Separate Beds - Elizabeth Buchan

I picked this up at the library because I keep seeing it at work and thought it sounded semi-worthwhile; I almost gave it up as a bad job after the first few pages but generally never do that unless I have something better to hand...and I didn't, so I plowed through. It was alright.

A British book about a family dealing with the onset of the financial chaos the world is only just now recovering (somewhat) from, it covers predictable themes like loss, rebuilding, and family.  At first I found the character of the father to be insufferable.  I realize one shouldn't get too annoyed at a fictional character but I often have a hard time with those that seem to exacerbate the suffering of those they supposedly care the most about. Though I do realize that it is true-to-life.  I also find it irritating to read endless paragraphs of a character's self-absorbed whining (don't even get me started on Bella of the Twilight series).  In the early stages of the book, the father loses his job and seems to lose his will to live for a while, further neglecting his family.  I know its very hard for a man to lose his job, but I'm going to be sexist here and say most women would just suck it up and get on with it as there is no other choice.

However, the man redeems himself towards the end of the book, the family finds ways to cope, and of course the marriage is rebuilt along with everything else.  I guess besides the little rant above I don't have much to say about this one.  Not terrible, but more mediocre than good.  Not that the writing is bad - it's more the story itself.  Blah, recession, blah, bad marriage, wah, children are hard.......tell me something I don't know.