I really enjoyed this book about a messy, dysfunctional, and yet so undeniably NORMAL family life. The characters were relatable, the writing was entertaining, and the pace was good. It was humorous, heart-breaking, and hopeful, all in one go.

I do agree with some of the other reviewers. Firstly, I liked the idea of every scene being based around the meal, as implied heavily by the blurb. Whilst this was true for about half of the scenes, it wasn't carried through properly, and it definitely could have been made into more of a feature. I also wasn't a fan of the ending; I found it rather flat and unsatisfying after such a whirlwind of a book. It didn't seem to be an intuitive ending with any large take-home message, but rather as if the author had reached her word count and just needed to stop it there.

Don't let these comments put you off! I would definitely recommend this book as I had a blast reading it, and I unashamedly give it a solid 4 stars.

Chociaż rodzinnych dram we własnym życiu nie znoszę, do tych w książkach mam już inne podejście. Cała ta dynamika, emocje, to coś, co zapowiada ciekawą historię. Dlatego skusiłam się na debiut Claire Powell, który opowiada właśnie o kryzysie w rodzinie.

Nicole i Jamie mają ponad trzydzieści lat, kiedy ich rodzice przyznają się do separacji. Cała sytuacja mocno odbija się na każdym członku rodziny, a do tego dochodzą jeszcze ich własne problemy.

Dlaczego „Przy stole”? Wszystkie dramaty, rozmowy i wyznania mają miejsce właśnie tam. W trakcie lunchu, czy obiadu, podczas firmowego wyjścia, na weselu, przy butelce szampana. To bardzo fajnie łączy całość i oczywiście trochę popycha do małej refleksji na temat tego, ile naszych własnych wydarzeń miało miejsce przy tytułowym stole.

To bardzo lekka obyczajówka, którą czyta się niesamowicie szybko. W tle piękny Londyn i zmieniające się pory roku. A na deser masa problemów. Jamie właśnie planuje ślub, ale dopadają go wątpliwości. Nicole jest skupioną na karierze singielką, która również zaczyna zastanawiać się nad wyborami, których dokonała.

Mimo tej lekkości zabrakło mi tu więcej emocji. Trochę wynika to z faktu, że chociaż rodzeństwo jest niewiele starsze ode mnie, ciężko było mi zrozumieć ich reakcje. Nicole zachowywała się jak zbuntowana nastolatka, która rzuca wszystko i wybiega na wieść o separacji. Aż ciężko było mi uwierzyć, że to dorosła osoba. Potem odcina od siebie matkę, którą uważa za winną rozstania, choć… wcale nikt z rodziny nie dał jej tego do zrozumienia. Próbowałam uczepić się Jamiego, ale tu również ciężko mi było zobaczyć cały obraz sytuacji i zrozumieć powody jego kłopotów.

Chociaż lektura należała do całkiem przyjemnych, obawiam się, że nie jest to historia, którą zapamiętam na długo. Nie przeżywałam całej akcji tak, jak na to liczyłam. Nada się raczej wtedy, kiedy szukacie czegoś mniej wymagającego, za to dającego nadzieję.

When growing up, we are probably all somewhat self-centred, not often thinking of our parents as individuals or anything BUT our parents. But as you get older, and see things through an adult lense you realise there is much more to parenthood and relationships than that - and all is not perfect all of the time.

At The Table takes a regular family, from the suburbs and shines a spotlight on their interesting family dynamic. Claire Powell shows the fractured relationships between mother and daughter, paired with unconditional love which adds more fuel to the fire because you can see from either side that both parties care so deeply about each other, but never show it in quite the right way.

This book is a reminder that relationships and marriage don't always work out in the long-run, and the breakdown of relationships can have an impact on those that were in it, as well as the people surrounding, all for different reasons.

The concept of this book was great, with each chapter set 'at the table' whether that's a family dinner at their favourite restaurant, sibling meet-ups, husband and wife, or drinks around the table with colleagues. This helped a lot with pacing but was also easy to follow with the different characters, and was a really fun way of formatting it.

I loved this book, and I think it is a perfect read for anyone who loved Sorrow and Bliss (like I did). It's one of those books that I feel like I live in and honestly wish I could have stayed in it for a little bit longer.

If you like books about families sorting through their issues, you’ll like this!

What an accomplished debut novel this is. It is set across the space of a year and features the Maguire family, mum Linda, dad Gerry and their grown up children Nicole and Jamie. Every scene is set around a meal or drinks of some kind and in the opening, the family gather to celebrate Linda's birthday only to be told the news that Linda and Gerry have separated. Their children are appalled - their parents are not supposed to have emotional crises, not when both Nicole and Jamie are having their own crises. Each character is really well drawn, with their many flaws still not completely obliterating the fact that they are not total monsters, they are just normal people with issues. In many cases these issues are caused by alcohol - by the end my liver felt pickled and I'm not drinking at the moment. I know nothing about Claire Powell's background but she is able to articulate insight and emotional depth into all her characters, and the book is driven by these characters coming a cropper and having to work themselves out. As a reader, you do realise an emotional car crash is coming way ahead of the characters themselves which I found very entertaining. An astute well written book. Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.