Rereading Clean Break as an adult- Part Two

Following on from my previous post, it was astounding to me upon re-read that it's implied Frankie has cheated on Julie before or met other people- the way he says 'I've met someone else Julie' and it says 'Mum scarcely blinked. 'Yes. Well. That's nothing new' she said.' That shook me to my core as when I read CB as a child I hadn't picked up on the implication that Frankie had a wandering eye and changed my opinion of Frankie. One of Frankie's only redeeming features is that he loves Em as his own. Also, when Em described her parents fighting with a 'They'd stop shouting and suddenly sigh and fall into each other's arms. They'd done this enough times in the past so they could do it again.' It sounds like Em, Vita and Maxie grew up with alot of conflict between Julie and Frankie. Perhaps they weren't a great match after all? Julie also says 'This isn't the first time Em' when she's talking to Em about Frankie later in the second chapter.

My heart broke for Em questioning her relationship with Gran 'She must have made a proper fuss of me when I was a baby- all grans did'. As an adult who grew up feeling unloved by the adults in her life, I really empathized with Em here. And oh my word the oldest daughter parentification goes hard! Em tries to comfort Julie when she goes into her room on Christmas day and she takes out her frustrations on Em an even swears at her 'it's not badword ok you silly little girl. He's leaving us for another woman for Gods sake!' I never thought twice about this when I read this as a kid but oh my word Julie really parentified Em and shared way too much with her on many occasions and leaned on her for emotional support. Em is treated like a child one minute and an adult the next, that would have been very confusing for her.

I know this sub is full of Ellen stans but my opinion on her differs. She regularly goes too far and is quite cutting and hurtful with her comments. I understand her frustration with Frankie but the way she badmouths Frankie in front of the grandchildren, knowing the kids adore their dad and says 'I never liked him right from the day your mum brought him home. I said as much too...' and 'I think you should be shedding tears of Joy to be rid of that two-timing coniving Mr Smoothie'. I loved when Em went off at Gran when she was berating Julie about her choice in men, 'you're rubbish at choosing men- one violent nutter, one sleazy charmer....' and Em says 'you're rubbish at ment too, Gran. Grandad cleared off years ago!' I wonder if Ellen projects her past experiences with men onto Julie? And if her harshness comes from a place of not wanting Julie to make the same mistakes she did?. I also loved when Julie said 'Do you ever listen to yourself Mum? Do you get a kick out of saying hurtful things? I can't stop you saying stuff about me, but I'm certainly not going to have you being mean to the kids....' Gosh this family needs a workshop in boundaries!

Another thing that stood out to me as an adult re-reading this book is Em's casual admission that she still has nightmares about her biological Dad. I wonder if this was a book published in 2025 if Em would be in therapy dealing with this. Clearly what happened with her biological dad really affected her.

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts as my re-read of this as an adult really is eye-opening. The levels of dysfunction in this family are astronomical (not unlike many families) but it's interesting how much I picked up on so much as an adult when as a child I didn't bat an eyelid.