Our book group has just read this book. Overall, I really enjoyed reading it, and there were passages throughout where I thought, I wish I had written that. Eg the paragraphs on favouritism in connection with Andrew and his brother, Billy; the passage on what it takes to be a great actor; drug addiction re Fegus, Molly's brother and the chapter towards the end of the book, in Molly's garden, where the narrator ( we do not know her name) has a long conversation with Andrew.
However, there were aspects where I felt the author seemed to contradict the pictures she had alrady drawn of the main characters, eg Molly flirting shamelessly with Tony, Andrew's son. The Molly we have got to know is someone who comes alive on the stage, but doesn't appear to be comfortable in company, indeed, she prefers aloneness. She is described as someone you would pass in the street without a second glance. She cultivates anonymity.
She writes that the narrator knows that Molly and Andrew want her to introduce them to each other. They are both famous in their own field. They could have easily met each other without the introduction, to me, this didn't make sense.
It was over half way through the book that I realised why it was called, Molly Fox's Birthday. Yes, it was on that day, when she turned seven, that her mother left, but it's what the other characters do on the day, so many years later, that gives the book its title, clever.
I always give a book 40 pages. At page 40, I wasn't eager to continue, but I didn't feel I wanted to reject the book.
