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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
There are plot twists and then there are bait-and-switch. A bait and switch is a twist that comes out of nowhere, with no clues, no lead up, and no way the reader could have figured it out ahead of time. A plot twist is when there are enough clues sprinkled throughout that a reader can guess at what is coming (if too obvious then it goes without saying, it's not a good twist) but may still be unsure. When you look back after the twist, the path there should be obvious. Kate Morton once again pulls off a proper plot twist perfectly.
The pace of the story was slow at first, but by the second half I was fully hooked. (I do wish we had pulled Jess' life in England back into the story at the end, for how much that was used to set up the story it felt forgotten by the time we got to the meat of the plot.) The book-within-a-book format was such a fun twist on the use of flashbacks and the tone of voice for those chapters felt different enough to not blend into the rest of the story without being so different that it took you out.
All in all, a very enjoyable read and I will be impatiently waiting for the next half decade for her next novel....
The pace of the story was slow at first, but by the second half I was fully hooked. (I do wish we had pulled Jess' life in England back into the story at the end, for how much that was used to set up the story it felt forgotten by the time we got to the meat of the plot.) The book-within-a-book format was such a fun twist on the use of flashbacks and the tone of voice for those chapters felt different enough to not blend into the rest of the story without being so different that it took you out.
All in all, a very enjoyable read and I will be impatiently waiting for the next half decade for her next novel....
This is LONG, so only pick this up if you are prepared to fully immerse yourself in this world for 550 small type pages. Morton knows how to develop a sense of place; and the South Australian setting was new for me and interesting. It's a mystery, but really the book is character-driven and about family, identity and the sense of home. I liked the alternating timelines: present day and 1959 in the wake of what appears to be a murder-suicide in a small Australian town. The book was slow at times but overall a good read.
I love Kate Morton's storytelling. This book could have been 100 pages shorter imo, but I still loved the weaving of time and points of view
3.5 but I’ll round up because I couldn’t put it down. Very long, kinda predictable, and the end felt rushed but overall I enjoyed the story. I liked the book within a book and the way the stories/characters wove together.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes