The Man Who Loved Children

by Christina Stead

Randall Jarrell (Introduction) and Leia Vandersnick (Editor)

Christina Stead is one of the great Australian writers of her generation. Rebecca West considered her to be 'one of the few people really original since the First World War.' Stead's fiction has been compared to that of Balzac, Joyce, Ibsen and Tolstoy.

THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN is a magnificent, heartrending novel of American family life, of the relations between parents and children, husbands and wives, set in Baltimore in the 1930s. Newsweek called it 'one of the best novels of this century. ' Elizabeth Hardwick has described it as 'a work of absolute originality. '

• ISBN10: 0312280440
• ISBN13: 9780312280444
• Publish Date: 6 July 2001 (first published 24 September 1970)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Edition: Picador USA ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 576
• Language: English

Reviews

[elvinagb]

This almost overly long, tedious novel is almost too onerous to finish. The characters are fascinating, the writing is beautifully done but the lack of any real plot and the seemingly lack of any direction to the story quickly made me want to put this book away and only pick it up again when I had run out of anything else to read. The glowing review by Jonathan Franzen should have given me a clue that this would not be a novel I would like, I have never been able to get past the first 100 or so pages of any Franzen novel. I also should never have tried to read Randal Jarrell’s introduction before starting the book, I was so lost and confused as to what he was trying to say I almost put the book down and walk away. This book is not my cup of tea but I would recommend it as a must try for others, it’s possible they may love it.