Man at the Helm - July book club

I think that Nina has captured the voice of a 9-year old in the 1970s perfectly and she has an excellent ear for the absurd. The jokey style hides some truthful and honest observations which jumped out at me . I enjoyed this book as much as her first one.

I would like to ask Nina if she based Lizzie on herself or her sister or on a mix of them both?

I read this book in a few days as I couldn't put it down once I had started reading it.
It does make you smile, but not laugh, at the way it is written, and is amusing, but sadly it has a good sprinkling of "F" words.

I have received this book and was planning to take it to read it on holiday. However, after the mixed reviews perhaps I had better start it first to see how I get on with it.

I'm always surprised that the same book can produce such diverse comments. Just goes to show how different we all are, thank goodness

Finished Man at the Helm today and found it a page turner. I agree with Maggiemaybe's review very much especially the bitter/sweet. Life is hard in many ways for many children, sadly. From my own childhood experiences your way of life is all you know and it is very normal to you. Everyone has different standards and priorities and even with the children's problems they were not horribly mistreated were they? They were loved, going to school regularly, had food if not the best and beds to sleep on and much more. I think Nina Stibbe is a talented writer and I will read 'Love, Nina' and look forward to her future work.

When I started to read, I had to put aside all my knowledge of 11 and 9 year olds - gained from having 4 children, 6 grandchildren, a long career as a Primary teacher and my present frequent contact in the school, where I am a Governor! Some of the vocabulary and thoughts of the storyteller suggest either a very intelligent - or precocious child!
However, having put that aside, I stopped looking for reality and thoroughly enjoyed the story! Given the dysfunctional mother the children coped amazingly well! It made for a highly amusing read!

Thanks for the free copy. I am halfway through it and thoroughly enjoying it. The characters are slightly eccentric, to say the least. I was a bit shocked that the two sisters who are eleven and twelve,,I think are fairly knowledgeable about sex, and men's genitals. Can't wait for the end to find out if their mother is suitably paired up. Very intriguing.

Enjoyed the book although felt it over did the langage a little it was
a bit of a struggle at the start and am not sure it would encourage me to read anymore by this author.

I love getting free books but must admit I struggled to finish this one. It seemed to me to be set more in the fifties or sixties than in the seventies - surely paid help of any sort was uncommon by then.
Im afraid it didnt make me laugh at all
I would love to know if Nina based her story on people she knew

As someone else has said - interesting to see so many differing view on the same book. I loved it.

I understand that it is semi autobiographical and having read that Nina has children of her own would like to ask whether he own childhood experiences have shaped the way she has been as a mother?

I would like to ask if she has any other books in the pipeline? Did she find it difficult to start the book and if so what made her "go for it".

I would be interested to read the same story from the mother's point of view

Just finished reading Man at the Helm what a great book. Laughed out loud at some of the antics they got up to and really enjoyed it. Hope it won't be too long before her next one comes out.

Thank you for my copy of 'Man at the Helm'. I have started it but we are going away for a while and I shall take it with me to finish. As there will be no internet access I need to post a question for Nina now.

Nina, I'm enjoying your book so far but why so much use of brackets? (Like this!) It's taking me a while to get used to your style (of brackets that is) I'm a little confused please enlighten me (if possible) Thank you, Nina.

Weather: It's not so much the F words I can't get used to, more the use of the C word, which doesn't crop as much in conversation as the F word nowadays, I don't think it did back in the 70s, either. However, I am about half way through the book now and I like it, not in an 'I must not put it down until I finish it way', just a plod on every night before I go to sleep type of way. It has its' amusing moments and is quite readable, it did make me hark back to my youth and growing up in the 70s, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I found the book full of humour, the world seen by a 9 year old girl, Lizzie. She and her siblings are trying to find a man for their newly abandoned mother, to cheer her up and make them more socially acceptable. The children are a mixture of precociousness and innocence. The plot is unrealistic, verging on farcical, so we know we are not to take it too seriously.
A question - Will we have a sequel titled Woman at the Helm?
My daughter found she was an abandoned mother, and went through the tears, drink and pills phase quite quickly and moved on to a confident Woman at the Helm, steering her young family through new ventures and experiences! She did have family and friends though, who would not let her deviated from the course of independence!!

Hello Nina,
First of all , I'd like to thank you for such a brilliant read.It was different from anything I've read before.I have to confess that I haven't read 'Love, Nina' So I didn't know anything about you prior to reading this book.

I loved all the characters, the flawed Mother who you couldn't help but like.The feisty elder sister, Lizzie who narrates and little Jack who may even be a shred Autistic.I could see them all ! You not only made the main suitors real, but brought to life the neighbours and shopkeepers.

I grew up in a village, and in it's early days, it was just like the village you have crafted, so I really could relate to some of the insular behaviour of it's inhabitants since I wasn't actually born there.

Did you grow up in a village ? I feel you must have, if not you have been extraordinarily clever in reproducing that feel here.I don't want to say too much about the story here in case some people haven't finished reading it yet.
Have you another book in the pipeline ? I hope you do, I shall buy it, and am now off to look for 'Love Nina'.

This would make a fantastic stage play, I bet you get approached about it !
Good luck to you and thanks for a superb read.

It did take me a while to get into this book but when I did I enjoyed it. It must be difficult to write from the point of view of a young girl but I think the tone was just right. I loved the children,wanted to give the mother a shake but she had depression and I suspect many children are in the same situation. They did what they had to do to get by and I'm glad of the happy ending. I would like to ask the author what made her decide to write from a child's prospective ? I' m on holiday in Turkey so I have left the book in the hotel's library for other people to enjoy and spread the author's name.

I was very pleased to be one of the people who was sent a copy of this book " Man at the Helm" and I must say it would not normally be one I would pick off the shelf. I found the first chapters a bit of a struggle and was tempted to give up, but as time went on I wanted to find out what happened next to this very exceptional family. I was surprised the author made the children so " street wise" but it all added to the plot of the book. The author must have either a good idea of children of that era or did she base it on any personal problems in her life? Sometimes I found it over descriptive at times and it was not for me the hilarious read it was advertised to be, but that does not mean it did not make me smile at times.
I will pass it on to one of my daughter-in-laws to see how she views he book as a younger person.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it amusing and fascinating from beginning to end ( though I have to admit I could have managed without the detailed description of the men's toilets !! )
I have read that it is a semi-autobiographical book - in that you moved with your family to a country village under similar circumstances .

This prompts the question :-
Is it easy / hard to start writing about your own childhood and then put in all these imaginary characters and events?

I love the idea of the "heavy pig" on page 278
Have you had many of these " weighty pig days " ?

I'm glad the mother found a "Man at the Helm " and I agree that she turned out to be a hero.
Thank you Nina and Gransnet......a brilliant book.

P.S. The last few sentences of the book are absolutely priceless !!!

I'm surprised at some of the comments about the beginning of this book as I found it easy to get I to and really wanted to get to the end to see what hapoened.
My question is: it made me smile a lot but also made me feel quite sad in parts. Was it deliberate to try to bring out both emotions in your readers?

I was looking forward to this book, I was in need of a funny book.
However, I didn't find it hilarious, in parts I found it rather sad for the children and I don't think I got past that.
I might be a bit of a prude but I don't feel comfortable with swearing, and the "c" word makes me flinch. I almost stopped reading the book. I think I found it uncomfortable that the mother was using such language in front of and with her children. I just wasn't brought up that way.
I was confused for a few chapters about what decade we were in, I think it felt earlier than the 70's because of the main characters turn of phrase but it caught up later.
I'm not sure if I would choose another book by this author. Sorry.

Finished this. I have mixed feelings about it. It was sometimes funny but I thought some of the comedy was too manufactured. Some episodes were really successful- Maxwell the pony was one-but other situations felt forced.
I thought the ending was a bit contrived. I would like to ask Nina if she ever wrote or thought of writing an alternative ending?

Unlike others I didn't find this a laugh out loud novel I'm afraid.
It was interesting that the children seemed to have a better grip on life than their mother who they seemed to be one step ahead of throughout the book. We were never told the name of Lizzie's sister but she seemed very mature for her years, a little too much perhaps.
It was interesting to read how people assume that you are wealthy when in fact it is far from the truth & that behind closed doors there often paints a different picture. I'm glad there was a happy ending & that 'mother' found her sole mate.
Has Nina got any other novels on the back burner?

Thank you again for my copy of this book.
After the first few chapters I struggled with this book. It was amusing not hilarious. Sorry I did not enjoy this book.

Struggled to finish this book. I couldn't find any empathy with the family, especially the mother. I am not a prude but found some of the language used towards the children offensive. There were only one or two incidents which I found mildly amusing, not the laugh out loud others found. Sorry, but not up to the standard of other Gransnet books I've read.