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I knew that the story revolved around the Robinson family, although I had forgotten their names. Mike is the father. He’s kind, and works as an excellent headmaster. He also likes a lot of structure and organisation, although he’s better at coming up with plans than keeping to them. Mike’s wife Kathy is much more emotional, and usually reacts before thinking about the consequences of her words spoken in anger.
They have three children. Jack is nineteen, a likeable young man who is trying to discover who he really is, though he still lives at home. Mark is fourteen, and a typical grumpy, rude teenager who often causes Kathy to feel distraught. Then there’s six-year-old Felicity, who is a delight, beloved by them all.
The story is narrated by their friend who is known to all as Dip. This nickname is explained in the book. She is very close to all the Robinsons, who fulfil some of the deep yearnings she mostly keeps inside. She has never married, and at fifty has realised that she won’t ever be a mother. But she wishes that she could. Dip, as she tells us at the beginning, is fifty - but not inside. And Mike is in his mid-forties, so not much younger, although the first time I read this book, I thought of Mike and Kathy as youngish, and Dip as elderly.
The last time I read this, I was the same age as Dip, and found I could relate to her quite well. This time I’m fourteen years older than she is, which is rather a shock to realise, although - like Dip - I don’t feel it. Unlike her I have a husband, two sons and, since I last read this, two grandchildren. But I still like and empathise with Dip in her need for privacy, her unwillingness to reveal too much about herself, and her wish to help with calming down arguments. She’s diplomatic and very kind.
We first meet the family in the chaos of trying to get ready to travel to the airport for a holiday in the United States. Dip is going to look after their house and some stick insects, and offers to do some tidying and cleaning after they have left. So we see the ‘packing arguments’ that happen every time the family goes away, and also learn how the stick insects were acquired. Dip tells the story while digressing regularly into the past, explaining situations or telling anecdotes. And it works very well.
Shortly after the family leaves - at last! - Dip answers the phone and finds herself in a remarkably difficult situation. She doesn’t immediately respond honestly, and is terrified of causing offence to someone in her church who is very touchy, and thinks nobody likes him. She tries to figure out what she can say that will minimise the hurt, then a neighbour points out that she would be lying…
I found myself quickly involved in the story, much of which I had forgotten. When I read the chapter about Felicity’s sports day, I did recall the ending but it still brought a tear to my eyes. And I found a lot of it very moving. I don’t know if this is because, the older I get, the more I appreciate family life and also realise just how pointless many arguments are.
There’s a Christian thread to the book, of course, but as ever Adrian Plass keeps it quite low key, and certainly doesn’t try to imply that the church or Christians in general are wonderful. Kathy and Mike are followers of Jesus who make a lot of mistakes. One of their sons has not been to church for some time although they don’t really know where he stands, faith-wise. Their younger son is still expected to attend, but is becoming more and more resentful.
I don’t think there’s anything particularly deep in the book; there’s some gentle humour, though nothing that made me chuckle. Some of the characters are perhaps a tad caricatured, and yet the things they say and their feelings seem all too real. I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading ‘Stress family Robinson’, and am looking forward already to re-reading the sequel in a few weeks’ time.
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