Reviews

The Woman in the Sable Coat by Elizabeth Brooks

peachstatepages's review

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

therealcubcake's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I think it's safe to say that I am a fan of Elizabeth Brooks. She has an ability to just put you into a world that is somehow so clear and visual, but yet isn't bogged down with minute explanations of every little thing. That, coupled with multiple little twists and turns in the story that kept me glued.
     "The Woman in the Sable Coat" is latest of her novels that I am talking about. Set during the Second World War in England, the story is told with two alternating narrators, Nina, and Kate.  
     Nina, a rebellious girl who leaves her home town and joins the Royal Air Force and has an affair with an officer.  Back in her home village we meet Kate, the wife who has been wronged by her husband Guy, who is the said officer having the affair with Nina. Kate has also befriended Nina's father and widower, Henry.  Throw in a mystery that surrounds Henry and you have quite the page turner! It sounds like a lot to keep track of, but Brooks makes it all flow so smoothly.

penniew79's review

3.0

I won this book through the Goodreads giveaway. I love historical fiction. And this was an okay book. I think I just got confused with the story because it seemed to be from Nina’s point of view but then it seems like it’s from the wife of the officer she has an affair with telling her story.

You follow Nina as a young woman. It starts with her returning to England on a ship. She eventually joins the war efforts of WWII. But, she has an affair with an older officer. There’s drama and mystery for sure with this story. It just was so confusing to me on the point of view.

robynearhart's review

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

3.25

barnstormingbooks's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was a strange read for me. Constructed of quiet moments that fall between the action where the characters think back on what has happened, combined with the shifting POV between the two FMC this was not the easiest book to get into. While an interesting format and a look at the lives of women and the gender politics of WWII, this didn’t quite work. 

The time jumps left the reader out of sink with the gravity of the moment. The characters were hard to care about, maybe because we spent more time in their heads as they evaluated past events than in those events. The twists were pretty predictable as well. 

The best part of this book is the preface. If the book had lived up to that intro it could have been an interesting tale. 

dblue236's review

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

 I think my problem with this wasn't so much that it was poorly written, but that it was painfully slow-moving and the premise itself just didn't really appeal to me. None of the characters really stood out and gave me any reason to become invested in them, and the whole thing read like historical fiction meets soap opera. Hopefully whoever ends up with it when I pass it on will enjoy it more than I was able to, because I genuinely don't think it's a matter of the book being bad; it was just a miss for me personally and I didn't care enough to finish it. DNF. 

wombat_88's review

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

DNF