The Red House

Mark Haddon's new book follows eight family members--none of whom like one another much--on a week-long vacation in the English countryside. Maxwell Caulfield takes on the challenge of narrating this novel, with its shifting points of view. Caulfield does not significantly differentiate the voices of the different characters, which makes for a challenging listening experience as it's not always immediately clear from Haddon's text which characters are part of any given conversation. Even though Caulfield's narration is strong otherwise, Haddon's characters are basically unlikable. In addition to being a story that many listeners will find off-putting, THE RED HOUSE simply does not translate well to audio. J.K.L. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

February 27, 2012
Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) sets his sights on the modern social novel with a seriously dysfunctional family. Radiologist Richard, newly remarried to Louisa, who has something of a “footballer’s wife” about her, hosts his resentful sister Angela and her family at his vacation home in the English countryside for the week. Both Richard’s new wife, and her cold-blooded 16-year-old daughter, Melissa, arouse the attentions of Angela’s teenage children: son Alex, and daughter Daisy, whose sexual curiosity might lead her to trouble. Angela’s uninterested husband, Dominic; their youngest son, Benjy; and the lurking ghost of their stillborn child round out the family. But most of all there’s the universe of media—from books and iPods to DVDs and video games—that fortifies everyone’s private world; intrudes upon a week of misadventures, grudges, and unearthed secrets; and illuminates Haddon’s busy approach to fairly sedate material, a choice that unfortunately makes the payoffs seldom worth the pages of scattershot perspective. Characters are well-drawn (especially regarding the marital tensions lurking below facades of relative bliss), but what emerges is typical without being revelatory, familiar without becoming painfully human. The tiresomely quirky Haddon misses the epochal timbre that Jonathan Franzen hit with Freedom, and his constantly distracted novel is rarely more than a distraction itself. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander.

October 1, 2012
In the wake of their mother's death, disconnected siblings Angela and Richard come together with their families for a week in the English countryside. There, the eight family members find themselves lost, disoriented, or challenged by the family past and present. Narrator Maxwell Caulfield has the monumental task of capturing and juggling these different characters, and, unfortunately, doesn't rise to the task. While his narration is magisterial and crisp, and he captures the book's mood throughout, he unfortunately uses the same tone and projection for each character. This confuses listeners about which character is speaking and proves disorienting and distracting. A full cast might have better executed this audio edition. A Doubleday hardcover.