Rating: 
Summary: I liked this book
Review: I thought this book was very good. It looked at family life and allowed a personal peek into a dysfunctional family. It showed love, fear, anger, betrayal, confusion, loyalty. All the feelings were real.
Rating:
Summary: Family dynamics regardless of autism
Review: I was reading the other day about John Gottman's research at the University of Washington. He says there are three types of successful unions: the "avoiders", where husband and wife never speak of their conflict, the "fighters", where they argue about anything and everything, and the "respectful", where civilized dialog is key. Problems arise when husband and wife have different arguing styles. With marriage counseling targeted to these differences, many unions can be saved from divorce. Unfortunately for Lainey and David, the parents in Family Pictures, this advice came a little too late. Lainey is passionate and dramatic. David is cool and composed. This book is a great study on John Gottman's theories. This is not a book about autism at all. Randall, the autistic child, is key to the story, because he sets the pace. After all, the three main sections of the life of this family are pre-Randall, post-Randall, and Randall's aftermath. This is not a story driven by a strong plot either. This is a characters' book. It is Lainey, Mack, Nina and David the ones that make this book what it is: not a book about a family with an autistic child, but a book that explores the devastation that divorce creates among children. Sue Miller's portrayal of the children as teenagers was so spot-on, I would find myself nodding my head in agreement at times, or smiling a "so true". I very much enjoyed Nina's narratives, especially the final connection she makes between her picture collage and her history (hence the title of the book). Not a pretty book, not a pretty story. It is long, jumpy and slightly depressing, but well written and honest. This is my first Sue Miller book, and I want to read more of her work.
Rating:
Summary: Family dynamics regardless of autism
Review: I was reading the other day about John Gottman's research at the University of Washington. He says there are three types of successful unions: the "avoiders", where husband and wife never speak of their conflict, the "fighters", where they argue about anything and everything, and the "respectful", where civilized dialog is key. Problems arise when husband and wife have different arguing styles. With marriage counseling targeted to these differences, many unions can be saved from divorce. Unfortunately for Lainey and David, the parents in Family Pictures, this advice came a little too late. Lainey is passionate and dramatic. David is cool and composed. This book is a great study on John Gottman's theories. This is not a book about autism at all. Randall, the autistic child, is key to the story, because he sets the pace. After all, the three main sections of the life of this family are pre-Randall, post-Randall, and Randall's aftermath. This is not a story driven by a strong plot either. This is a characters' book. It is Lainey, Mack, Nina and David the ones that make this book what it is: not a book about a family with an autistic child, but a book that explores the devastation that divorce creates among children. Sue Miller's portrayal of the children as teenagers was so spot-on, I would find myself nodding my head in agreement at times, or smiling a "so true". I very much enjoyed Nina's narratives, especially the final connection she makes between her picture collage and her history (hence the title of the book). Not a pretty book, not a pretty story. It is long, jumpy and slightly depressing, but well written and honest. This is my first Sue Miller book, and I want to read more of her work.
Rating: 
Summary: family pictures, i don't know about that...
Review: I watched the movie to this book when it aired on TV in 1993. I really enjoyed it and finally I have gotten around to reading the book. Usually the book is much better than the movie, but I have to say I was very disappointed with this book. Sue Miller, from what I have noticed has different styles for some of her books. I enjoyed For Love & Distinguished Guest. Family Pictures, just kind of threw me. Her books are hard to get into when you start reading them. And as I also noticed in the distinguished guest, when she begins to introduce you to the characters and stories, it seems like she doesn't know which direction she wants to go in. She will mention characters & then never again (and as in the d. guest, they were close family members!). Then you never know from which chapter to the next whose eyes you are looking through. There is no pattern. I'd have enjoyed the book more if there was a sequence. Also, I do agree with the other person who mentioned that she doesn't get into the characters feelings & thoughts as much as she could. Don't get me wrong, she does spend time on this, but her efforts fell short for me. I do enjoy the fact that miller probes into the family life. Her characters are complex & interesting. However, the book should have been taken from the movie, they had the right idea there.
Rating: 
Summary: Painful and appalling yet beautiful
Review: Miller did a wonderful job to decribe Eberhart family's struggle to maintain family homeostasis. I would definitely recommend to my friends who are interested in studying family dynamics.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, painful, a very, very good read
Review: Set in the 40s, 50s, and 70s, this stirring novel examines the way a large family struggles (psychologically) with the autistic child in their lives. Different chapters have different voices; either the 3rd person narrator, or of the fourth of six children, Nina. Nina has the unique perspective of being the first of the three children born after Randall, the autistic boy. An observer and a thoughtful, clever child, Nina relates, through her younger and older self, what happens to the family during her childhood years and later makes some observations about 'why'. The older children seem lost, even as adults, and the younger ones seem to understand implicitly that they are expected to be good, easy, healthy, and most importantly, "well".... to make up for Randall's "unwellness". The New York Times reviewer wrote, "Ms. Miller is particularly good at dramatizing scenes of domestic chaos and the complex interplay of adults and children... the reader is irresistibly drawn through their pain by the author's exquisite eye for psychological detail..." "Family Pictures" tells the stories of every family - the hurts and misperceptions, the survival mechanisms that any child builds and the beautiful crazy ways a family learns to live with and love each other.
Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a Family
Review: Sue Miller does such a wonderful job with characters. There was nothing in this novel that could have stood by itself. It was all in the characters. Miller tells the story of a large Chicago family from the late 1940's to the 1980's. Although this book is described as a family whose lives focus around the autistic son, I felt as though it was more about everyone else. Miller lets us into the lives of all of the family, from the parents to the children. It seems to linger more on those who are deeply effected by the happenings within the family, and leaving some as intimate outsiders. Although there isn't a huge plot, just the going's on of a family, I flew through this book.
Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a Family
Review: Sue Miller does such a wonderful job with characters. There was nothing in this novel that could have stood by itself. It was all in the characters. Miller tells the story of a large Chicago family from the late 1940's to the 1980's. Although this book is described as a family whose lives focus around the autistic son, I felt as though it was more about everyone else. Miller lets us into the lives of all of the family, from the parents to the children. It seems to linger more on those who are deeply effected by the happenings within the family, and leaving some as intimate outsiders. Although there isn't a huge plot, just the going's on of a family, I flew through this book.
Rating:
Summary: Interwoven stories
Review: Sue Miller's story of a family divided is told through several voices. The Eberhardt family is made up of Lainey the mom, a stay at home Mom of the late 40's, her husband David a psychologist, a doctor in a field just beginning to be understood and their six children Their children were conceived in two groups. The two oldest before their autistic son and the 3 youngest after. Six in a family that was divided by this one autistic child. SEVERAL VOICES PAINT DIFFERENT PICTURES:
The four voices you hear in this book are that of the Mom, Dad, eldest son Mack born before their autistic son Randall, and their second oldest daughter Nina born after. In this family, birth order is everything. Sue Miller's magnificent writing portrays how different a home can be from different eyes. Randall is the focus point and from him the whole family pivots. It is amazing how much one person can affect an entire family. STORY IS TOLD THROUGH RECOLLECTION OF SIMPLE EVENTS, THE ONES THAT SHAPE LIVES
Sue Miller's vivid writing makes you feel what her characters are experiencing as they recall these events in their lives. Remember times when you felt your life just changed or when a routine defined you? It can be a simple thing, but it signals to you that all things in your life had just changed or just a little bit about you was revealed, that you didn't even know. That simple moment, when you felt like a grown-up, one with decisions to make, responsibilities to act on. That moment when something you never noticed before became significant. All these factors build a life. In this book you can see how these individual factors seen from different eyes can mean so little or so much. A SIMPLE STORY
This book has no profound insight or sweeping moment when the characters get on with their life in a different fashion, but it does show how events shape each person differently. It is a simple story of a family and the events that shaped their lives. It makes us all think about the big and little things we recall as a kid. Given an adult perspective they take on all new meanings. Toss in a different perspective and they are more different still. When you read this book you think a bit differently of your parents and your children and their lives in respect to you. Great writing, a simple story of complicated lives.
Rating:
Summary: Interwoven stories
Review: Sue Miller's story of a family divided is told through several voices. The Eberhardt family is made up of Lainey the mom, a stay at home Mom of the late 40's, her husband David a psychologist, a doctor in a field just beginning to be understood and their six children Their children were conceived in two groups. The two oldest before their autistic son and the 3 youngest after. Six in a family that was divided by this one autistic child. SEVERAL VOICES PAINT DIFFERENT PICTURES:
The four voices you hear in this book are that of the Mom, Dad, eldest son Mack born before their autistic son Randall, and their second oldest daughter Nina born after. In this family, birth order is everything. Sue Miller's magnificent writing portrays how different a home can be from different eyes. Randall is the focus point and from him the whole family pivots. It is amazing how much one person can affect an entire family. STORY IS TOLD THROUGH RECOLLECTION OF SIMPLE EVENTS, THE ONES THAT SHAPE LIVES
Sue Miller's vivid writing makes you feel what her characters are experiencing as they recall these events in their lives. Remember times when you felt your life just changed or when a routine defined you? It can be a simple thing, but it signals to you that all things in your life had just changed or just a little bit about you was revealed, that you didn't even know. That simple moment, when you felt like a grown-up, one with decisions to make, responsibilities to act on. That moment when something you never noticed before became significant. All these factors build a life. In this book you can see how these individual factors seen from different eyes can mean so little or so much. A SIMPLE STORY
This book has no profound insight or sweeping moment when the characters get on with their life in a different fashion, but it does show how events shape each person differently. It is a simple story of a family and the events that shaped their lives. It makes us all think about the big and little things we recall as a kid. Given an adult perspective they take on all new meanings. Toss in a different perspective and they are more different still. When you read this book you think a bit differently of your parents and your children and their lives in respect to you. Great writing, a simple story of complicated lives.
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