So good! Based on West's childhood experiences as a child raised by her smart but irresponsible father and long-suffering mother, her talented siblings, all living their bohemian lifestyle. It's written from a child's point of view, which allows her to see her surroundings with a combination of naïveté and wry intelligence. ( )

Mixed feelings about this book. Occasionally brilliant observations on art and gender, and excellent writing throughout, but there was a barrier between me and the story (and characters) that the author never managed to demolish. ( )

"(...) finisce comunque che nessuno di noi ha nulla, e questo nulla lo possiamo dividere in quante parti vogliamo, il nulla è divisibile finché si vuole, ce ne sarà sempre una quota per tutti."

Las vidas de los Aubrey siempre se han visto empañadas por la inestabilidad y excentricidad de un padre que igual escribe artículos de manera febril en su despacho durante horas que vende los pocos muebles que les quedaban para apoyar alguna causa alocada y abocada al fracaso. Pero su nuevo trabajo en las afueras de Londres promete, al menos durante un tiempo, el alivio del escándalo y la amenaza de la ruina. La madre, una ex pianista, lucha por mantener a la familia a flote, pero lo cierto es que ella es tanto o más excéntrica que su marido. Al menos así la ve Rose, una de las tres hijas de la familia, a través de sus ojos de niña a veces amorosos, a veces crueles. Tanto ella como su hermana gemela, Mary, son prodigios al piano. La familia se completa con Cordelia, la hermana mayor —trágicamente privada de talento musical— y Richard Quin, el pequeño de la casa.
En La familia Aubrey Rebecca West transformó su propia infancia volátil en un arte perdurable. Es este un retrato sin adornos pero afectuoso de una familia extraordinaria, en el que la autora se valió de un notable estilo y una poderosa inteligencia para analizar los límites evasivos de la niñez y la edad adulta, la libertad y la dependencia, lo ordinario y lo oculto.

All my favourite things in a book:
- a youthfully mean and misguided girl narrator
- a charmingly poor family (with a mother hopeless at housework and a handful of children and a father only in name) in early twentieth century England,
- various social and cultural adulthood events seen through the eyes of a child,
- with a dash of the inexplicable supernatural / macabre.
The setting and the characters reminded me of The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns.

I enjoyed being calmly carried along the daily misadventures of the Aubrey family by West's lovely prose. Events happened which, like life, just happen. We can choose to justify its presence, incorporate meaning where there might not be any or which may deepen our experience, or we can also just accept it as a delightful package that this book turned out to be.

Perhaps my absolutely favourite thing that this book did was, how rounded and fully realised all the characters were. They had their flaws, which flowed into their strengths, which fed back into flaws. Just exquisite characterisations thanks to West's deft touch. ( )