Interesting characters of three generations from the same family, and curious dialogue.
The use of letters, snappy dialogue like messages and different formatting from regular paragraphs were interesting - not always my favourites, however I enjoyed the dialogue and the arguments between the characters.

The title of this book leaves one unsure what to expect and what you get is a funny and moving look at family relationships and how we make decisions that affect our lives. Miranda's retired eccentric parents are living in rural France, having moved from Oxford with everything they own, including an old freezer of food dating from the 80s. They share their dilapidated home with cats, chickens, ducks and llamas and have very particular routines, especially related to the animals and scary mystery food from the freezer. Miranda lives in Paris and visits her constantly criticising mother and distant father regularly to make sure they are coping. She emails her sister, Charlotte, in England about the trips and how the frustrating stays leave her with "the usual desire to kill". This is not a plot-driven tale, it's about the day-to-day life of an ageing couple and their daughter coming to terms with the reversal of roles as she begins to become more parent than child to two wilful adults. It's an observant and darkly witty debut.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Family saga at its very best told with a tenderness that matches the dark humour in equal parts. I think this a book a lot people will identify with, it's true ans engaging. Really enjoyed it

The Usual Desire to Kill is a curious read - a mixture of melancholy and aging and comedic conversations that seem abstract to the outsider but make sense within families.

This is the story of Miranda and Charlotte whose parents who having left the world of academia in Oxford and moved to rural France and live in a semi chaotic state with llamas and a continual world of bickering

This is a family that is as dysfunctional as many and the communications between them - emails between the sisters and diary/ letters their mother wrote in the 1960s as she attempted to enter the male bastion land of Oxford weave within the book

The relationship between the parents is constant disagreement - hence the title.

Camilla Barnes experience as a playwright and actress is evident as this novel could easily translate to the stage . It is one of those books that not much happens but is full of life ( albeit filled with a sense of loss and despair and familiar conversations many siblings may hear their parents having and subsequently the discussions afterwards)

Hard to classify - dark humoured and leaves a sense of sadness as we all age and will recognise something in some of the characters.

The Usual Desire to Kill by Camilla Barnes is a brilliant mix of both funny and sad. Hugely relatable. Endearingly flawed characters with real depth and an insightful understanding of the ways in which family dynamics play out.