Leah
Written on Jun 14, 2011
The back cover of The Promise of Happiness says that the novel is perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy and Cathy Kelly. I’ve not read any of Maeve’s novels and only one of Cathy’s and after finishing this book I’d say they were right. From what I’ve read of reviews of Maeve and Cathy’s books, their novels are slower than most Chick Lit novels (even erring onto the Women’s Fiction side). The Promise of Happiness is not the novel you want if you like your Chick Lit fast paced with heroines who lunge from one catastrophe to the next (in the most endearing way possible). I’m generally not a big fan of the slower more family-oriented novels but for the most part I liked The Promise of Happiness. It’s definitely not my kind of book (it’s only now, two years on from reading Chick Lit that I really know my ‘kind’ of read) but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
I did have some issues over the book, I did think Louise worried a lot over her son, Oli. Not allowing him sweets, not allowing him to watch TV, it’s obviously the ‘thing’ now for kids to watch no TV and to not eat sweets (I think) because it’s borderline illegal (that’s a joke, as far as I’m aware kids are still allowed to watch TV and eat sweets, it just depends on the ‘rents). I don’t want to get all up on Erin Kaye for writing Louise like that because that is the way children are treated now it seems. Unlike when I was a kid (which wasn’t that long ago!) things have definitely changed and I do find it hard to swallow when I read of a mother who consistently talks about healthy living. It might be proper and real, but I watched TV and ate sweets as a kid and many people would say I’m doing a-ok. I haven’t murdered anybody, I’ve never been arrested, I’m not a TV addict (honestly) or a food addict (honestly) and to me, I do think parents nowawadays are more PC over everything. I mean a bag of Maltesers isn’t going to make Oli fat, but Louise pours him a few in a bowl and chucks the rest away. It was a bit too OTT for me, that. On the other hand, though, Erin presents the opposite of Louise as her sister Joanne allows her kids to watch TV and things, so I suppose both sides of the coin are presented (and I infinitely preferred Joanne’s parenting method).
Considering Joanne, Louise and Sian are all sisters, I’ve never met three people to be such opposites of each other (can three be considered opposites? Well they are for the purpose of this review). Louise was a very strict-ish parent, Joanne let her kids get on with it whilst Sian didn’t want kids. If there’s one thing I hate reading about in fiction, it’s eco-warriors. I understand the world is crumbling (allegedly), I understand global warming is happening (allegedly) but I don’t want to hear about it in fiction. If the world is going to end, quite honestly, it will end whether or not there are eco-warriors about, honest. Well, that’s what I think anyway. I found Sian’s constant campaigning that people shouldn’t have kids because it’s “overpopulating” to be crass. You tell your sister she’s selfish because she decided to have a baby because it means one more person in an already full (apparently) world? I don’t want to see the people who live their lives ecologically sound beat the people who don’t across the head. It could perhaps be wrong of me to not want to read about eco-people, but honestly? It bores me. I don’t want to read a long chapter on better living. Nothing would put me asleep faster, although for the most part I did find Sian’s chapters to not be as heavy as I expected them to be.
I did find the book to be very readable, despite the long chapters and slow pace. It wasn’t a terrible book and I’ve mentioned the issues I had with the novel and balanced them out with the other side of the argument. It would be debateable if I’d try another of Erin’s novels. I’ve definitely learned recently that I prefer my Chick Lit with more pace to it, rather than the more mundane (to me, before I offend anyone) family dramas. The Promise of Happiness will indeed be one that many people enjoy and I’d definitely say that my reading experience was positive of the book. Erin Kaye’s writing style is fairly easy to follow, and moves along nicely, too. The characters were diverse (as I’ve mentioned) and the separate choices each sister has to deal with were interesting, as they had to compromise and make big decisions. I did guess what Joanne’s husband Phil was up to. It was blindly obvious to me, so much so that I was surprised Joanne didn’t see it. I’d definitely recommend this to Cathy Kelly fans, they’ll really lap it up!