I hadn’t heard of Amanda Eyre Ward, and would probably not have come across her novel ‘The Jetsetters’, if it hadn’t been selected for this month’s local reading group. It was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, and looked as if it would be a light-hearted family novel. Indeed, the blurb on the back claims that the novel is ‘hilarious and deliciously sun-scented’.
It’s certainly an easy read, not something I had to think about much, and I finished it fairly quickly despite never really engaging with any of the characters. This is partly because the viewpoint keeps switching between the four family members involved, in short sections, and partly because, frankly, none of them is very likeable or realistic. The family is American, rather stereotypically so.
Charlotte is the mother, widowed some years earlier. She misses her adult children as she likes to be needed, and she also hankers after intimacy in rather a crude way. Lee is her oldest child, an actress who hasn’t had a lot of success. She’s been living with another actor but they’ve just broken up and she doesn’t want to admit that she’s on her own, with no work in sight, and no money. So she invites herself to stay with her mother for a while, ‘between jobs’.
Charlotte’s middle child has the unlikely name of Cord - I don’t think it was ever mentioned whether this is an abbreviation - and as is clear from when we first meet him, he’s gay. He’s engaged to a young Italian man, but although he has met his fiancé’s family, he hasn’t acknowledged his orientation at all to his family. He’s also an alcoholic although he has joined AA and keeps intending to stay sober.
The youngest of the family is Regan, who has always been a peacemaker, trying to hold the family together. She’s the only one who is married, and she has two children although they are conveniently at boarding school for the duration of the novel. Regan is the least dislikeable of the family, or so she seems at first, but her husband is clearly cheating on her, and she has evolved a plan to get rid of him, though we don’t learn what she’s done or what her plans are until near the end of the book.
Charlotte has entered an essay competition where the prize is an all-inclusive cruise to some major European cities. She’s convinced that, if she wins, she and her offspring will be able to patch up their differences and have a wonderful holiday. To her delight, she receives a letter telling her she’s won - and the majority of the story then takes place in different parts of Europe as the cruise ship arrives there, and they go on tours or other explorations.
It’s a good premise and I liked the idea - but unfortunately it doesn’t really go anywhere. We know most of the family secrets from their viewpoint sections so it’s a bit frustrating that they’re all hiding something from each other. There are one or two quite poignant scenes, but most of the book is rather tawdry, in my view. There’s food, and drink, and entertainment that doesn’t really entertain anyone, and more drink, and fantasies… I couldn’t find anything even slightly amusing, let alone ‘hilarious’ as the blurb promised.
However, I kept reading, and the ending, if a tad abrupt, is quite encouraging. Secrets have emerged, and the family members are all speaking to each other… but I didn’t feel any sense of loss, or any regret that the book ended. Perhaps it feels somewhat exotic to people in the US, with all the European cities being explored, but I was disappointed by such two-dimensional characters. I wouldn’t particularly recommend it, although if you’re in the right frame of mind, it could make a good holiday read.
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