The thing about a comedy of manners is, to make it really good, there has to be at least a little sympathy between the narrator and the characters. That’s really what was lacking the most here

Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Although the prompts for this novel promised a witty romp, the text itself was an almost absurdist view with zany monologues and bizarrely focused details. I found the characters and plot hard to connect with, and the excessive use of harsh and often grotesque words and imagery unnecessarily forceful.

Published by Atria Books on March 26, 2019

The Widdicombe family is “a sociable clan” grappling with the “curse of success.” Its members spend their days happily bickering with each other. Carol Widdicombe presides over their summer home on Bainbridge Island, a home she desperately wants to see featured in an interior design magazine. Her husband Frank’s usual state of depression has deepened because his annual trip to France, a reunion of college friends that he views as therapeutic, has been cancelled.

Frank responds by throwing himself in to a new project, writing a disjointed self-help workbook he calls The Widdicombe Way. Chapters include “On Putting on a Few Pounds” and “The Company of Cats.” Frank’s thoughts are less than profound but all the funnier for their randomness.

Frank is a retired sports psychologist. His son Christopher is also depressed, primarily because he is not in Italy playing with his older Albanian boyfriend. Christopher is unhappy that his parents are so tolerant and loving. To market his watercolors, he must pretend that he is the victim of “disgrace and loveless rejection.” In reality, his parents accept that he is gay in the same way they accept pretty much everything.

Bradford Dearborne, a “carefree loafer,” is a guest of the Widdicombes on a trip to borrow money from his father, a coffee mogul in Seattle. His father has financed Bradford’s screenwriting efforts for a year. Bradford partied in LA but made little progress on his horror film, and his father seems unreceptive to renewing his financial support. While Bradford sulks at the Widdicombes, he finds himself quite taken by Michelle Briggs, Carol’s assistant.

Other notable characters include a self-help guru who happens to be Carol’s best friend (Gracie advocates “decorating for enlightenment” and making a home into a “creativity shrine”), a gardener named Marvelous, and a gay Dane who is Michelle’s best friend. Each character benefits from a quirky but believable personality. The narrative flits from character to character, giving each due attention without lingering long on one character’s story before landing on another.

The novel finds fertile ground for humor in America’s self-help obsession. Self-help is a popular and deserving target of ridicule in comic novels. One problem with self-help, as the book illustrates, is that it distracts from actual living. Another is that the people who dispense self-help advice often have a tenuous grip on reality. But people like to be told they are sick so that they can learn the cure — or so one of the characters believes.

While its relationship humor is not as sharp as its self-help satire, Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is an amusing domestic comedy. In the tradition of literary novels that emphasize characterization at the expense of plot, the novel doesn’t have much of a story to tell or even much of a point. It ends without resolving any of the questions it raises about how life might turn out for the various characters. Bradford all but disappears; other characters hang about but are little changed from the novel’s beginning to its end. For readers who won't be put off by a story that has no resolution, the novel's value lies both in its gentle wit and in its modest insights into unconventional characters who struggle to find purpose in their charmed lives.

RECOMMENDED

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe by Evan James is a highly recommended satirical comedy.

Frank Widdicombe is suffering from depression, but only according to his wife, Carol, who also contemplates other things Frank may be suffering from. The Widdicombes are a wealthy family summering at their island home, Willowbrook Manor, on Bainbridge Island in the Puget Sound. Carol is planning a garden, created and cared for by Marvelous Matthews. Self-help author Gracie Sloane is going to spend the summer with them. Their son, a painter, has just returned with a broken heart from Italy. The Widdicombe's personal assistant Michelle is enamored of screenwriter Bradford, who returns her ardor. There are employees and guests and events planned for the summer that will hopefully cheer up Frank out of his supposed depression.

This comedy will strongly remind you of a hilarious and sophisticated screwball comedy in films (for example: Bringing Up Baby or His Girl Friday or Some Like it Hot), only set in the present day. The narrative features the same absurd dialogue, irreverent wit, and repartee between characters as found in these old comedic films. The novel "outlines a summer with a family that’s so neurotic they’re almost normal."

In order to appreciate Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe, readers will need to be prepared for the comedic banter and actions of all the characters in this debut novel that does not take itself or its characters too seriously. These characters are all characterized by outlandish and absurd behaviors and dialogues. They are laughably dysfunctional, prone to follow whatever New Age thought process that catches their eye. Don't take this novel too seriously. You need to laugh at all of it in order to appreciate it. Now, at times it does wander close to being a bit too over-the-top, but on the other hand, that does make it a fun read. This is a good choice for a summer vacation read.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Atria Books.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/03/cheer-up-mr-widdicombe.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2757587727
https://www.librarything.com/work/22304215/book/166996607
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1108488461001150466

They've moved to an island and are fixing up a house for them to use as a retreat. A place for the family to visit and recharge when life gets too heavy. Life is being a bit heavy for everyone right now...

Atria Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published March 26th.

There's not much of a plot in this story. It's more like a psychological profile of all the characters. You read about what influences them, why they are trying to make changes, and how they all interact. The author talks a lot about how each of them feel, revealing depression and fearfulness, and just general unhappiness.

This isn't the most positive read but the characters are interesting. I'd like to have more of story than a psychoanalyst report but that's me. If you like knowing what's driving the characters and how they can change, you'll enjoy the story. And Mr. Widdicombe does get happier...

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. I wanted to read this book because I was looking for something humorous. For me I did not find it funny, but more of a mundane story of a well to do family that is depressed. They go away as family to help overcome their personal issues as a family. I wanted to laugh hard and there were a few parts that did that but otherwise this just seemed like a sad family story. I do want to say the writing was quite good and because of that I did want to continue reading.

This book absolutely nothing for me. I didn't think that any of the characters were even likable. Carol was concerned about appearances and was completely convinced that Frank, her husband was in a deep depression, even though he wasn't. Personally I saw very little humor in the book..

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I finished this book and said, out loud, "well, that was delightful." And I meant it. At about 20% in I wasn't sure I wanted to keep reading. At that point it felt a little tedious and I wondered why I cared about these privileged characters. The writing kept me going. Sparkling, whip-smart writing. Sure, overwrought at times, but it's satire, perhaps it's meant to be overwrought. The sentences are long, with many asides throughout, but it's a style I got used to. I laughed aloud many times and was enthralled by a story of a nose hair gone awry and a self-help guru dancing naked in the woods and a matriarch felled by interior decorating...

My favorite character was the son, Christopher, an over-smart, surly, and ironic sort. Here's a snapshot:

"Hello, son," she said. Of course! Son. What could be more obvious and yet more unbelievable? That he should exist only in reference to those that created him, those that nurtured him and paid his way to survival - what better starting point for an act of subversive and provoking performance art? He would hang out with his parents, throwing himself completely into an exploration of sonhood, son-ness; he would spend the rest of the summer so artificially at ease with his family, so devoted to an exaggerated performance of sonhood that he would eventually surpass the so-called reality of son-ness and enter a realm of tongue-in-cheek filial abstraction, becoming a parody of a son. If nothing less, it would annoy his parents. On that he could depend."


I mean, how could you not love this kid? My only gripe is with the Bradford character and his (view spoiler).
In the end, a summer with the Widdiciombes proved enticing, entertaining, and thoughtful. The commentary (read: satire) on life and family was all the more real for being a bit neurotic and exaggerated. And that writing. Wow.

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe has great bones:
Interesting characters 
Unique narration 
Quality story 
But the storyline never gels. It has got a lot going on; there are seven main characters and a few periphery ones, which is not an issue, though the transitions are a bit abrupt. Although the story centers around the Widdicombe summer house and the characters flit in and out, the majority of the narration takes place within their heads, thus it reads like multiple thought bubbles floating about the characters with little context or gravity. It might work in a graphic novel or even as a screenplay, but as a novel, it makes for a choppy read. The quirky, satirical anecdotes are charming but Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is best summed up by one of its characters; “What was she thinking about? Nothing, she said.” In the end, the story is much ado about nothing. Nothing can be humorous or even dark, but in this story, it is simply disappointing.

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe presents a somewhat meandering narrative that finds its charm in its cast of eccentric characters. Upon first impression, it is difficult to empathize with the wealthy Widdicombe family, who are all striving to find their purpose in the day-to-day banality of their lives. Having just moved to a new summer home on the Puget Sound, their life of luxury leaves them with little to occupy their time but respective despair- Frank is mourning the loss of a holiday in France, Carol is desperate to have her interior decorating recognized and their son Christopher is fresh off an international adventure which left him heartbroken. Despite their maudlin self-exploration, they find joy in the connection they have with each other as a family and in the company of the various people who surround their lives, including a wild self-help guru, Carol's level-headed but sentimental assistant, and a somewhat drug-addled screenwriter (to name a few). The reader can't help but celebrate with them as they each discover more about themselves and their purpose in life.

Get to know the Widdicombes- Frank is distraught that his boys trip to France is canceled making his wife, Carol, believe he is depressed. Carol is a bored housewife looking to redecorate and enlighten herself. Their son, Christopher, has the dumb luck of being an artist who is loved too much by his family. Surrounding them is Grace-a self help author, Bradford- a tennis coach and unsuccessful horror movie writer, Michelle-Carol's assistant and the most down to earth of the group, and Marvelous- the recovering addict gardener.
All of them orbit each other at the Widdicombes's manor, Willowbrook, where they fall in and out of love while over self assessing themselves.

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is, for lack of a better word, weird. I know it's supposed to be odd and strange and satirical. The overall story seemed to be trying to hard to be something weird. Too much quirkiness and not enough story to balance it out. I didn't enjoy this book like I thought I would. It's too much oddness for my taste. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Widdicombe is a most unusual family living on an estate on Bainbridge Island. Frank is a retired tennis instructor, Carol is an interior decorator and Christopher has yet to decide exactly what he is. They are surrounded by equally unusual people including a gardener named Fabulous, a self-help guru named Gracie and a live-in secretary, Michelle. This is a wonderfully wacky read. I hated to see it end.

This was just not the book for me. I'm not sure why I struggled to get through it. The characters were entertaining, but the plot seemed to drag on. I might have to revisit and see if I enjoy it any better.