Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Not as good as all her previous books. A little bit disappointing.
I love Kate Morton so much so I am shocked to be giving this one a 2-star rating but dang, this one was a huge flop for me.
Issues:
1. Could have used heavy editing - way too many side stories that didn't have much to offer. I didn't get into it until ~250 pages in, when we started to get to know the Turner children better, and I didn't end up feeling like it was worth the 500+ page investment.
2. I loathed Nora more and more as the book continued. How did she go from doting on Polly to manipulating her into giving up a relationship with her fiancee and basically stealing Jess from her?! The way she treats Polly when Polly asks completely natural questions about her father is downright abusive. And it seems implied that she actually made up the story about both Isabel and Polly holding a pillow over the crib like they were going to smother their respective babies? How would a person do that to their beloved, cherished daughter? She's unhinged! It seems intentional on Morton's part that one ends up hating her, but it doesn't make any sense with the way Jess describes her. And frankly Jess is kind of annoying, too.
3. Was it supposed to be a twist that Polly was actually Thea? Because that was clear from the start. All that needed to be cleared up was how exactly Nora ended up getting her from the picnic, and several things about that were extremely frustrating, including the fact that although they had talked openly, Percy seems to have decided not to tell Marcus that Thea was ok once he knew for sure, despite knowing Marcus was wracked with guilt thinking she had been eaten by dogs.
4. The biggest issue of all - Meg. There's absolutely no way this empathetic woman beloved by the entire town a) decided to murder her husband's mistress in the first place and b) after accidentally killing a woman and all her children, carried on with her life as if nothing happened, without her family realizing something was seriously wrong. How would a kind, empathetic woman like Meg be able to live with herself? It's ridiculous.
Again, I love most of Morton's other books, but the theme of this one seemed to be characters who behave in ways that make no sense for the way they're otherwise portrayed. Hope her next one is better!
Issues:
1. Could have used heavy editing - way too many side stories that didn't have much to offer. I didn't get into it until ~250 pages in, when we started to get to know the Turner children better, and I didn't end up feeling like it was worth the 500+ page investment.
2. I loathed Nora more and more as the book continued. How did she go from doting on Polly to manipulating her into giving up a relationship with her fiancee and basically stealing Jess from her?! The way she treats Polly when Polly asks completely natural questions about her father is downright abusive. And it seems implied that she actually made up the story about both Isabel and Polly holding a pillow over the crib like they were going to smother their respective babies? How would a person do that to their beloved, cherished daughter? She's unhinged! It seems intentional on Morton's part that one ends up hating her, but it doesn't make any sense with the way Jess describes her. And frankly Jess is kind of annoying, too.
3. Was it supposed to be a twist that Polly was actually Thea? Because that was clear from the start. All that needed to be cleared up was how exactly Nora ended up getting her from the picnic, and several things about that were extremely frustrating, including the fact that although they had talked openly, Percy seems to have decided not to tell Marcus that Thea was ok once he knew for sure, despite knowing Marcus was wracked with guilt thinking she had been eaten by dogs.
4. The biggest issue of all - Meg. There's absolutely no way this empathetic woman beloved by the entire town a) decided to murder her husband's mistress in the first place and b) after accidentally killing a woman and all her children, carried on with her life as if nothing happened, without her family realizing something was seriously wrong. How would a kind, empathetic woman like Meg be able to live with herself? It's ridiculous.
Again, I love most of Morton's other books, but the theme of this one seemed to be characters who behave in ways that make no sense for the way they're otherwise portrayed. Hope her next one is better!
This book was so beautifully written and had me so wrapped up with the story that I would have a hard time letting it go when I had to put the book down. And you’ve got to love books that do that! But I’m not surprised because I have yet to read anything by Kate Morton that I haven’t loved. And this one just got added to that list.
If you like heavy description you will probably like this more than I did. The writing is fantastic, but I thought it was unnecessarily long. I liked the ending, but this was one I put down quite a bit and had to push through to finish.
This book was a fantastic read, full of realistic and relatable characters, red herrings and plot twists, beautiful world building and a wonderful flow to the story.
Each character was given ample attention, allowing me to fully appreciate and understand their personalities and why they did certain things. I loved that even though the story was written in 3rd person, I still felt the characters emotions through the descriptive writings.
At half way through the book, I thought I’d figured out the mystery, but the fact that I was slightly wrong made me love this book even more. There are lots of characters that you meet throughout the story which makes you forget tiny little details until they become very important later in the book. A reread to see all these small pieces of information as they occur is a MUST.
The only reason I haven’t given this book 5 stars is because I found the constant changing of both time and format a little distracting and disrupting to the flow of the otherwise perfect story. Although the time skipping and reading a book within a book makes perfect sense, I sometimes found myself flicking back to the beginning of the chapter to double check what time period I was reading in and trying to remember what characters knew what. That’s the only issue I had with this otherwise perfect book!
I highly recommend any reader picking up this book. You don’t need to be into mystery, crime or thrillers to enjoy it!
Each character was given ample attention, allowing me to fully appreciate and understand their personalities and why they did certain things. I loved that even though the story was written in 3rd person, I still felt the characters emotions through the descriptive writings.
At half way through the book, I thought I’d figured out the mystery, but the fact that I was slightly wrong made me love this book even more. There are lots of characters that you meet throughout the story which makes you forget tiny little details until they become very important later in the book. A reread to see all these small pieces of information as they occur is a MUST.
The only reason I haven’t given this book 5 stars is because I found the constant changing of both time and format a little distracting and disrupting to the flow of the otherwise perfect story. Although the time skipping and reading a book within a book makes perfect sense, I sometimes found myself flicking back to the beginning of the chapter to double check what time period I was reading in and trying to remember what characters knew what. That’s the only issue I had with this otherwise perfect book!
I highly recommend any reader picking up this book. You don’t need to be into mystery, crime or thrillers to enjoy it!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, how I have missed Kate Morton. It's always a special treat to dive back into one of her complicated, intricately plotted historical mysteries. Love her!
Kate Morton masterfully weaves stories within stories, usually anchored in her homeland, Australia, and its wild but wonderful settings. Homecoming is that and more, offering a little whodunit, a little what it means to be an outsider, a little of what it means to be part of a family, and a little of what it means to be home.
4.5 stars. I love Kate Morton. I love that all of her books feel exactly like what I’d picture my perfect (and highly unrealistic) life to be: poking through rambling, abandoned houses in the English countryside to solve a years-old mystery/murder based on some photo or letter or piece of yarn/gum/newspaper that someone, somewhere, just recently found. PERFECT.
Homecoming wasn’t my favorite KM book (that will always belong to The Secret Keeper), but it was pretty fantastic. Reviews seem to be mixed, with a lot of people harping on the fact that the “book within a book” technique is lazy writing. When this manifested in Homecoming, I was annoyed, because normally it’s not my favorite, but I think it works in this case. Without it, there wouldn’t be anything for the protagonist to go on in terms of her investigation, and I really loved the narration of the events that led up to the mysterious deaths of the Turner family and the intricacies of relationships in the tiny Australian town where they take place.
I will say that the twists were fairly easy to guess, but the story was still enjoyable. Kate Morton does a fantastic job of engaging readers in the unraveling of what they already know…more of a slow burn than a thriller pace. I also found Nora to be a manipulative, self-serving yatch, someone who earns respect through how well-connected she is, rather than how she actually treats people.
Another complaint is the length, and I can agree there - it could have been about 100 pages shorter, and the story wouldn’t have suffered. Personally, I loved getting swept away the details and literally everything about this, so it’s fine. LOVED THIS. Ahhh…such a magical book and such a fantastic author
Homecoming wasn’t my favorite KM book (that will always belong to The Secret Keeper), but it was pretty fantastic. Reviews seem to be mixed, with a lot of people harping on the fact that the “book within a book” technique is lazy writing. When this manifested in Homecoming, I was annoyed, because normally it’s not my favorite, but I think it works in this case. Without it, there wouldn’t be anything for the protagonist to go on in terms of her investigation, and I really loved the narration of the events that led up to the mysterious deaths of the Turner family and the intricacies of relationships in the tiny Australian town where they take place.
I will say that the twists were fairly easy to guess, but the story was still enjoyable. Kate Morton does a fantastic job of engaging readers in the unraveling of what they already know…more of a slow burn than a thriller pace. I also found Nora to be a manipulative, self-serving yatch, someone who earns respect through how well-connected she is, rather than how she actually treats people.
Another complaint is the length, and I can agree there - it could have been about 100 pages shorter, and the story wouldn’t have suffered. Personally, I loved getting swept away the details and literally everything about this, so it’s fine. LOVED THIS. Ahhh…such a magical book and such a fantastic author