Hello, sorry for late reply, only just found this thread - I agree, Norman is the only sane person left at the end. I suppose the author has to make the characters a little more extreme for entertainment value, but I did find Claudia, Emily and Simeon a bit OTT, or rather they were rarely shown with any redeeming qualities (everyone normally has one, don't they?)

have you got a question you'd like to ask the author? I'm emailing her now and will post answers on the May BOTM thread next week...

hope you can join us for June book of the month too

I agree that Norman did come to life towards the end. In fact, he was the only member of the family I liked.

I enjoyed the book, but found it a little bit irritating that none of the characters were "normal" people. But maybe there is no "normal" if you come from such a disfunctional background.