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mazza57's review against another edition
4.0
This is a well written book with many threads woven together but none of them really relate to "the courtship of two prickly characters" that my back cover tells me the book is about. Grant weaves fact into fiction, the culture of Liverpool, the characters of it's city, Toxteth riots etc etc. Her Female character a sociology and criminology professor now involved in reparations for the Jews. Her supposed romantic interest , an architect who does not want to have an affair with her until his wife does something that he simply cannot understand. . This "courtship" is notable only by its absence
samanthawattam's review
3.0
It took me a while to warm up to this, initially I disliked the characters and found it tough going but have to say it did grow on me as the narrative progressed. Alix, a single independent woman and Joseph separated opinionated infuriating man meet and sparks fly. Alix has returned to Liverpool where she grew up as her mother is dying and Joseph is an architect building a hotel. Liverpool is in itself the third character in this story. But I definitely would not call this a romance. It's more of an exploration of their lives, their family backgrounds including in a historical context, their work, their views on life etc.
At times the narrative does have you biting your tongue as some of the opinions particularly of Joseph are vexing. He is a snob at times. He doesn't seem to see the value of others unless they fit within his purview of life. Joseph and Alix play tennis together. He asks her for a walk and kisses her. But SHE gets the wrong idea. WTF! Joseph describes Alix as having a "horse face" yet with his rotund tummy he is certainly no Brad Pitt! He has had sex whilst on business trips but they didn't mean anything as they didn't impact on his marriage and how much he loved his wife! That's only because she didn't bloody know and yes it is cheating! As you can tell he's a real catch!
I didn't really understand Alix's character at times why was she living such an isolated life in her house in France if she didn't have to. She wasn't traumatised for any reason she was a very outgoing person. She struck me as very independent and self-sufficient which I admired, it didn't seem in keeping with her personality that she needed a man to complete her life.
I found the historical background interesting but felt at times that I was getting a lecture on Jewish culture and history it could have been knitted better into the story.
This was a book club choice so I would say it does succeed in that respect as there is plenty to talk about.
At times the narrative does have you biting your tongue as some of the opinions particularly of Joseph are vexing. He is a snob at times. He doesn't seem to see the value of others unless they fit within his purview of life. Joseph and Alix play tennis together. He asks her for a walk and kisses her. But SHE gets the wrong idea. WTF! Joseph describes Alix as having a "horse face" yet with his rotund tummy he is certainly no Brad Pitt! He has had sex whilst on business trips but they didn't mean anything as they didn't impact on his marriage and how much he loved his wife! That's only because she didn't bloody know and yes it is cheating! As you can tell he's a real catch!
I didn't really understand Alix's character at times why was she living such an isolated life in her house in France if she didn't have to. She wasn't traumatised for any reason she was a very outgoing person. She struck me as very independent and self-sufficient which I admired, it didn't seem in keeping with her personality that she needed a man to complete her life.
I found the historical background interesting but felt at times that I was getting a lecture on Jewish culture and history it could have been knitted better into the story.
This was a book club choice so I would say it does succeed in that respect as there is plenty to talk about.
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