Outlier opinion: 2 very disappointed (and generous) stars

51 year old twins, Jeannie and Julius, uneducated and living their entire lives with their mother in nothing more than a shack, eke out a meager living with their vegetable garden, chickens, and the occasional odd job.

Their lives are turned upside down when their mother unexpectedly dies. Eventually secrets are revealed, and events happen which changes their lives forever.

I ask myself after I’ve read a book if the author’s purpose was achieved. In this case I honestly can’t discern a purpose.

The writing was nothing special, the characters, both good and evil, were comical caricatures, and pages and pages were written of the mundane minutiae of their daily lives. There was not enough of a plot to drive the story forward.

Every decision Jeannie and Julius make are bad ones. ( Like mine in continuing to read a book I’m not enjoying)

The relationships in the book were so unrealistic and laughable it made my eyes roll. The friendships and the love affair were so unlikely and laughable that they couldn’t be taken seriously. I guessed very early on what the big “secrets” were and I was correct.

I typically enjoy character-driven stories, even when they are bleak, but in this case the only character I enjoyed was Maude, the dog.

I requested this because it’s on the 2021 Women’s Prize shortlist. I’ve read and enjoyed several others, namely Transcendent Kingdom and The Vanishing Half, but this was a complete miss.

Very disappointing read.. Many readers loved it, so do read their reviews for a different perspective.

I have a new policy I am going to follow from now on when I question my choice as to whether to dnf a book or sally forth. I am going to look in the mirror and say "It's ok to dnf a book you dislike" three times and hope it works.

The book that engendered such a feeling was the latest read with Jan, entitled Unsettled Ground. It was such an appropriate title that made me think the ground I stood upon was "unsettled" so much so, that I thought the book was pretty bad, even though others were over the top about it. I looked at the stunning reviews, and thought, yes, this will get better and then...it didn't.

There was so much that rubbed me the wrong way in this story as some of the details were so unrealistic, bringing brie to a funeral of dirt-poor people... say what? There was also a bevy of people who showed up at said funeral even though this was a family that preferred anonymity. The whole thing just didn't gel with me.

Granted the author tried to tell a story of the poor and of course there was the "big secret" that one probably guessed at the get go of the book. It just was unbelievable on so many fronts that I thought for a brief moment, it might be a satire. But no, it wasn't that at all. This was supposed to depict real life.

Then there was the twin brother, Julius, who seemed to be somewhat of a want to be Lothario even though he lived in a cottage where there was no bathroom and he had no way to woo the ladies. The twin sister was illiterate, well really both of them were, and yet the school system didn't follow up on the daughter's education with so many days missed and then not showing up at all! Unreal!!!

That's pretty much sums up why I feel this book was not for a minute enjoyable for me. The grit, sadness, and hovel in which they all dwelt was overshadowed by the unrealistic elements of the story. ....and the love story...pfft! ...and the mother another PFFT!

This is a terrific read! Jeannie and Julius are undone by the death of their mother and their lives spiral out of control. They'd always been told that they were living rent free in their cottage but, as it turns out, their mother had not been paying the bills and has borrowed money. Money they don't have because Julius does casual labor as long as the location can be reached by walking or biking and Jeannie has never had a job because of her fragile heart. They find themselves evicted and then living in a camper in the woods. Jeannie, however, begins to stand up for herself. To me, watching Jeannie grow as she unravels her mother's many secrets was rhe best part of this novel. It's incredibly atmospheric (the cold, the damp. the mold, the smells). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This one kept me guessing.

Jeanie and Julius live with their mother, Dot. They are twins, in their fifties, working the land in a rundown cottage and seems to be a little disconnected from the world. One morning, they wake up to find Dot death and their own lives and daily routines forever changed. The living agreement with the owners of the cottage was not what they thought. Now they have to face unknown debts and an eviction notice.
With their world falling apart, they have to find a way to go through the new hardships together. But their mother's well kept secrets will keep testing their loyalty and the strength of their bond.

The book is wonderfully written and is all about ambiance and characters construction. I was so invested in these twins anachronistic way of life that when elements of the modern world, like Alexa or a cell phone, appear they feel foreign and out of place.
The pace is more on the slow side which contributes to the construction of this general, almost claustrophobic ambiance.
On the characters side, the reader can't help to sympathize with these siblings. They were so armored by their mother, living this isolated life, that they are perceived as infantilized. You want them to find their way out, you root for a happy ending, for both of them, together or not. As their mother secrets start to unravel, and we as readers are reminded that very often, the uncanny is at the heart of the family, Julius and Jeanie are forced to rewrite their own history.

A poignant literary piece that will reaffirm your love for reading.

I’ve been reading the books nominated for the @womensprize and Unsettled Ground is number five for me of the six shortlisted novels. I need to go back and read Claire Fuller’s backlist because this was brilliant.

Fifty-one year old twins Julius and Jeanie still lived with their mother in rural England until her sudden death. Jeanie has never worked, Julius doesn’t have steady employment and they are largely in the dark about modern life.

I read this yesterday. I couldn’t put it down. Jeanie is one of the most compelling characters that I’ve read in a while. The vivid descriptions of the countryside, their garden, and living off the land made it feel soothing on one hand, while on the other were the harsh life conditions and demanding challenges to endure. Jeanie and Julius are both musicians and the poetic writing reflected that beautifully. It’s such a fantastically disturbing, bjngeable novel about dysfunctional families, grief, secrets, poverty, naivety, and connection.

This had a kinda Flannery O'Connor vibe, which is good and bad. I mean, Flannery O'Connor's books are compelling, but sometimes after reading them I forget most of the nuance of the plot. I think it's important to note that a dog does not die in this book.

I am someone who will read anything written by Claire Fuller. I am absolutely enjoying this book. I like how Fuller never fails to capture the raw emotions of ordinary people living an ordinary life. In this book, she takes us on a journey uncovering family secrets and the power of hope and resilience.

Wow, I loved this one!! It is definitely a more depressing, melancholy read but it is also very thought provoking and beautiful. I love how the characters are well detailed and portrayed throughout the book. Jeanie and Maude are my favorites! I love Jeanies strength and how she’s able to adapt through the book even when it’s so hard. This was a fantastic book!

Thank you Net Galley and Tin House for the ARC in return for my honest review.

I was super-excited to receive approval from NetGalley and Fig Tree. With this title recently shortlisted for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, I was expecting a stellar literary experience; however, while the novel’s writing is fine, it was the story/plot itself that fell short for me.

It opens with the death of an impoverished, proud woman who lives with her 51-year-old twin children who are seemingly overly dependent on their mother. Both are undereducated and underemployed and while the son is able to find odd jobs performing manual labor, the daughter has never worked outside of their isolated cottage, is withdrawn, anxious, socially awkward, and suffers from a reading disability rendering her illiterate. Despite their obvious challenges, limited funds (and fewer options), they are determined to handle things on their own terms with disastrous results.

The story continues in a downward spiral with the twins discovering “secrets” about their mother -- which I’m not sure they can be called secrets as it seems that only the twins were clueless, quite a few of the townsfolk knew much more about their mother’s antics than they did. While the novel started strong, it waned quickly. The author attempted to create suspense via random flashback segments and strategically placed piecemeal revelations of said secrets, but it was not enough to really keep me interested. Early on, some secrets were obvious and very easy to deduce, while a couple were more dubious than surprising. These protracted reveals just elongated the story with little payoff -- in fact, at the end, I had more questions for the deceased mother and was left a bit frustrated and underwhelmed.

Obviously, I’m in the minority -- many really loved this story. This book was billed as a thriller, but to me, it was a slow burn - just a glimpse at adult twins living in abject poverty who were grossly misled and suffer(ed) under their mother’s manipulative control. Being ill-prepared and inept, it was more so a novel surrounding their struggle to manage in the aftermath of tremendous and sudden loss and a lifetime of lies. Not a bad story - but honestly I expected more based on the prize nomination status and the advanced praise.

4.25 stars.

This novel was very depressing, but also quite beautiful. Unsettled Ground tackles issues of homelessness, rural life, and poverty and the intersection of those three topics in quite a visceral way. Claire Fuller also, through the lens of Jeanie and Julius, provides a compelling case for why subsistence living is no longer feasible in today's world by examining how something as human as your mother's death can send you into abject poverty and homelessness. I was at times equally frustrated by and angered on behalf of our main character Jeanie, as she repeatedly denies help from those who care about her while getting taking advantage of by those who don't.

On an unrelated note, I was also particularly struck by the atmosphere Claire Fuller was able to build in this novel, particularly in discussing Jeanie's garden. Jeanie's passion for gardening and living off the land came off the page in ways that I haven't experienced in a while.

Finally, I will say that this novel did come off as very British sometimes and I would be very curious to see what differences would exist if the novel was the same yet took place in rural America.

Thank you to the author and Tin House for providing me with a free early copy of this work through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Unsettled Ground comes out on May 18

My book group and I loved Claire Fuller’s superb novel, "Unsettled Ground," which is shortlisted for the Women’s Prize this year. Perhaps Fuller will win: her style is lyrical, the plot is engrossing, and I ached for the characters, fifty-one-year-old twins, Jeanie and Julius, who are shattered when their mother dies. They have always lived in their childhood home – and now they are evicted.

The twins in Clare Fuller’s book have a desperate situation – Jeanie cannot read, but finds a job as a part-time gardener. The checks pile up, because she does not know how to cash them, and they still have no money. We are so frustrated for her. Julius does odd jobs for cash, but spends most of it at the pub.

It is savvy Jeanie who solves their problems, after inept Julius finds a dumpy trailer in the woods, not fit to live in, where they reach a new low. Dangerous hooligans stalk and victimize the twins. But the light at the end of the tunnel comes as smart, savvy Jeanie learns how to navigate society, despite her learning disability.

This resonant novel will make you think about poverty and homelessness, but at the same time gives you hope through Jeanie's journey.

Like the title this book, this was one of the most unsettling books I have ever read. Claire Fuller writes a story that makes us all realize we are never to far away from being pushed over the edge.

Julius and Jeanie are 51 years old twins, who still live with their mother. When the story opens, they find their mother dead of a stroke. What unravels for these two people is so shattering to the protective bubble their mom has created.

When the news is out about Dot’s death, long kept secrets are unfurled that threaten the life that Julius and Jeanie lives. It is not much of a life, but everything the believed, appears to be a lie, and everybody in this small town knows but them.

The writing was so beautiful and I was taken in almost immediately by this story. The way this story reveals itself is perfection. This is a book I will not long forget. While it is troublesome to read, it is well worth the time.

Thank you NetGalley and Tin House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received Unsettled Ground as part of a NetGalley giveaway.

Following the sudden death of elderly Dot Seeder, her middle-aged twins Julius and Jeanie are at a loss at how to proceed. Soon after, they are evicted from their derelict cottage and must find alternative arrangements, while coping with Julius' underemployment and Jeanie's inability to work. As they navigate a world in which everything they've ever known has been pulled out from under them, they discover that much of what they thought they knew about their lives may be a lie.

I'm a bit unsure how to feel about this book. The prose is beautiful and from an intellectual point of view, I know that the plot is moving. However, it was really difficult to connect with any of the central characters, and as a result it was difficult for me to really get into the book. Understanding that Jeanie and Julius were victims of circumstance, it was still difficult for me to wrap my mind around them, particularly Jeanie. I had sympathy while also finding it very hard to like or relate to them in a way where I cared about seeing their storylines resolved. It has a lot of important things to say about parent-child relationships, the power of secrets and lies, and how our society lets many vulnerable people slip through the cracks, but it didn't land with me personally.

4.5 Stars

’The morning sky lightens, and snow falls on the cottage. It falls on the thatch, concealing the moss and the mouse damage, smoothing out the undulations, filling in the hollows and slips melting where it touches the bricks of the chimney. It settles on the plants and bare soil in the front garden and forms a perfect mound on top of the rotten gatepost, as though shaped from the inside of a teacup.’

There’s a brief moment when Fuller seduces, lulls you into envisioning this lovely, bucolic setting. The family inside this little cottage includes Dot, a seventy year-old woman, her adult twins, Julius and Jeanie, and Jeanie’s beloved dog Maude. The serenity of the scene serves as a diversion, if only momentary, from the loss that will befall them soon. Dot sees, senses it coming, both a premonition and a physical acceptance of what will transpire, reaching out to comfort, she strokes Maude’s head.

This is a melancholy story, shared with lovely, if subdued, prose that flows effortlessly. A story in which way leads on to way, with each twist in their paths leading them further into darkness even as they seek for evidence of light, and a way back. But to what? The life they’d been living before is irreparably changed, and yet there is still life, and secrets which will be revealed.


Pub Date: 18 May 2021

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Tin House

#UnsettledGround #NetGalley

“𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐮𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭. 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐞, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫.”

The incident that comes along and trips up twins Jeanie and Julius, aged 51, is the sudden, unexpected death of their mother Dot. The family of three have lived in “rural isolation and poverty” in a cottage since the death of the twins father when they were still children. It has been Dot who has faced all of life’s difficulties keeping her beloved children in a safe bubble. Dot, whose secrets are now going to force Jeanie and Julius out into the world, has kept them tied to the only home they’ve ever known, for better or worse. Jeanie has never been healthy enough to face the challenges of life, learning too was a struggle, unlike her brother who has been the one venture into town taking on jobs here and there, she has spent her life feeling this crumbling home is their only sanctuary. Debts have been collecting, all the things Dot sheltered and hid from her children are knocking at their door, as threatening as monsters. Figuring out how to afford to bury their mother is the least of their woes. Julius has never really had a relationship, and suddenly he thinks about a woman named Shelley Swift who has hired him to fix the window in her place above the fish shop. With their mother gone, his attention isn’t focused solely on whether or not they will lose the cottage, though it is a screaming fact that troubles him along with fears for his needy sibling. How has he let 51 years go by with nothing to show? It disturbs Jeanie, the time he is spending away from her but she isn’t his mother…it’s his life.

Suddenly, the locals don’t feel so forgiving, nor willing to let the pair go on living on their charity. Jeanie feels like their lives, their very way of existence, is being stolen from beneath their feet. Who is she without her daily routine, without her vegetable garden, without chickens to feed, without her mother Dot? Why didn’t they know their mother was sick, when it seems everyone else did? Suddenly every hour seems swollen with worries, all the things Dot protected them from has come home to roost. Jeanie and her brother Julius deal with it in different ways, distance grows between them testing their co-dependence. They will be humiliated and enraged by the actions of others, forced into a different life, lost in their new surroundings. Will they falter or thrive?

It seems like such a simple, quiet story, but the tale escalates with each challenge, every uncovered lie. How did they get through 51 years of life and never really know who their mother truly was? Why did they remain needy children far beyond an acceptable age, never forced to face reality? It gets a bit dark too, and sometimes the weakest link in the family chain is the one who life challenges the most. I was engaged, and admit there is a certain appeal to their self-inflicted isolation, keeping your beloved children near, but it’s a grievous wrong. You can’t hide from life, though they had quite a go of it for 51 years. Trouble will find you in every corner of the world. How much do we owe our family? What do we owe our children? One would think, at the very least, we owe them the ability to stand on their own two feet, if not our truths. Dot was quite a complicated lady. A novel of strength, loyalty and betrayal.

Publication Date: May 18, 2021

Tin House

Fuller's novel has interesting characters who keep moving the novel along, mainly through endless bleak times for the fifty-one year old brother and sister twins, whose mother dies abruptly in the beginning of the novel. We don't learn the ways the mother has lied to her grown children until the end of the novel, and it's hard to understand how her grown children were so oblivious to their mother's deception, how they continued to live in this rundown shack with her their entire lives, surrounded by people in their small village who seemed to know these truths, while no one shared this information. Regardless, the novel works because we just go along with everything, patiently awaiting the questions to be answered, the questions that never surfaced until their mother died, and they were not only faced with eviction, but were subjected to violence. Even though the novel basically comes full circle at the end, we can only wonder what really happened to Julius (avoiding spoilers) and how he fares over the years, and if Jeanie transforms, and finally blossoms. Even though the novel has few upbeat moments, it's not entirely depressing, and is a rather easy read.

Author Claire Fuller writes a soft-focus, lyrical tale about the awakening that occurs for a 51-year old woman after her mother dies. UNSETTLED GROUND describes the slow, timid steps the woman takes as she and her twin brother attempt to live without their mother for the first time in their lives. Her mother’s life was far more secretive and complex than she had ever understood, and the protagonist finds herself at a loss for equilibrium. This is a quiet book with undercurrents of loneliness, poverty and ultimately, hope. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Well, this was bleak.. but it was good!
Twins Julius and Jeanie are 51 yrs old and have never had any independence. They live with their mother, Dot in isolation and poverty in a falling apart cottage on a landowner’s land who their father used to work for.
Father had passed forty years ago, and Dot dies in the beginning of the story.
They have their garden, their music ..they play instruments and sing, but they had been totally sheltered by Dot and now on their own with limited devices and knowledge they fall into complete despair.
Not a happy story... mostly a story of secrets and survival.

Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC!

Unsettled Ground was my first novel by Claire Fuller and I look forward to reading more from the author!

Unsettled Ground was a very unique story set in the rural English countryside. When Julius and Jeanie’s mother Dot suddenly dies, the 51 year old twins are left with a falling down cottage, no money and loads of unanswered questions about their mother. Just days after their mother’s death, they are suddenly being told Dot has outstanding debts on the cottage and also with a family friend. How could their mother hide this from them? The owner of the cottage is threatening eviction and Jeanie and Julius have grown up and lived their whole lives in the cottage, dependent on Dot. Will they find a way to make it on their own? Or will their mother’s past secrets always be there to limit them? The character descriptions are fascinating and complex and you will fall in love with this story.

I didn't hate this book at all but it was just so, so unremarkable. I loved the premise: Jeanie and Julius are 51-year-old twins living with their mother in rural England who drops dead one day and suddenly Jeanie and Julius are forced to navigate a world they don't fully understand. It's different and interesting but it just really fell flat for me.

The problem with Unsettled Ground is that there's just no momentum. And I don't mean that in the sense that it would have worked better as a page-turner murder mystery or anything like that; I'm an advocate of the literary-thriller hybrid genre and I think Fuller nails that tone here--there is a bit of a central mystery but it's mostly a vehicle to explore the themes that she's interested in interrogating. That's all fine and well. But on a sentence-by-sentence level, this book dragged. There's no sense that it's moving forward toward anything, it just feels like it's spinning its wheels and I did not at any point find myself compelled to pick it up.

Like I said, I did enjoy some of the thematic threads that Fuller explored in this novel and I don't have an overwhelmingly negative feeling toward it; I just couldn't bring myself to get invested at any point and I think this would be an incredibly lackluster addition to the Women's Prize shortlist.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tin House for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.