Rating: 
Summary: A terrific read that keeps echoing in my mind!
Review: A friend recommended Family Pictures to me when I was learning that my son had a disorder related to autism--although the impact of Randall's diagnosis created difficulties in this family's story, he also changed their lives in positive ways. I found courage in facing my son's diagnosis through the very human response of this family to Randall's difficulties. Sue Miller's writing is compelling. I loved the scene where the family photographs are viewed and one from Randall's babyhood portends the impact he will have on the family.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read...
Review: As stated in other reviews, this novel looks at the impact of autism on a family system. Now, that probably sounds dull, dry and lifeless, which this book is not. This book is gripping - spellbinding in parts, in fact. There were times I absolutely could not put it down. Miller has a way of bringing people and situations to life in such a way that even if you've never experienced what she's writing about, you can find something in it to relate to. She makes things real, and she's a very honest writer. As someone who has a disability, I can say in all honesty that Miller did her research. She truly understands how some families can be impacted by such an event. The characterizations are vibrant and even bold at times. The use of the device of the shifting narrator was a good choice. The title is brilliant - the book is really a series of vignettes, pictures, of this family at various stages of coping, growing, developing and changing.
As strong as this novel is, it doesn't quite reach the heights it needs to in order to warrant the final star. This book shows the promise of what is to come in The Distinguished Guest. The biggest problem with Family Pictures is that is too long, and as good as the characters are, they're still lacking that third dimension. The book has some inspired moments, but Miller can't sustain it. She tries to integrate bits of the outside culture, and how that impacts what happens in the family, but those connnections are weak. In fact, those elements of the book seem particularly shallow (the Freud references, the swinging, the drugs, etc... it seems more for effect than anything) and they detract a bit from best parts - the how these people relate to one another. The sex scenes and some of the swearing seems fake and unnecessary. This is one of the better books I've read - as popular fiction goes, it's as good as anything you're going to find. It only falls short in that it's not the best Miller's written. I highly reccommend reading it - even buying it - but it's not quite as "can't miss" as The Distinguished Guest.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic Portrayal of an Autistic
Review: As the mother of an autistic child, "Family Pictures" wasnot easy to read, especially due to the eventual fate of the autisticbrother, Randall. What I would like to say is that I have read a great deal about autism. Fiction, non-fiction, text books, first hand accounts and even how-to manuals, but this book, this NOVEL, was one of the most realistic, compassionate writings dealing with autism I have ever read. It is heartbreaking in it's total honesty of life with an autistic. It deals with decisions and sacrifices that have to be made and yet, is told with love. END
Rating: 
Summary: Huh?
Review: Ever get to the end of a book you've been struggling through, only to have the ending make no sense, or leave you feeling flat? If you like that kind of thing, this is your book.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't even finish it!!!!
Review: I absolutely loved the book "While I was Gone" yet I had a hard time getting into this book. I think I had a hard time relating to the story. I pesonally felt that it didn't flow as well as the other book I mentioned before. It seemed a little drawn out at times. I always finish a book that is able to keep my interest, but this just didn't cut it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, emotional story.
Review: I couldn't put this book down. I loved it. Ms. Miller's detailed descriptions brought the book to life for me. I have read every other book by the author and my only disappointment is how long I have to wait between books.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining book
Review: I have to agree with some reviewers that the author can write exquisitely. I also have to agree that I came away not totally understanding some of the characters.
Things jump around, but I'm flexible enough to follow along most times. The thing that bewildered me, however, was that the book shifts from first person to third person and back. You read the point of view of Nina, the family photographer, and settle into getting to know what you presume is the "main character". Suddenly, you flip totally out of her sphere and find she's referred to in the third person. Not only that, but she isn't the main character at all. The story is mostly about her parents. So you don't know where Nina's point of view went - or, more importantly, why it went away. It becomes "Nina's" story four short times without following any discernible structure, except (and I presume this - it isn't stated) that it's because she's a photographer and took pictures, and gave the book the title. You just have to accept that sometimes it's all about Nina. No telling why.
When it flips back to third person, the story switches back and forth between the points of view of several characters, mostly the parents and the non-autistic brother (and sometimes a third-person rather than a first-person Nina), moving the story along more or less chronologically through the 50s and 60s, then ending in the 80s where it began.
Within this shifting of time, place and viewpoint, the story describes a family whose autistic son/brother is both "not there" and omnipresent in their lives. He is the dominating influence on everyone without ever being mentally "with" them. The author describes the impact his life had on his parents' marriage and his siblings as they attempt to cope with their lives and his.
All told, even with the massive shifts in everything, I enjoyed the book, the writing, the story and the timeframe. I would certainly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not ready for Prime Time Miller
Review: I read and loved Sue Miller's novel, *The Distinguished Guest*, and so I picked up this book in order to explore her work further. Apparently, *Family Pictures* was written quite a bit earlier in her career, and to my mind, it reflects the "all dressed up and nowhere to go" tendencies of many a younger writer who has not quite found her literary voice. Sue Miller can flat-out write, there is no doubt about that. Her prose is polished, smooth, and engrossing, incorporating fine cadence, descriptive language, and an unusual ability to capture skillfully some of the feelings or thoughts that she attributes to particular characters. However, overall, this book spins its wheels a lot. Despite the length of the book and the enormous amount of description used with respect to revealing the inner lives of the characters, I never got the feeling that these personalities were really developed fully. Who were these people, and why did they do what they did in this story? Too often, the answers were not forthcoming. The unifying thread in the saga is the birth, life, and death of an autistic child, Randall. We learn some significant things about the other characters that apparently are responses to Randall's tragic situation. But aside from these clearly laid-out character facets, the deeper issues of what makes each character "tick" and *why* too often remain fairly obscure. Part of the problem, I think, is the "snapshot" approach that Miller uses to develop the novel. She skips from character to character (and there are a lot of people in this family), and from year to year, sometimes in dizzying fashion. As a result, it seems like there is a lot of frenzied activity and emotional drama that never really seems tied together adequately. As I neared the end of the book, I was hoping for some episode or sequence that would somehow bring the many loose ends together. But the ending was just as disconnected as was much of the rest of the book. Overall, this is not a bad novel, just one that reflects, I think, an author who has not yet mastered her craft. There is a certain triumph of style over substance here that I find troubling. In later books, Miller's work seems to me far more cohesive and deep.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book that I return to again and again.
Review: I really think that Sue Miller is one of our great American novelists. Her books are incredible works of art that draw me in, keep me rapt for hundreds of pages, and don't leave me feeling the least bit "dirty" when I'm done. In other words, Sue Miller writes literary page turners. I'm not sure why her novels don't appear on university reading lists across the country. If she doesn't achieve academic recognition, then she at least deserves the fame of Anne Tyler or any number of inferior writers. That said, Family Pictures is a book that I would recommend to anyone, especially someone seeking an extremely readable book with excellent characterization. Sue Miller has a knack for giving her characters incredible dimension. Each character she touches on is exposed, warts and all, but she also includes moments of exquisite tenderness. Family Pictures is a sweeping novel, almost of epic proportions -- so involving that it would make a great beach read, but so well-written and carefully plotted that one might want to savor it. I must say that it's a little bit less polished than, say, While I Was Gone, but really, the woman is gifted, and it shines right through even in this, one of her earlier novels. I encourage you to check it out right now. I've read it at least three times, and every time I can't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Family Pictures
Review: I thought that this book was particularly terrible. It detailed acts of sexual abuse, and featured each character in an odd and foreboding glare. The author did an awful job of trying to create a thoughful perspective on the family, and came out making every good scene into a bad one. In short, Family Pictures was disturbing and poorly written, and the raunchy content forced me to throw the book out only halfway through. What a waste of my time and money!
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