The favouritism shown to Simeon and Emily was conveyed in a believable way without embittering the mood of the comedy.
The novel also made some comments about the unfair nature of some families. That ability to be droll without trying too hard - resorting to long-winded jokes or implausible characters and events - is a rare gift. In parts, the farcical nature of events is reminiscent of some of William Boyd's early novels like A Good Man in Africa. Her prose is tight and she has a wicked dry wit. Mendelson is a talented writer, artfully spinning lightweight family sagas without resorting to simplistic, dull, formulaic language or cliches. This is a hugely enjoyable book, light-hearted but not underweight in sparkling prose. We join the story as things start to go awry in public for the first time. Simeon in particular is the epitome of a nasty, bullying, selfish spoilt brat. The cossetted younger siblings Simeon and Emily are seen by Claudia as almost being too fragile for the real world despite evidence to the contrary.
The oldest of Claudia's offspring, Leo and Frances, are ostensibly doing well in law and publishing, but their private lives are unravelling. But underneath, tensions are simmering.Ĭharlotte Mendelson's novel is a sharp, witty exploration of a family that, like so many others, is dysfunctional under the surface. On the surface, it looks as if Claudia's family is the perfect happy brood. She has ploughed successfully through every field she has embarked on - writing, teaching, broadcasting, even giving wonderful dinner parties. Claudia is attractive, intelligent and a social butterfly. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2008Ĭharlotte Mendelson's Orange 2008 longlisted novel centres around a Jewish family run by matriarch and rabbi Claudia Rubin. I’ve looked out a review I wrote (never submitted anywhere) of it back in 2008. The Exhibitionist is a family saga, just as Mendelson’s Orange longlisted When We Were Bad was. It’s for this reason that as soon as Jonathan Franzen or Rachel Cusk has a book out, I feel compelled to buy it. I’ve just started reading Charlotte Mendelson’s The Exhibitionist, which is due to be published in March 1922, and after only three pages, I’m already savouring it with the delight you feel for only a minority of the books you read.įor me, that *glee* in reading is most often captured by writers who are astute, perceptive, unflowery, clever, and *funny*, often with a tinge of wickedness.
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