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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-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
A coming-of-age story told via the perspectives of a variety of characters (single timeline) who hail from two different cultures, American and British, beginning with the onset of WWII. For those who like to quietly contemplate the minutia of life. Requires a box of Kleenex.
Thank you to Celadon Books for sending me a copy to review.
This quiet, contemplative novel examines the meaning of family and home, love and ambition. Beatrix Thompson is an 11-year-old, working class girl from London whose parents make the fraught decision to send her to America during World War II. There she joins the Gregory family and soon finds herself enmeshed in their world that is so different from the one she left behind. The short chapters shift between the perspectives of different characters, Beatrix but also the two Gregory sons, Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, and Beatrix's parents back in England. Even after Beatrix goes back to England after the end of the war, the novel continues to follow the threads of complicated feeling that all the characters grapple with as they are caught between what they want and what seems possible for them. I liked the complexity developed for each character although I would have liked more description of Beatrix's world back in London, both before and after the war. The romance aspects didn't seem fully convincing and seemed to serve more as symbols of the larger themes than as relationships that were important in and of themselves. The strongest section is the one that covers the years of World War II. Later sections are less successful at depicting the different time periods (1951 and 1960s) as we follow the characters through their lives post-war.
This quiet, contemplative novel examines the meaning of family and home, love and ambition. Beatrix Thompson is an 11-year-old, working class girl from London whose parents make the fraught decision to send her to America during World War II. There she joins the Gregory family and soon finds herself enmeshed in their world that is so different from the one she left behind. The short chapters shift between the perspectives of different characters, Beatrix but also the two Gregory sons, Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, and Beatrix's parents back in England. Even after Beatrix goes back to England after the end of the war, the novel continues to follow the threads of complicated feeling that all the characters grapple with as they are caught between what they want and what seems possible for them. I liked the complexity developed for each character although I would have liked more description of Beatrix's world back in London, both before and after the war. The romance aspects didn't seem fully convincing and seemed to serve more as symbols of the larger themes than as relationships that were important in and of themselves. The strongest section is the one that covers the years of World War II. Later sections are less successful at depicting the different time periods (1951 and 1960s) as we follow the characters through their lives post-war.
I loved this book as I was reading it. I thought it was creative, thoughtful, rich, had beautiful characters and real-life real life.
I'd like a bit more hope in it. But definitely worth a read.
I'd like a bit more hope in it. But definitely worth a read.
dark
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
A lot of the negative reviews I have read touch on the slow nature of this book, and how it is very character driven. Well, that is a feature of novels that I really appreciate and seek out, and this book didn't disappoint. I felt that all of the characters were so painfully human. They made bad decisions, they were selfish, they held grudges, and they learned to forgive.
I felt myself relating a lot to Millie, the main characters real mother. She sacrificed raising her daughter in order to ensure her daughter's safety, and then held nearly life-long resentment for her new caretaker, "mother." I could easily see myself feeling the pain and longing that Millie experienced, and I thought it was a beautiful reflection on the complexities of human emotions.
That said, I know this book is not for everyone, and I would not recommend it to many of the people I personally know. It is slow, and depressing, and somewhat hopeless, and yet still so achingly beautiful and tragic.
I felt myself relating a lot to Millie, the main characters real mother. She sacrificed raising her daughter in order to ensure her daughter's safety, and then held nearly life-long resentment for her new caretaker, "mother." I could easily see myself feeling the pain and longing that Millie experienced, and I thought it was a beautiful reflection on the complexities of human emotions.
That said, I know this book is not for everyone, and I would not recommend it to many of the people I personally know. It is slow, and depressing, and somewhat hopeless, and yet still so achingly beautiful and tragic.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes