Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A family holiday away is going to be good, right?
A Modern Family
What you need to know before your trail
When Liv, Ellen and Håkon, along with their partners and children, arrive in Rome to celebrate their father’s seventieth birthday, a quiet earthquake occurs: their parents have decided to divorce.
Shocked and disbelieving, the siblings try to come to terms with their parents’ decision as it echoes through the homes they have built for themselves, and forces them to reconstruct the shared narrative of their childhood and family history.
A bittersweet novel of regret, relationships and rare psychological insights, A Modern Family encourages us to look at the people closest to us a little more carefully, and ultimately reveals that it’s never too late for change…
Travel Guide
Travel with the BookTrail to Norway
The locations in Norway are vague and just to set the scene. They show where the family live, and where the older members of the family – the graddad and grandma of the group have their cabin.
The airport takes them on a journey none of them will forget.
Travel BookTrail Style to Rome
They are quite a cultured family and so take in the sites in the first few days. Best to enjoy yourself before the trouble starts! Mum is keen to visit the MAXXI museum of art and they all head to the Colisium where the young boy is allowed to roam around on his own. Apt that they head to where the romans used to kill each other by unleashing the lions….
Then they return to their villa for the holiday and that’s where the real adventure starts..
Booktrailer Review
What would you do if your parents invited you and the whole family to Rome but then rather than celebrate the father’s 70th, it soon becomes clear that they are there for a very different reason…
You wouldn’t care where you were would you? Those lovely Rome streets and Italian hills where you are holidaying would fade into darkness, your home in Norway would seem distant and detached. That’s how the locations in this novel are – very much in the background, vague and the story could take place anywhere.
Sverre and his wife Torill. Their three children and two of their partners are present. Each member of the family seems to have an exact role in the hierachy, each one has their place, their voice and their concerns. So the news, when it comes has shattering consequences of various degrees. The parents have had time to adapt and they’re the ones who have made this decision. The children have to hear it , digest it and deal with it. that is the journey of this book and it’s a tough and troubling one for them.
If you like family dramas where a great big spotlight is focused onto a family unit then this is the one for you. Imagine a box of ants representing the family, a huge spot light providing the only illumination in a dark room and the voice of a narrator, psychologist narrating the interaction below
It’s a shock to everyone and it’s the ripple effect that is the core of this novel. The fall-out is a process of analysis, recrimination, realisation and guilt. It’s an interesting journey and an intense one.
This novel has been a huge hit in the author’s native Norway. Norway’s Anne Tyler she’s been dubbed here. Pick apart a family with the Flatland magnifying glass!
BookTrail Boarding Pass:A Modern Family
Destination: Norway, Rome Author/guide: Helga Flatland Departure Time:2000s
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