Who do you love more? (Going Home - Harriet Evans)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Going Home - Harriet Evans
Date:	10/04/09 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: grips the reader

Disadvantages: too many characters

After reading other titles by Harriett Evans, I was destined to read Going Home. I had been told it was her best, and I would be gripped so I couldn't wait to read it.
Going Home is centred on Lizzy and her family. Lizzy is in her late 20's and lives and works in London. Her family live in the countryside in a large old house that has been in the family for generations. Going back to her parent's house at weekends etc is to Lizzy like going home, hence the title of the book.
When I first started reading, I wondered where the story was going to go. An old house and a large family to learn about with all the hidden extras in between were beginning to sound a bit much for my tired old mind.

Lizzy has split up with the love of her life, David, who also lives in the same country village as her parents. Part of Lizzy dreads going back for occasions because of this, as she still feels raw about the break as it ended badly for Lizzy. She hasn't moved on in her love life and we learn very quickly that her character as a whole is quite stagnant in where she wants to be and where she perhaps should be in her life.

The whole book centres on the house known as Keeper House, and the forced sale of the beloved family home, as well as a last big occasion of a wedding just before it sells.
Lizzy is very close to her family, her sister, aunts and uncle and parents. All the characters feature quite a lot in the book, but whilst they are important to the plot, they can also be none descripting as the true line in the book follows LIzzy.

With other Harriett Evans novels, I have found myself with tears in my eyes at various intervals in the book. She has a knack of drawing you into the characters and living their lives as if they were your own. Early on in the book I was weeping along with Lizzy and thought I was in for a fantastic read. However as the book wore on, and we almost know what the outcome of the book will be as the reader, I found that I was reading over text just waiting for the ending to happen, and that it wasn't going to be a surprise.
I have to say there were some twists and turns to the book and the ending wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. There was also some good twists to Lizzy's love life as we progressed further into the story, which kept me focused through the other mundane parts of the story that almost needed to be told to get to the ending, but weren't very interesting to me.

I don't believe that Going Home is Harriett Evans' best at all and I am glad I read this one last, as I think I would have missed out on the other goods reads I have read from her if this had been at the top of my pile. That would have been a shame so if you have read this and didn't think much of it, give another of her titles a try, you'll be surprised.

You couldn't get any more chick lit than this book if you tried, but unfortunately it's a chick lit that requires you to think a bit more due to the mass of characters you need to get to know. I prefer an easier read in chick lit.

ISBN: 978-0007198443
Price: £5.99 Amazon
Published: 2006

Summary: an average chick lit read