Review: Brother of the more famous Jack

Brother of the more famous Jack by Barbara Trapido

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was recommended to me a while ago on Twitter after saying how much I liked Anne Tyler. A comparison was made with Barbara Trapido and Clare Chambers. Two authors I hadn’t heard of.

I’ve had Brother of the More Famous Jack on the TBR pile for a while and thought it was brilliant when I got to it. It’s lovely to find a new author you love and know you have all their other novels to indulge in too.

This novel is centred around the eccentric, chaotic, endearing Goldman family. Katherine a young undergraduate of Jacob Goldman is invited to their house for a weekend and is immersed in their whole life. It is a wonderful coming of age story for Katherine. Her first love and subsequent life on the rebound. We meet up with her again ten years later when she once again becomes part of the Goldman clan.

The characters are brilliant, every one of them. It is a wry, witty and at times hilarious book. However, there is also the tragic reality of life’s downs as well as the ups. I was bereft when I finished this book, I missed them all. One I will definitely re-read in the future.

Don’t read the blurb for this and think it is a whimsy romantic novel, it is so much more.

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