problems. Something, I have to be fair, I was not necessarily waiting for when I picked up this book. I struggled for the first hundred pages, reluctant to get to know the characters who all seemed to have their own difficult problems. But once you pierce through that you find yourself stangely entranced by the story. You go from not wanting to know, to having to know what happens next. I think what Haddon did really well was making all his characters flawed and thereby likeable.

What I struggled with was the constant change of perspective, often unannounced. You float between the characters, sometimes not knowing where you are. It was also pretty dark to read. But, to my own surprise, I did get sucked in to the story and found myself reading with more and more focus as the story unwound itself.

What are you currently reading? Any good reading tips for me for the 47 books left for this year? I would love to hear!