I feel like I’ve read Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido before. Katherine, a young, bright, solidly middle-class girl is introduced to an enticingly bohemian, intellectual family, the Goldmans, by whom she is immediately captivated. She, of course, falls in love with the eldest son, Roger, and, of course, it ends badly. Rather than dealing with the fallout and emotionally maturing (far too easy), she runs away to Rome, seeking distraction with other, usually married, men. The phase lasts far longer than it needs to, ends very badly, and we see Katherine returning to England and reuniting with the Goldman family, leading up to a very predictable and unmemorable ending.
Can you tell that I wasn’t overly fond of this book? There was nothing in it that grossly offended me, but there was also nothing particularly special about it. It’s a story that has been told before and told far more engagingly. At times, particularly early on, I identified with Katherine but she proved to be a rather unsympathetic heroine as she aged. The various men who float through her life are, with the exception perhaps of Jacob Goldman, the patriarch of the Goldman family, flat and make for poor romantic heroes (or, frankly, characters). Since the plot revolves almost solely around Katherine’s love affairs, my disinterest in all characters involved made for an unsatisfying read.
I’d had Barbara Trapido recommended to me before, so, readers of Trapido, if I don’t like this one, am I likely to enjoy any of her other works? Anything you might suggest?
The Captive Reader 