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Aug 2020
11:10am, 11 Aug 2020
39,690 posts
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LindsD
I don't think it's aimed at the YA market, but it is simplistic.
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Aug 2020
1:45pm, 13 Aug 2020
52,022 posts
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Diogenes
Very much a curate's egg of a book, as is my review.
Although large parts of this story were slow and laboured, weighed down by detailed research presented like it was for a child's textbook, I still wanted to know what was going to happen in the end. The final chapter was quite satisfying, so much so that I would like to see a sequel which covers the later life of Violet and her family.
However, I don't think it's something I'd recommend. It was clunky, frustrating, and yet predictable, also. The character of Dorothy was extremely annoying (although this might have been the way the narrator of the audiobook portrayed her). I think I'll give it a 6.
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Aug 2020
1:48pm, 13 Aug 2020
39,742 posts
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LindsD
Agree mostly.
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Aug 2020
1:52pm, 13 Aug 2020
52,025 posts
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Diogenes
There is a lot of heart and warmth in this book, which endeared it to me. The good people win out over the bad/unkind purely through the strength of the love and generosity they show unto others which in turn redeems some of those who appear to have the hardest hearts. This theme is the best of this novel.
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Aug 2020
1:55pm, 13 Aug 2020
39,743 posts
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LindsD
Agree 100%.
I found I was more tolerant of the detail because it was accurate. Normally I'd have found it irritating.
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Aug 2020
3:03pm, 13 Aug 2020
29 posts
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Raggedy runner
Just finished it and unimpressed tbh. I only persevered because it was a book club choice. Thin, predictable characters and it just generally meandered through a vague plot. Not my thing although I love novels set in the past. Previous book was Joseph O’Connor’s book, Shadowplay, about Bram Stoker. That was a good’un.
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Aug 2020
12:17pm, 18 Aug 2020
52,179 posts
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Diogenes
Random thoughts from a distance:
Is this a Bridget Jones for the 1930s?
Isn't bell ringing a rather crude metaphor?
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Aug 2020
12:29pm, 18 Aug 2020
39,850 posts
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LindsD
I hadn't thought of that.
It lacks the self-loathing and crude stereotypes of Bridget Jones, thank heavens. Also I guess it has stereotypes of its own.
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Aug 2020
12:38pm, 18 Aug 2020
52,185 posts
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Diogenes
Both of those questions were a bit tongue in cheek.
I liked the way Chevalier was careful to place her characters as modern, rather than stereotypes of their time: Violet is a strong, independent woman of the world, and certainly no shrinking wallflower, despite her spinsterhood. She does not let herself be hidebound by convention. Gilda, Dorothy and Violet are all keen to get Mrs Speedwell's house up to date, they are not content to be pieces in the museum.
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Aug 2020
8:09am, 19 Aug 2020
46,544 posts
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McGoohan
I have finished. While I think about a review... I have a theory about the book which will Blow Your Mind!!!!!
Okay, maybe.
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Book Group
Dec 2024