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schopflin's review against another edition
3.0
Some of this is great but whatever excitement I had at the start had gone by about 2/3 through and I was just waiting for it to end.
daralexandria's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
gh7's review against another edition
1.0
Bewildered this has such a decent rating. Perhaps everyone forgot how heavy-handed, sloppy, rambling and sometimes absurd this was until about page 300 when it does markedly get better. But it irritated me with its patronising subtext of female subservience to romantic imperatives. As if all those female SOE agents went to France principally for an amorous fling. And often the research was mopped over the surface with the subtlety of an industrial detergent.
amanda_hart's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Sebastian Faulks is an outstanding author of integrity and sensitivity. Like Birdsong, this work is a beautiful composition of reality and fiction which brings the characters and setting of 1942 occupied France alive. A dichotomy of not being able to put the book down and not wanting it to end. A spellbinding read from beginning to end!
jcariwa's review against another edition
2.0
I had mixed feelings about this book. It shares many similarities with Birdsong, lovers, war, etc etc. The language is gorgeous, Faulks writes in a way that really engages the you. You feel as though you really know Charlotte, you almost feel what she feels. For me it felt as if all that was missing from this novel was a good story. For huge sections of the novel nothing happens at all. Faulks has seemed to have just focused on the travelling between places and writing out many conversations in which Charlotte describes, and in my view, exaggerates her love for Gregory. She seems to view love as one person exploiting another through a wound. Read into that what you will. And I guess one could agree with her. Charlotte is a strange character, at points in the book she seems very wise and strong willed, and at others almost infantile. I think beneath it all she is still a child and seeks from Gregory the love that was never/rarely bestowed on her as a child. That's another thing I dislike about this book, it's transparency. The ending is obvious from the moment you open the book. All the other components(everything but the story) however, were perfect. If you read this expecting another Birdsong, you will probably, like me, be disappointed.
roseofoulesfame's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating to read this after reading about Agent Rose (seriously, look her up).
Every bit as good as Birdsong, with the added pathos of the Holocaust (seriously, NEVER AGAIN).
Must read The Girl at the Lion d'Or now!
Every bit as good as Birdsong, with the added pathos of the Holocaust (seriously, NEVER AGAIN).
Must read The Girl at the Lion d'Or now!
earlgreybooks's review against another edition
3.0
This has got to be one of the only books that I actually preferred the movie of. This was so much more boring and the ending wasn't nearly as good as the ending of the film. Kind of disappointed with this.
nikitasbookhaven's review against another edition
3.0
I would normally have rated it a lowly two stars if not for the (in my view) unique itinerary of a young female spy roaming around the Nazi-occupied French countryside in search of her lover as well as in search of a purpose. I share the opinion that other reviewers have also expressed that this was very boring and the part of Charlotte - Gregory romance is super lengthy and irritating. This not a great novel neither is it good. It is a tad bit below mediocre. Also I read about the concentration camps and Jewish deportations for the first time in a fictional setting which made them even more sinister and vivid. Though I have read about those happenings countless times on Holocaust websites and watched countless movies, the way Faulks has described them was a very sad and different experience still. I thought the plot about Charlotte and her father if it was given as much dedication and space as the Charlotte-Gregory affair would have elevated the novel to a whole new level. But alas we will never know because Faulks is not a really good novelist.
(P. S. - I was very much disappointed that the movie and the book are so different about who Charlotte ends up with, I was reading the Gregory part thinking about how the movie treats him and I was very very disappointed with how Julien's involvement ends.)
(P. S. - I was very much disappointed that the movie and the book are so different about who Charlotte ends up with, I was reading the Gregory part thinking about how the movie treats him and I was very very disappointed with how Julien's involvement ends.)