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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
good character development, but while it is written well, it is way too long. the action comes mostly near the end of the book
Delicious! I love the way she has with words. The descriptions are so lush. It’s interesting, engaging, and it is still in my head.
It was ok but reads a bit like the author is expecting it to be made in to a 2 part BBC adaptation.
Enjoyed this historical, atmospheric piece. In some ways the feel of it reminded me of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes - although the plots are quite different. At first I mistakenly thought this would be a Fantasy - the Essex Serpent - but the Serpent seems to represent our superstitions of things that go bump in the night, of moving from ignorance to enlightenment. In the Author's Note Perry talks about some of our misconceptions of Victorian life, and certainly her women characters defy stereotypes. Characters seemed to be looking for passion of purpose, life and love with interesting results as to where characters land.
Is salt symbolic of something? Martha tastes of salt - and it is mentioned several times throughout the book. Is she the salt of the earth or something?
p. 314 That's the great crime: that no one need be put in chains when their own minds are shackles enough.
Spoiler Thoughts below:
I think about the relationship between Cora and Will. Will becomes more human and more endeared by his congregation having fallen - as long as he returns and loves Stella. Cora says she can live without Will, "I love you and I am content without you." But "Even so, come quickly." Not staying away will complicate things dreadfully.
It was Francis - the out-of-sync child who saves everything by being able to go to Cora and tell her he "might have done something wrong." Cora responds perfectly, staying relatively calm telling Francis he did his best, and now she was going to do her best to fix it, Thus saving Stella's life and bringing her back into life and reality.
Is salt symbolic of something? Martha tastes of salt - and it is mentioned several times throughout the book. Is she the salt of the earth or something?
p. 314 That's the great crime: that no one need be put in chains when their own minds are shackles enough.
Spoiler Thoughts below:
I think about the relationship between Cora and Will. Will becomes more human and more endeared by his congregation having fallen - as long as he returns and loves Stella. Cora says she can live without Will, "I love you and I am content without you." But "Even so, come quickly." Not staying away will complicate things dreadfully.
It was Francis - the out-of-sync child who saves everything by being able to go to Cora and tell her he "might have done something wrong." Cora responds perfectly, staying relatively calm telling Francis he did his best, and now she was going to do her best to fix it, Thus saving Stella's life and bringing her back into life and reality.
I really enjoyed this historical novel about a small village in England in the 1890s. The tension between science and myth, men and women was spot on.
Fine just not really my cup of tea
Essex felt both true to Victorian times and exploratory in the ways that human love can be complicated and happy endings can look different. Occasional details were haunting (pulling the circle of hairs from her nape?!) and the language sometimes strained toward erudition, but the overall effect was that of good soup... you know the potato is just a potato, but the ingredients together make magic.
Ugh. Trudged through this boring book. Fantasized about listing it as DNF but saw all the great reviews and thought there MUST be something in here worth waiting for. Dear readers: There was not, in fact, anything worth waiting for. Narrator was fabulous. MC—actually, all the characters—had potential for amazing stories and adventures, but this dreary tome felt like the character map for a better book coming soon.
A fascinating, enjoyable depiction of a group of people at a time of rapid progress in England, when the Victorian age was coming to an end. Moving between the metropolis of London and a village in the depths of rural Essex, it captures a time when science and reason were confronting religion and pagan traditions, played out by a cast of memorable characters. At its heart is the friendship between a young widow fascinated by the science of fossils and a country vicar who embraces progress alongside his Christian faith. As fears grow that a giant serpent is threatening the village, the characters face up to forces that lead them to examine their own lives.