Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great...
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: 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 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: 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: 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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