The Playground

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What an interesting web you weave, Shemilt! The synopsis definitely says best when it comes to Big Little Lies feels because those are definitely all there! These parents are the worst. I mean, they don't mean to be but they're so busy dealing with their own issues to really pay attention to their children. Then again, what's really right or wrong - every one has a different parenting technique. I don't even want to blame them *too* much even though there are definitely some that I just wanna slap silly.

Mr. Charles Underhill raised a hand. But I don’t know that boy, he thought. And why should he call me by my first name? Melissa is an interior decorator who lives her life very strictly and tries her best to stay out of Paul's way. Paul is an abuser to his wife but very close to their daughter Izzy. The thing about Playground though that I appreciate about it is the way it doesn't shy away from abuse. That's what this book is about. Abuse. Objectively that is what this is about. As the summer progresses, the couples become friends. And that is truly when things begin to unravel. These were not the most attentive parents! They are wrapped up in their friendships and secrets, and the kids are left to their own devices. (Latchkey kids, they used to call them) The alcohol flows, vacations are taken, dinners are had, and eventually an illicit relationship forms. Meanwhile, the kids have their own secrets…

When you have two precious bits of porcelain and one is broken and the other, the last one, remains, where can you find the time to be objective, to be immensely calm, to be anything else but concerned? No, he thought, walking slowly, in the hall, there seems to be nothing I can do except go on being afraid and being afraid of being afraid.” –Charles Underhill

I did not like this book. I wanted to, I could see that there was a point haunting the edges of the book. But I just, I just couldn't. If you're a parent or an older sibling, you probably know this feeling very well - the intense protectiveness and the fear of letting the child step out alone into the big and cruel world. Some,” replied the boy on the playground. “Maybe this is the only one like this. Maybe it’s just how you look at it, Charlie. Things are what you want them to be.” From the iconic science fiction author of Fahrenheit 451, a chilling dystopian short story that became a classic episode of TV’s Ray Bradbury Theater. He’ll get it in school. Better to let him take a little shoving about now, when he’s three, so he’s prepared for it."Some of the subject matter, especially with domestic violence, is too vividly described for me and made those parts difficult to stomach.