'Ordinary People' takes place in London during the period between two watershed cultural moments--the election of Barack Obama to the American presidency, and the death of Michael Jackson. One moment represents a resurgence of hope and the other the death of innocence. These occurrences are the perfect metaphors for where the two couples that are the subject of this novel -- Michael and Melissa, and Damian and Stephanie -- find themselves in their lives and relationships. They are just past the most vibrant, optimistic years of their youth, and close to that time when people begin to "settle in" and resign themselves to the loss of their wildest and best dreams.

Damian has just lost his father, and thinks that he feels nothing about it, what he does feel is himself emotionally drifting away from his dreams of becoming a writer and from wife, Stephanie, for whom a domestic life is entirely enough. Michael is as in love with Melissa as he as ever been, and feels almost daily that it was only an accident of luck and fate that she too seemed to love him. There is something about Melissa though that remains elusive. Even though she and Michael share a life and two children, they are not married, a state of affairs that she seems indifferent to, though he is not. Damian's father's death, and Michael and Melissa's purchase of their first proper, adult house are the catalysts that will lead these two couples to take stock of where they are in their lives and relationships, and where they want to be.

Diana Evans is an extraordinary writer. She writes vividly, with humor, intelligence and true originality. She examines her characters' interiors so well that you feel as though you have crawled into each one of them for a spell and see the world precisely as they see it. I didn't 'root for' or relate to one person more than I did any other, seeing the entire ensemble cast as protagonists. We saw more of, and became somewhat more intimately acquainted with Michael and Melissa than we did the other couple, and with Stephanie as an individual least of all. But nevertheless, there was nothing about any of them that felt inscrutable or inaccessible.

The style of writing is undoubtedly literary, with many, many wry observations about society and race and human nature and committed relationships, and city living, all thrown in like little gems. And they were gems. I highlighted many of them. Occasionally, though, I felt I was being treated to treatise of Diana Evans' worldview rather than that of the characters, so that however astute those insights, they sometimes read as interruptions of the narrative flow rather than integrated ideas essential to the story. That quibble is a fairly small one, however, because this book on balance was a thing to be savored. I smiled often, laughed quite a bit and once it was done, immediately felt nostalgic and wished I could visit with these characters for a while more.

Recommended for lovers of introspective literary fiction.

I didn't read the description well enough for this one, because the synopsis contained the following: "Michael, growing daily more accustomed to his commute, still loves Melissa but can’t quite get close enough to her to stay faithful." NOPE.

This book was okay. I was initially drawn to the plot based on the description, but the story started out nice and then fell flat. While it did focus on people and their everyday lives, it got be mundane. It's not bad, but I wouldn't rush to recommend it to friends.

Ordinary People by Diana Evans follows two middle-class black Londoners living south of the river in London in 2008. Melissa and Michael have a new baby along with their daughter Ria, but they are falling slowly apart. Damien and Stephanie are trying to keep things together after the death of Damien’s father and the realities of no longer living in the city. The novel focuses on relationships, family and how each couple reach breaking points in life. Filled with humor, heartbreak and just relatable situation this novel was a joy to read. Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

Ordinary people perhaps. But not ordinary storytelling. Evans’s novel is an immersive blend of relationships, modern urban life, local history, race and something more magical - ghosts, posessive spirits, the physical manifestation of emotional rupture. It’s a delicious, often lyrical and surprising read, truthful and humane. Will it travel to the US? I’m not sure, but I hope so.

Ordinary People had so many different elements going that I could not quite figure out what this book wanted to be: historical fiction, a story about a spirit, a case study of two couples and their ordinary life struggles. I felt it had the bones to become a good book if was not so verbose. Honestly, I have never not finished a book, but this one almost became my first. We have Michael and Melissa (the M&M couple) and Damian and Stephanie with a whole book about the tedious routine of married life with children where they all get so caught up in it that they lose sight of who they are. Nothing too original there right? I found myself skimming over quite a bit just so I could see if there was every some aha moment to no avail.

Ordinary People is one of those deep character novels that requires (for me, at least) slow reading to fully absorb the story and sit with the people the author has created. It's a look at a relationship that is both special and ordinary, one that could be your own or that of someone you know, and the choices that can save it or break it. While I thought the book was thoughtful and well written, the difficult part about a book that focuses on day to day issues and problems is that it can seem a bit plodding at times.

The author realistically wrote about the struggles facing some couples and the storyline and premise were good, but I felt like this was a bit too long and that it drug in places. If it were a little less detailed and shorter, it would be a lot better.

Unfortunately, Ordinary People was.... ordinary. Nothing here felt particularly compelling and there wasn’t much that will be memorable. This was just an okay read for me.

Four unhappy people. That's what this boils down to. Evans takes an intriguing premise- that black Brits think that the election of Obama will make differences in their lives- but it doesn't follow through as we get bogged down in Melissa, Michael, Stephanie, and Damian and their basic dissatisfaction. Much of this is commonplace complaint which didn't help. There's also a kind of paranormal thing going on which didn't really work for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This story follows two British Couples in South London. While learning to live life with a new baby Melissa and Michael also are trying to work out issues they have with each other, amongst the backdrop of Michael’s long work commute. Stephanie and Damian are the other couple in this story. Their three children and the recent death of Michael’s father create issues for this family which are all set against the recent Obama election. Any parent will find at least a snippet or two of themselves in between these pages or at the very least will appreciate the daily ins and outs that we all go through from time to time.

I really enjoyed Ordinary People, the story of black Londoners, two couples specifically, navigating the ebb and flows of marriage life, adulting, parenting and everything in between. The title comes from the John Legend song Ordinary People, which lyrics include "Girl, I'm in love with you
This ain't the honeymoon, Passed the infatuation phase Right in the thick of love
At times we get sick of love Seems like we argue everyday I know I misbehaved and you made your mistakes" Because after all "we're just ordinary people. "
I could go on. The song sums up the book. I was invested in Melissa and Michael, rooting for them until the very end. The book started and is set against the beginning of the Obama era, weaving in their take on being black and mixed raced in the Obama era in London, exemplifying the theme of the book. Overall, great read.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read the book prior to publication.

Some vivid descriptions and moments of clear truth of everyday life. But, overall, for me, too much ordinary here. I wanted a more powerful plot or active showing. The number of adjectives in this volume is sky high.

This book reminded me a bit of Anna Quindlen's Alternate Side. What with the house references and the inner workings of a marriage. It is a bit slow at times but that pace works well with the novel. For those who like less climactic but razor sharp magnifications of every day life, I think this will be a good one to pick up.

I couldn't get through this book. It's SO wordy and uninteresting. I can't bring myself to finish it.

“It used to be so natural (Used to be)
To talk about forever
But used-to-be's don't count anymore
They just lay on the floor 'til we sweep them away

”And baby, I remember
All the things you taught me

“I learned how to laugh
And I learned how to cry

“Well I learned how to love
And I learned how to lie

“So you'd think I could learn
How to tell you goodbye

“You don't bring me flowers anymore”

-- You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond, Songwriters: Alan Bergman / Marilyn Bergman / Neil Diamond
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450Un...

Ordinary people living in London, with ordinary problems, this story centers on two black couples, and while there are others, this is primarily their story.

Melissa and Michael, who have two children, whose love life has lost all of its initial glow and sparkle. Michael’s best friend is Damian.

Stephanie and Damian are the other main couple, who primarily seem there to serve as a vehicle to hear each side of the story of Melissa and Michael and their deteriorating marriage, and partly to add another dimension to the story.

”They were on the far side of youth, at a moment in their lives when the gradual descent into age was beginning to appear, the quickening of time, the mounting of the years. They were insisting on their youth. They were carrying it with both hands.”

There’s also an additional, supernatural, element to this novel, which seemed to me to serve no real purpose except, perhaps, to push Michael and Melissa further apart as Melissa insists that the house is possessed and Michael continues to try to ignore her insistence of this as a fact. In the beginning, this just seemed out of place, a quirk she had, where he seems to believe she invented it to get him to sell the house and move, but eventually it ramps into a somewhat bizarre storyline that reaches a climax but, eventually, fizzles out. As though it were meant to add something to this story filled with ordinary days and ordinary people where so little really happens, excluding infidelity.

This begins with the election of Barack Obama, and concludes, around the time of the death of Michael Jackson, and frequently mentioning John Legend songs, along with other pop culture references of the era, but the song that came to me (not that I don't love John Legend) was a duet my mother used to play (all too frequently) in the car on drives, with Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond singing “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” – the back and forth of the complaints in this story, the “you don’t do this” and the “you don’t do that!” Tit for tat, but broken hearts, all the same.

While there are occasionally some lovely, noteworthy passages, the writing – the story - in general, suffered (for me) from too much telling, not enough showing. As a result, this story, more often than not, felt like it was crawling at a never-ending pace for me.

”It's only words, and words are all I have
To take your heart away”
-- Words, Bee Gees, Songwriters: Barry Gibb / Maurice Ernest Gibb / Robin Hugh Gibb


Pub Date: 11 SEP 2018

Many thanks for the ARC provided by W.W. Norton & Company / Liveright (less)