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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
Cristabel Seagrave groeit op in en rondom het prachtige landgoed van haar familie aan de Engelse kust. Op een dag spoelt er een walvis aan. Crista, oudste van het de kinderen binnen het gezin, past nooit zo in het “dochter”-hokje waar haar stiefmoeder haar in probeert te wurmen. Ook halfzusje Florence (Flossie) en neefje Digby (halfbroertje van Flossie) passen net niet helemaal in het plaatje wat van hen verwacht wordt. Opgroeiend met theater, ruimte en vrijheid, is daar opeens de tweede wereldoorlog; waar ieder van de kinderen hun rol zal vinden.
Wat een prachtig boek. Initieel wat traag maar passend bij het opbouwen van de wereld, wordt het later een spannende oorlogs- en spionage pageturner. De band tussen de drie kinderen is zelfs in volwassenheid bijna tastbaar , hun keuzes ernstig invoelbaar. Prachtig geschreven, zie je het landgoed, de kust en het prachtige walvistheater duidelijk voor je. Sommige gebeurtenissen zie je wel aankomen (Tsjechov’s testament?), echter geeft dat in dit boek meer blijk van goede foreshadowing dan van voorspelbaarheid. Wauw wauw wauw.
Wat een prachtig boek. Initieel wat traag maar passend bij het opbouwen van de wereld, wordt het later een spannende oorlogs- en spionage pageturner. De band tussen de drie kinderen is zelfs in volwassenheid bijna tastbaar , hun keuzes ernstig invoelbaar. Prachtig geschreven, zie je het landgoed, de kust en het prachtige walvistheater duidelijk voor je. Sommige gebeurtenissen zie je wel aankomen (Tsjechov’s testament?), echter geeft dat in dit boek meer blijk van goede foreshadowing dan van voorspelbaarheid. Wauw wauw wauw.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really enjoyed. Love a sweeping drama, especially when it is set in Dorset. Beautifully written. Great characters. Errant parents. Happy and sad times.
i am a very optimistic reader… but it’s not often that i come across a book like this. absolutely spellbinding and just GUSHING with heart. the writing alone is so great but the characters is what makes it. they are fully real and fully beautiful people. i loved everything about this and could go on and on for a long while about it. unique and beautiful and wonderful and crushing and mundane in the best way possible this might be my favorite book i’ve read this year
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’m a sucker for a WWII story and the prose was really beautiful but it felt like it included perspectives / storylines that weren’t necessary. Also it takes forever to get to the Whale bones and the theater isn’t really featured until later
It was slow paced and not really for me
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Whalebone Theatre had me really intrigued from its synopsis and I had high hopes because there were elements of history blending with the fantasy of the author’s own imagination.
These hopes would be swept away because it was just so hard to get into. I don’t mind books that make me work for the story, whose characters need me to have a little bit of faith that they’re going to have me craving more from them and be eager to know what makes them tick etcetera.
Whilst Cristabel Seagrave is a character I think I would enjoy learning about because she’s quirky and thanks to a father not knowing quite what to do with a little girl, she’s been allowed to run relatively wild? I found the other characters, the adults we encounter being her father and stepmother so deeply unlikeable and drew my interest in what Cristabel would become. Everything takes too long to get going, and there was so much of the story that felt one dimensional and very difficult to connect with.
In theory, I should have loved this book, it should have had everything I want in historical fiction, especially set around some of the most interesting times in our history, from the first few years after World War I, through the twenties and on to the Second World War? There is a family that should be the dictionary definition of quirky, and a house that could have been a setting for any wonderful novel because the author brings it to life with the vivid descriptions and the atmospheric scenes that have it as a backdrop. The issue is, it felt like a slog to get through any of the various times in history and despite all my hopes, and determination not to give into my desire to simply walk away because I was absolutely convinced it would be better, no, easier to become lost in the life Cristabel is enduring then hopefully enjoying?
It didn’t. I longed for it to be different, but sadly this wasn’t for me.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No