You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
DNF@ page 136
Holy shitballs this was awful. The only person I cared about was Bertha, all the other no-personalities can fuck right off.
Holy shitballs this was awful. The only person I cared about was Bertha, all the other no-personalities can fuck right off.
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
More like 2.5 stars. Started out great,but lost me halfway through.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really wanted to enjoy this book, as I thought the description was really interesting. A story about an American heiress who comes to England and is overwhelmed by the difference in social norms. It sounds like an accompanying novel to The Buccaneers. However, as I read more and more about Cora and the cast of characters surrounding her, I couldn't help but feel incredibly frustrated. But what really gets me is how unlikeable every single character, with the exception of Bertha, is.
I liked the descriptions, I thought Daisy Goodwin was able to paint a very gilded and gorgeous picture. However, I do have to admit that if it weren't for her descriptions, the story would fall extremely flat. I know her characters are supposed to represent the consumerism and the self-importance of the Victorian era/Gilded age, but they all felt so one dimensional- with the exception of Bertha and Cora. I actually really enjoyed our heroine, I liked that she wasn't as spoiled and selfish as the book originally made her out to be. She wanted to forge her own path, but she ended up in a path that had its own restrictions- probably more restrictions than any in America, really. As Bertha pointed out, she could be both nasty and nice just as much as Ivo, but I couldn't help but root for her, especially after I saw how much every single character walked all over her.
Ivo and Cora's relationship was way too rushed. I don't consider this a spoiler, as they become engaged less than a quarter way through the book, even though they had only known each other for maybe at most two weeks. It's baffling to me why this was set up this way. I think the story suffered from it, and suffered from Cora becoming a duchess so quickly.
What really gets me throughout reading the novel is how hidden their motivations are. Why did Ivo propose? Why did Cora accept? Why are Ivo's moods so horrible? His valet describes him as being so temperamental that one day he may yell and even throw things at him, and then the next day give him more than a day's worth of money. It just makes no sense to me. Is this supposed to endear them to me? Maybe the characters motivations are simply that they're trying to survive in high society. But I've read other novels about high society and at least their characters are pleasant to read about. Every party scene that had double meanings in each sentence felt like a headache to read, because I didn't know a single thing that was going on. If the characters in their own point of view cannot allow the reader the courtesy of reading their thoughts about the double meaning of the sentence, how am I, someone who is not and will never be in a Gilded age/Victorian era high society setting, supposed to understand them?
I had tried to come up with reasons for the way certain characters acted while reading, and coming to the conclusions, I cannot help but be disappointed with their answers. I won't discuss spoilers here, that'll be after the quotes, but I just... don't see the great romance between Ivo and Cora that I think is supposed to be represented. I don't think Ivo even likes her, despite what he continually says. He condescends her and speaks down to her, and is resentful of her money and status, and feels stifled in that house and yet feels stifled everywhere else. He is a cruel man and yet Cora is so attached to him, and loves him so much, even though he barely gives her a reason to. He is one of the most insufferable characters I have ever read!
The more I discuss this book the more I vehemently hate it. And yes, I am saying that knowing that I read in the span of two days and could barely put it down out of my desperation to continue reading. Now I understand the little blurb on the front cover by a reviewer- this is indeed a guilty pleasure read. But it's not because it's a story about a woman living in luxury. It's because it's unfairly and unjustly addictive, given that ultimately nothing even really happens in this book! People have parties, people backstab each other, people put others down, Americans are highly regarded as being the saviors of English high society, but also put down upon because they don't know the customs (not that anyone is actually teaching them the customs!), I just- yeah, this was a very, very frustrating read.
And then there's Bertha. That woman is a saint. Someone should give her a million dollars and let her live wherever the hell she wants with whoever she wants. If I had a boss like Cora, I would be beside myself with self-pity.
Ultimately, I felt like this book was simultaneously too long and prolonged, and also way too rushed.
Quotes! And spoiler discussion.
"There was something uneasy about railroad barons and steel magnates dressing up in the silk hose and embroidered tailcoats of another gilded age."
"You mean the fine American horse? He is in the stables where his Republican opinions are causing my groom much anguish."
"A respectable woman's name should only appear in the newspaper three times in her life: when she is born, when she is married and when she dies."
"Don't tell me you're sulking, Cora. So unlike you. Surely you're not taking Odo's outburst seriously. Everybody knows he lives to make trouble. Most people won't have him in the house, but I seem to remember that it was you who insisted on having the Beauchamps to stay." [Oh yes, Ivo, blame your wife for inviting a man who aired out the fact that you were having an affair with his wife. Might as well give me a t-shirt that reads Ivo's #1 hater because that's how I feel when I read his condescending words.]
"Cora had married a man whose real nature she did not know and, worst still, she had married for love."
That's what really gets me, I think. How quickly Cora fell in love with Ivo, despite not knowing him at all. Maybe she did so because she was so desperate for anyone to see her for her and not her money. But even Ivo admitted that he did see her for a bit of her money. He saw her for the American aspect of brightening up drabby English rooms. At the end of the book, Cora reflects that it's okay that she doesn't really know Ivo. But this is after an entire novel's length of words (genuinely this book was so long) of her anxieties of not knowing her husband. And instead of knowing her husband and understanding his horrible moods, she just... accepts it? Couldn't be me, honestly couldn't be me.
I could mention the painting. And the pearl. And Ivo's moods. But I just want to be done. I want to never think about this book again. I did read in the span of two days, so I'm giving it two stars for two days. It was an addicting read, but that doesn't mean it was good.
I liked the descriptions, I thought Daisy Goodwin was able to paint a very gilded and gorgeous picture. However, I do have to admit that if it weren't for her descriptions, the story would fall extremely flat. I know her characters are supposed to represent the consumerism and the self-importance of the Victorian era/Gilded age, but they all felt so one dimensional- with the exception of Bertha and Cora. I actually really enjoyed our heroine, I liked that she wasn't as spoiled and selfish as the book originally made her out to be. She wanted to forge her own path, but she ended up in a path that had its own restrictions- probably more restrictions than any in America, really. As Bertha pointed out, she could be both nasty and nice just as much as Ivo, but I couldn't help but root for her, especially after I saw how much every single character walked all over her.
Ivo and Cora's relationship was way too rushed. I don't consider this a spoiler, as they become engaged less than a quarter way through the book, even though they had only known each other for maybe at most two weeks. It's baffling to me why this was set up this way. I think the story suffered from it, and suffered from Cora becoming a duchess so quickly.
What really gets me throughout reading the novel is how hidden their motivations are. Why did Ivo propose? Why did Cora accept? Why are Ivo's moods so horrible? His valet describes him as being so temperamental that one day he may yell and even throw things at him, and then the next day give him more than a day's worth of money. It just makes no sense to me. Is this supposed to endear them to me? Maybe the characters motivations are simply that they're trying to survive in high society. But I've read other novels about high society and at least their characters are pleasant to read about. Every party scene that had double meanings in each sentence felt like a headache to read, because I didn't know a single thing that was going on. If the characters in their own point of view cannot allow the reader the courtesy of reading their thoughts about the double meaning of the sentence, how am I, someone who is not and will never be in a Gilded age/Victorian era high society setting, supposed to understand them?
I had tried to come up with reasons for the way certain characters acted while reading, and coming to the conclusions, I cannot help but be disappointed with their answers. I won't discuss spoilers here, that'll be after the quotes, but I just... don't see the great romance between Ivo and Cora that I think is supposed to be represented. I don't think Ivo even likes her, despite what he continually says. He condescends her and speaks down to her, and is resentful of her money and status, and feels stifled in that house and yet feels stifled everywhere else. He is a cruel man and yet Cora is so attached to him, and loves him so much, even though he barely gives her a reason to. He is one of the most insufferable characters I have ever read!
The more I discuss this book the more I vehemently hate it. And yes, I am saying that knowing that I read in the span of two days and could barely put it down out of my desperation to continue reading. Now I understand the little blurb on the front cover by a reviewer- this is indeed a guilty pleasure read. But it's not because it's a story about a woman living in luxury. It's because it's unfairly and unjustly addictive, given that ultimately nothing even really happens in this book! People have parties, people backstab each other, people put others down, Americans are highly regarded as being the saviors of English high society, but also put down upon because they don't know the customs (not that anyone is actually teaching them the customs!), I just- yeah, this was a very, very frustrating read.
And then there's Bertha. That woman is a saint. Someone should give her a million dollars and let her live wherever the hell she wants with whoever she wants. If I had a boss like Cora, I would be beside myself with self-pity.
Ultimately, I felt like this book was simultaneously too long and prolonged, and also way too rushed.
Quotes! And spoiler discussion.
"There was something uneasy about railroad barons and steel magnates dressing up in the silk hose and embroidered tailcoats of another gilded age."
"You mean the fine American horse? He is in the stables where his Republican opinions are causing my groom much anguish."
"A respectable woman's name should only appear in the newspaper three times in her life: when she is born, when she is married and when she dies."
"Don't tell me you're sulking, Cora. So unlike you. Surely you're not taking Odo's outburst seriously. Everybody knows he lives to make trouble. Most people won't have him in the house, but I seem to remember that it was you who insisted on having the Beauchamps to stay." [Oh yes, Ivo, blame your wife for inviting a man who aired out the fact that you were having an affair with his wife. Might as well give me a t-shirt that reads Ivo's #1 hater because that's how I feel when I read his condescending words.]
"Cora had married a man whose real nature she did not know and, worst still, she had married for love."
That's what really gets me, I think. How quickly Cora fell in love with Ivo, despite not knowing him at all. Maybe she did so because she was so desperate for anyone to see her for her and not her money. But even Ivo admitted that he did see her for a bit of her money. He saw her for the American aspect of brightening up drabby English rooms. At the end of the book, Cora reflects that it's okay that she doesn't really know Ivo. But this is after an entire novel's length of words (genuinely this book was so long) of her anxieties of not knowing her husband. And instead of knowing her husband and understanding his horrible moods, she just... accepts it? Couldn't be me, honestly couldn't be me.
I could mention the painting. And the pearl. And Ivo's moods. But I just want to be done. I want to never think about this book again. I did read in the span of two days, so I'm giving it two stars for two days. It was an addicting read, but that doesn't mean it was good.
The author was ssoooo close to ending the book in the most unconventional way, and you think 'Yes, she's gonna do! She's going to the write the ending the way I wish a it would sometimes!' Then to my disappointment, she didn't. She followed all the others and ended the story the way all stories go, but...this has giving me thoughts towards writing my own story and closing in the most unexpected way. Overall, I enjoyed the story I think mostly because the leading lady has the same name as my mother and their character is almost the same. I pictured my mother throughout the story as the leading lady.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was a light, enjoyable read that definitely delivered on Downton Abbey-esque/Gilded Age vibes but lacked the intensity of character and story to make it a 5 star rating. I was a little disappointed by the quick and lackluster ending, but I thought the premise was interesting enough to keep me reading and the characters were entertaining if a little flat at times.
slow-paced