I can see why this book polarises so many readers. I have to admit to struggling at times too, but that is because I don't like with books that are full of unlikable characters with no redeeming features. Having said that, there are many parts in this story about a dysfunctional family that many readers will recognise from their own experiences that will make you cringe or just smile wryly at.

However many people loved this so I will put it aside and give it another go and see if I still feel the same.

I'd really looked forward to reading this but struggled to make any progress. I tried the hard copy too and just couldn't get into the story. Maybe the right book but the wrong time as I'd loved When We Were Bad.

This is a novel about the dysfunctional Hanrahan family- Ray, Lucia and their 3 grown up children- as they approach the art show of the narcissistic and controlling artist Ray. I usually love family dramas and so was drawn to the synopsis of this. However I found Ray's controlling and toxic behaviour hard to take and found it a struggle to read about the host of unlikeable characters. The novel didn't flow well for me and I found it to be written in a confusing and chaotic style.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

there have been all sorts of reviews for this book....It seems to have a love/hate relationship for the reader...and some of us sit on the fence! I had to make several attempts to get into it...the pace slow and the number of characters making it difficult to grasp. I'm all for reading about families and how they function, or dysfunction, but had to really force myself to get through, it felt more of a task than a delight. Perhaps at a different time I'll attempt to reread but for me it just didn't inspire me to rush... Sorry!
Many thanks to Netgalley for my opportunity to read, this is my unbiased opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
This is the first book I have read by this author, the promise of a well-written tale of a dysfunctional family with lots of humour attracted me. I found that the first 8% of the novel was setting the scene for Ray's latest exhibition by describing Lucia's life since meeting and marrying him - a thorough introduction to her life that is packed full of information. However I did not find any of this funny; Ray is described as egotistical but all I read describes the same sort of controlling, manipulative behaviour that I read in another novel as a description of domestic abuse. I had no desire to read further.

The Exhibitionist is a sharp, wry, often witty family drama following the lives of the Hanrahan family in the build up to the long-awaited exhibition of the father's work. Ray Hanrahan was once a celebrated artist but his reputation has been in decline and he hasn't produced any work of note since his heyday. Decline is a major theme of this novel, in Ray's career, his health, his relationships with his family and subsequently their relationships with each other. This decline is represented by the Hanrahan house, which is crumbling and decrepit, dusty and cracked, overtaken by clutter and the garden overgrown. It isn't a happy household and you can see why the eldest daughter, Jess is reluctant to return for the exhibition.

I struggled to actually like any of the characters, but Ray is awful. He is a text book narcissist who manipulates and emotionally abuses all of his family, especially his long-suffering wife, Lucia. Also an artist, Lucia has been forced to live in Ray's shadow their entire married life. Though still a practicing artist, she is unable to further her career and or take up opportunities because doing so would cause Ray to have a full on tantrum, we're talking crying and banging on the floor! Even when she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer Ray finds a way to make it about him. I felt for Lucia and was praying that she would eventually see sense and make a life for herself separate from Ray. Their daughter Leah is firmly on her dad's side and takes it upon herself to care for him in his declining health and tries her best to ensure that no one upsets him. Her role is very much that of the spinster daughter staying home to take care of the family, like you might find in a Victorian novel. Patrick is Lucia's oldest son and Ray's stepson and he has suffered the brunt of Ray's emotional abuse his whole life, scared to do anything that displeases him so as not to incur his wrath or ridicule.

The story becomes so chaotic towards the end that there were points I didn't know which character was speaking or why certain things were happening, which I suppose is a technique to create the sense of confusion and turmoil being experienced by the characters, but it just made the reading experience too stressful for me. I liked the ending though and overall enjoyed the story.

I can see why this book has mixed reviews but equally I can see why it is longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. It‘s really only for those who like reading about unlikeable characters. Ray Hanrahan is a faded artist who is one of the most obnoxious protagonists I have ever met, although perhaps descending into parody occasionally.

We join his family as he puts on a private viewing, seeing family life from many different perspectives; his sculptor wife‘s star is on the ascendant, his kids take sides and various other hangers-on and an MP put in an appearance.

I didn‘t like the ending, as I prefer things all tied up neatly in a big bow, and this didn't go far enough for me, although some outcomes were suggested / implied, but still a great read.

I enjoyed this novel on the whole but found myself very frustrated by some of the characters’ actions as it progressed so it was a slightly unsatisfying read for me overall. I found the monstrous behaviour of one character (and the reaction of all other characters to it) really stretched credulity at times but I did enjoy the exploration of the life of a female artist and how creativity clashes with family life. A shame that the family dynamics rang less true for me personally. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a monster Ray is, an artist with the most enormous ego that he forces his family to feed as he guilt- trips them all into submission.
The portrait of a totally dysfunctional family is sharp as knives, immensely readable and very fascinating. The family is all summoned to help and support Ray on the eve of his first exhibition for years but things aren’t what they seem for each member as secrets and hidden agendas rise to the surface. Brilliant stuff.

Lucia is a talented artist, creating huge installation pieces, with a pushy French agent who keeps finding amazing opportunities for her, but she's married to Ray, a once-feted painter who has declined and been lazy, and now sits in their decaying house like a spider in a web, throwing fits of petulance if she dares work at her art, let alone be successful or written about. He's driven Lucia's son Patrick into perilous mental health, a self-harming habit and a dodgy caravan in the garden, his one daughter Jess into dull safety with the amazingly dull Martyn, and Leah, the daughter who stayed at home to be nurse/secretary/muse to her darling father.

As guests gather for a big party and new exhibition, will everyone be able to keep Ray's ego stoked or will various family secrets burst forth? Will Lucia find the strength to bite back, even as she has to welcome the deliciously horrendous woman Ray had an affair with as well as his perfect sister-in-law to the house. Will Jess realise she might be better off alone than settling? Will poor Patrick escape?

I couldn't put this down and was amazed at how Mendelson sustained the high emotional pitch all the way through. Wouldn't necessarily recommend for someone going through breast cancer treatment, though.

Full review here: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2022/03/23/book-review-charlotte-mendelson-the-exhibitionist/

I loved this story of Ray and his family. Ray is a character who dominates his wife and three childrens lives with his over bearing personality and mood swings. I loved the characters in this- not always likeable but each had their own reasons for being how they were, and a secret they were keeping from Ray! All culminating in an art exhibition that everything hinges on- this was a fantastic read.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I was anticipating a story about artistic rivalry within a family, for me this was more a story of Ray, a narcissistic yet charismatic man who exerts such coercive control over his family that both Lucia, his wife, and their 3 children, live lives of terrified compliance, tiptoeing around him and doing anything to placate him, modify his moods and imagined slights.

Surprisingly despite this subject matter it isn't a difficult read - I read it in a day - and it is darkly funny throughout, sometimes laugh out loud so. It also covers another tough topic as Lucia is haunted by her recent experience of breast cancer, its treatment and aftermath. Ray is presented obliquely, we seem him mostly through the eyes of others who are largely dazzled by his personality and his assumed genius. It is hard to do anything other than loathe him and I found myself mentally shouting at other characters just to leave him to it.

Overall a wonderful exploration of family dynamics and dysfunctional male behaviour.

I didn't quite gel with this book. It took me a really long time to get into it. But once I did I enjoyed the storyline and thought that it was a unique book.

Unfortunately this was a terrible reading experience all round for me.

The Exhibitionist is a (comedy?) drama about the Hanrahan family. They’re a North London arty family living in a crumbling mansion.

Lucia is the lily-livered/downtrodden matriarch and successful sculptor, a dichotomy I found unconvincing. Dad Ray is the sneering, domineering, failing artist and bullying narcissist, misogynist and racist. I genuinely couldn’t tell if he was meant to be a parody - a sense of humour failure on my part perhaps.

The children (Patrick, Leah and Jess) are a mixed bunch who’ve taken sides and all have issues of their own. I never felt that I got to know them and could care less about them.

The story unfolds over the period of a weekend where Ray is hosting his comeback show after many years in the art scene wilderness. Do us all a favour and send him back I say.

I love a book with a good family drama and some unlikeable characters, but this was a total mess. The pacing was off and the perspective changed from paragraph to paragraph so it was a constant struggle to keep up with what was going on, and when you have zero investment in the characters, this becomes very wearisome.

It had the slightly chaotic, arty tone of Girl, Woman, Other (the book it most resembled to me), but none of the humour or warmth. Any attempt at humour fell flat. I spent more time grimacing than laughing.

Honestly, I’m not sure how anyone, other than those who mix in arty, media, awards-type circles, could relate to any of the characters in this book. It was not for me. 1/5 ⭐️

I have read such a lot of inconsequential nonsense lately that it's hard to know where to start with The Exhibitionist. Novels with catastrophic dialogue, copy-and-paste characters and plots that would be best served by a blog post or even a single tweet. Mercifully, The Exhibitionist is not one of these, by quite some distance.

This novel is a fluent, easy read but, my god, it is far from being a comfortable one. Sympathies for Mendelson's characters can swing wildly within the space of a single page. Why do they do what they do? Why don't they say what is on their mind? Why don't they sort themselves out?! But this is not an error of inconsistency or lack of care from Mendelson, it is simply a reflection of the reader. If you don't see some of your own behaviour in the pages of this novel, you need to stop lying to yourself.

Much has been made of the dominance of the family's patriarch Ray Hanrahan, the exhibitionist of the title (a tiny bit like Nancy Mitford's Uncle Matthew but without the modicum of charm). An artist who has fallen out of favour in recent years and is on the brink of a private view of his latest works. Mendelson's real skill in creating Ray is that it is quite some time before we get a proper look at him face on, so to speak. For a substantial chunk of the novel it's like we see him out the corner of our eye, whizzing past on a bus, or catch a whiff of him like a rotting mouse under the floorboards. He permeates the text through reported speech, anecdotes and family legend, he's glimpsed or heard across a crowded room. When we're finally right next to him, it's almost impossible to look him in the face. He is a coercive, infantile bully, he is repellent; he is an absolute triumph.

Mendelson must also be congratulated for her descriptions of the Hanrahan family home. Clearly it is a metaphor for the state of the family itself, but it is brought to life so keenly (if you're not scratching and gagging you have a very strong constitution) that it is practically a character in its own right and the one as a reader that you might feel sorry for as it's the only one who has no power to sort itself out.

Mendelson's dialogue is also a breeze to read. Add this to her characterisation and her ability to leanly conjure environments I have one last comment: if The Exhibitionist isn't commissioned for a four-part TV adaptation what the hell is going on? I mean, most of the work has been done for you.

A short, but definitely not sweet, encounter with the Hanrahan family that left me almost breathless with the pace that a supposedly celebratory weekend turns to rage, disappointment and worlds turned upside down and inside out. Ray, the bullying, infantile and washed up artist, is certainly the villain of the story, almost, but never quite, pantomimic in his entitlement and sense of betrayal, contrasts deeply with his wife, and fellow (more talented) artist, Lucia. It’s the ark of her story, and those of their long suffering adult children, told with the most devastating scythe-sharp humour, that pulled me almost frantically through the book, always hoping at least someone (preferably Ray!) would get what they deserved.

I'm afraid I wasn't all that keen on the way this book was written. It sounded ideal, a dysfunctional family all dealing with their own demons. However, I found Ray so ridiculously narcissistic i had no sympathy for those who seemed to worship him and pander to his every need. I enjoyed Jess's story, however, the rest of the characters we didn't find out enough about. I wanted to know more about Patrick and why he turned out the way he did.
The paragraphs jumped from character to character without warning and sentences were often not finished, I found it disjointed and it didn't really work for me.

Ray and Lucia are both artists. Married for many years with 3 grown up children. Ray is difficult. To put it mildly. Infuriating! His career has dominated the family for all of their lives. Lucia's own career has been overshadowed for all their married life by her other job - that of supporting Ray. But as a new exhibition of his new work is about to launch, it co-incides with Lucia experiencing some life changing events that make her re-evaluate all that she has done to support him in the past. But how on earth will that go down with the family. It all comes to a head over a 3 day period as the exhibition nears.

An insight into competing careers, family dynamics, an imbalanced marriage... and the outcome is far from a surprise.
I found this a bit slow, and the outcome predictable, and I failed to be really gripped by it - but I know it is loved by many so I very much suspect it was right book, wrong time for me.

What will stuck with you after reading this book, apart from the highly dislikable and flawed characters and the dysfunctional family schemes, is the magnificent writing.

It's like prose and poetry mixed together, and at times it reminded me of the 19th century "stream of consciousness novel".
It's not an easy read on many levels, not only because of its prose,but also because of its themes and the toxicity of the story.

I confess I had a hard time getting into it at first, it took me a while to start enjoying it fully, but I'm so very glad I didn't give up, because the experience of reading it, and being sucked into it, has been absolutely rewarding.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A dysfunctional family, ok...so are the Simpsons, but these people are all unpleasant in many different ways and I found it very hard to continue reading so skipped lots of it hoping to find a saving grace somewhere. Sadly there were none. I grew up among families such as these and the over privileged, self absorbed characters were sadly true to life, well portrayed and hard to like, they all swim around in their own pool. However the writing was interesting, some of it read like a free verse poem, some similes were great but this appealed to me only as a piece of writing rather than an immersive novel.
Thank you Netgalley for the arc.