Almost English

ALMOST ENGLISH

by Charlotte Mendelson

 

Nominations: Booker Longlist 2013, Women's Prize Longlist 2014

 

Date Read: February 19, 2021

 

Marina is the granddaughter of Hungarian immigrants, living with her mother, Laura, grandmother and aunts all crammed into a single London flat. Her father, Peter, abandoned the family long ago. Their lives are beginning to change, with the initial catalyst Marina’s decision to transfer to a somewhat prestigious school for her last years of what we would call high school.

 

Marina wants nothing more than to fit in, as all children do, and is embarrassed by her family’s foreignness. Yet, so much of this novel is based on what isn’t said. Laura wants Marina home and Marina wants to be home, regretting her decision to transfer. This inner-dialog goes on page after page, chapter after chapter. I found this so entirely frustrating and repetitive. Then again, had they just had an open conversation, this novel wouldn’t have a plot.

 

Both Laura and Marina have such low opinions of themselves and why shouldn’t they? For Marina in particular, she lives in an environment where schools tell girls their essays should be “the length of a miniskirt” and have girls kneel before male teachers to check the lengths of their skirts. Laura is just as understandable, having been abandoned by Peter and is in hibernation at the prime of her life, believing a married man is the best she can get.

 

Overall, I wasn’t riveted by the writing or the plot. Of course I wanted to see Marina and Laura end up in better circumstances than they began but I don’t feel I should have read 400 pages to see that happen.

 

Looking Forward: When We Were Bad

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