Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
I liked this book, but I wanted to LOVE it.
The story was great, but I didn't care for most of the characters. To me, Cora started off as a spoiled brat, though she did redeem herself towards the end. I found Ivo to be completely unlikeable.
The story was great, but I didn't care for most of the characters. To me, Cora started off as a spoiled brat, though she did redeem herself towards the end. I found Ivo to be completely unlikeable.
emotional
informative
fast-paced
This is a well-crafted novel set in the Gilded Age. I always loved the Newport mansions and was drawn to the lifestyles Goodwin lays out, but I didn't know a lot about the book before I started it, so I was unsure what to expect. Would it be a romance, a mystery, an Upstairs-downstairs statement on class?
In the end it had a little of everything. The romances are handled well enough to make the characters lively, but not enough to overshadow the plot. The Duke is distant but passionate (i.e., perfect) and the villians, as usual in these days, are conniving women looking to upgrade or maintain their rank. There are winners and losers. By far the strongpoint of this novel is the Machievellian banter, those thinly-veiled truths that can cut like any sword. As in real life, flat-out honesty trumps it all.
Daisy Goodwin seems to have quite the writer's pedigree; her writing is strong. But what is with the run-on sentences? They are everywhere, including in the dialogue, making her characters' voices sound far too much like her own. I am all for breaking the rules for some literary license, but this aspect of style is plain distracting. It ruins the rhythm of a story when there are commas where periods should have been.
In the end it had a little of everything. The romances are handled well enough to make the characters lively, but not enough to overshadow the plot. The Duke is distant but passionate (i.e., perfect) and the villians, as usual in these days, are conniving women looking to upgrade or maintain their rank. There are winners and losers. By far the strongpoint of this novel is the Machievellian banter, those thinly-veiled truths that can cut like any sword. As in real life, flat-out honesty trumps it all.
Daisy Goodwin seems to have quite the writer's pedigree; her writing is strong. But what is with the run-on sentences? They are everywhere, including in the dialogue, making her characters' voices sound far too much like her own. I am all for breaking the rules for some literary license, but this aspect of style is plain distracting. It ruins the rhythm of a story when there are commas where periods should have been.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love historical fiction, so I started this book looking forward to some high society intrigue, love, hate, and betrayal. Instead, it was kinda boring. Nothing really seemed to happen. Cora is the richest girl in America and her mother wants her to have a title, so after her 18th birthday they go to London. Cora meets Ivo, a Duke. The story was told from several points of view, mostly Cora and her maid Bertha, but occasionally you'd get other characters. But never Ivo's point of view, this made him very hard to like or even care about. He takes off :on business" for most of Cora's pregnancy because his feelings are hurt over a painting. Which he totally set her up for. He offers no help in navigating her new world or social circle but has a tantrum and runs away when she makes him "look bad". Ivo claims to need her and can't live his life without her, but he's frankly all talk. It was very hard to care about what happened to these characters. His mother is terrible, her mother is heartless, and even Cora is hard to like. Then when something finally seems to happen (which you saw coming from the very beginning) the book just ends. It wasn't a bad book, it just fell flat for me.
The ending was a little weird, but I really enjoyed this book. It was a little escapism, a little education, and a fun look-in on the Gilded Age.
Although I didn't love this novel as much as I hoped to, it was clearly a well researched and interesting window into a period I know little about--the age of American heiress "buying titles" and saving the great estates of England.
I enjoyed this book. It hit the spot with a bit of historical fiction, a bit of romance and a bit of intrigue. It is not the next great novel, but not every book needs to be.