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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
By the end, I quite enjoyed this book and I did like many of the characters and the way it was written. However, for the first 50% (maybe more) of the book I found it a complete punish. There were so many characters and it was impossible to tell who was relevant and who was described in minute detail, only to be never heard of again. Each time I’d start to get interested in a story line it would flit off to a different new story that felt like it had no connection. It took a long time for it to all come together and that made it difficult for me to get into.
However, by the end it did come together, and I enjoyed that, before it wrapped up very quickly.
However, by the end it did come together, and I enjoyed that, before it wrapped up very quickly.
Nothing like reading a novel written by someone at the top of her game! WOW--what a pleasure! Atkinson doesn't give much away and she doesn't protect her characters or her readers, so prepare yourself!
I wanted to love this. And there was a section in the middle where I did. But for most of the time I found it tedious. Too many characters, too many nightclubs, too many side-characters who may or may not be important, too many people back-stabbing each other. I couldn't tell you who was who in most cases, or who I was meant to like and meant to dislike.
Perhaps simplicity is sometimes better?
Perhaps simplicity is sometimes better?
Another wonderful entry from Kate Atkinson. Gritty material made interesting with her humor and sparkling language. I really liked how she did the ending - she wrapped things up for each character except one, and I have my own opinion on what choice Gwendolyn should have made. I loved how she wrote that bit - challenging the reader to choose.
This book is a clever evocation of a period with its vivid recreations of some aspects of British life between the world wars, however, the sum of its parts failed to impress me in the same way that some of Atkinson's earlier writing has done.
“ And there they must remain, suspended between coming and going for ever.” Loved this book- lots of details and interesting ending-
I love Kate Atkinson, and this one did not disappoint. This is historical fiction and the story of a young woman who finds herself working undercover in a speakeasy, even though she is merely a librarian. Not a lot happens, but the characters are unique and the comic relief outweighs the violence. (Inevitably there is violence when you consider the setting, and the gangsters, and the money involved in a family run booze business, and the corrupt cops, etc.)
funny
fast-paced