We Were Never Friends
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
Lotti Coates lives in the shadow of a genius: her father George is a brilliant and celebrated Australian painter. When Lotti meets the outcast waif Kyla at a suburban Canberra school, two worlds are set to collide. Slowly Kyla is drawn into the orbit of the Coates family. Or is it the other way around? As Lotti and Kyla navigate their way towards adulthood, dark secrets start to unravel, with devastating consequences … We Were Never Friends is a story of friendship, the pursuit of a creative life and the legacies we leave behind. Praise for We Were Never Friends by Margaret Bearman ‘This intelligent, subtle novel is a complex study of family dynamics, class divides, adolescent pecking orders, and the murky moral landscapes of artistic practice and inspiration.’ —Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Sydney Morning Herald ‘Margaret Bearman’s intimate, unsettling novel of family dysfunction perfectly captures the ambivalent passions of girlhood while offering an incisive critique of the cult of artistic genius. Sharp and subtle at the same time, refusing any easy certainties, We Were Never Friends is a haunting portrait of the human capacity for cruelty and love in equal measure.’ —Kirsten Tranter, bestselling author of The Legacy ‘A compelling and authentic journey into the heart of an Australian family. What is art? What’s true courage? I could not put it down.’ —Melissa Ashley, bestselling author of The Birdman’s Wife
Reviews with the most likes.
Read this for my work book club.
The character development was seriously lacking with the physical descriptions of the main character, Lotte, mainly described as fat and freckled and very little else. The family were also only very lightly sketched.
This could be due to the first person POV. However this perspective struggles because although the majority of the story is described by 12-13 year old Lottie, it is also from the perspective of a mid 20's (I'm guessing as I don't think it is actually stated) adult Lottie. There was no new opinions given due to hindsight of age.
For this reason, the child Lottie's story reads like young adult fiction with the drama of high school to focus instead of the heavier themes of child abuse and the ever present “Art Monster”
In a heavy handed way, I believe that the author was trying to get across that people value art and hence artists higher than that of an abused and sick child.
This would have been more poignant if the story around it wasn't written in such a childish manner.
