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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Full disclosure, I didn't really read this book, but unfortunately Goodreads doesn't have a way to write reviews otherwise. I LOVE Kate Morton books typically and have read several of them. This one started off well enough, but it shifts between different characters and different timelines. I read plenty of books like that (recently finished The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue) and enjoy them. However, in this book, there was no name or date at the beginning of each chapter and I had a hard time figuring out what timeline I was in and who the protagonist was. I found myself not merely pushing through reading this, but actually dreading it. At that point...over halfway finished, I set this book aside. Sorry, Kate. This was a swing and a miss for me.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not one of my favorite Kate Morton books. It felt like a lot unnecessary rambling by the author. I was introduced to many characters and by the time the author showed how they were connected to the mystery, I just didn't care anymore. I'm a reader who finds value in the authors choice of title. I like to figure out what the connection is. This title bothered me. The book could have been named The Cellist Daughter for all it mattered.
Quotes:
Life is inherently unfair. That the only truly fair thing about it is the randomness of its unfairness.
Nothing to be said, it was best to say nothing
A story is not a single idea; it is thousands of ideas, all working together in concert
The truth depends on who it is that's telling the story
That without the darkness one would never notice the stars
It was not love at first sight. Such claims make a mockery of love
Time only moved in one direction
Quotes:
Life is inherently unfair. That the only truly fair thing about it is the randomness of its unfairness.
Nothing to be said, it was best to say nothing
A story is not a single idea; it is thousands of ideas, all working together in concert
The truth depends on who it is that's telling the story
That without the darkness one would never notice the stars
It was not love at first sight. Such claims make a mockery of love
Time only moved in one direction
I liked reading it but the ending was confusing. I feel like I’m supposed to understand how everything fit together but maybe I’m just too dumb? Made it feel like all the time to read it wasn’t worth it—just short of a good payoff.
Burning spiderwebs have less tenuous connections than The Clockmaker's Daughter possesses for its characters and plots and subplots. The disjointed past as Kate Morton refers to it in her Afterword is an accurate statement, and if that is what she was going for, then she nailed it. I know people seem to review Kate Morton with praise for her writing style, I know people have written well about this book as well. But I cannot in good faith go along with them on this storyline. If you want a good ghost story that was well written with a fun plot twist at the end, then you can try to find that elsewhere. This is not going to be your cup of tea. I loved the disjointed ghost story in the beginning, but after finding out the [SPOILERS] truth concerning how she ended up coming to be and why she is still there, I have absolutely no connection nor desire to build one. You can skip to the last 4 chapters and read a hole-filled sequence of events that lead to the death of the ghost. It would make a poor short story about the makings of a ghost if you like and the way in which she passes will make you think the other 99/100 of this book to lead to such a circuitous rambling sequence of events that happen within 6 seconds left history in ruins. Otherwise, you can read through the entire novel and then come to realize exactly how tenuous all the links really are, and then you arrive at the end, knowing you have 3 pages left, and suddenly, all will make sense. Sort of. If you can suspend your disbelief through multiple events each as unlikely as the rest.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton is like assembling a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with no idea what your building and all the pieces look exactly the same: you’re not entirely sure what you’re looking at half the time, and when the picture finally comes together, you’re left thinking, “That’s it?” The book jumps between so many timelines and characters that I needed a map, a compass, and possibly a séance to keep track.
The “great romance” the plot hinges on felt like it was scribbled in the margins as an afterthought, and the characters—while interesting—don’t stick around long enough to make you care. If you’re into puzzles, descriptions of moody old houses, and vague mysteries that may or may not resolve, this might be your jam.
The “great romance” the plot hinges on felt like it was scribbled in the margins as an afterthought, and the characters—while interesting—don’t stick around long enough to make you care. If you’re into puzzles, descriptions of moody old houses, and vague mysteries that may or may not resolve, this might be your jam.
This was hard to get through, which was frustrating for me. I have loved the author in the past, but I didn’t enjoy the first 2/3 of this book. There were too many story-lines woven together (which I recognize was the point of the story). I kept finding myself confused about who we were talking about, and what part of the story they occupied. I enjoyed the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the book, but the amount of frustrating time spent dragging through the “beginning” of the book definitely colored my review of the book. I wish I could give it 2 1/2 stars, overall I’m mostly disappointed that it was hard for me to get engaged in the story.
A well-written book but the story was hard to follow. Other Kate Morton books I read are much better, this one was a bit of a disappointment...
I think I picked up the wrong Kate Morton book for my maiden voyage. I liked her writing, but the story itself felt disjointed and the third act was such a mess that what little goodwill I originally had for this novel quickly vanished. First, I felt like Morton couldn't quite figure out what she wanted the focus to be for the book. There were six different narrators used here and half of them I felt were superfluous. This book could've been easily chopped by 250 pages and we would've lost nothing important to the larger story. I also never really connected with any of the characters, largely because of the constant switching of narrators. Our main character, Elodie, only really shows up for about 200 pages altogether out of 500 total. That's RIDICULOUS. Other than Birdie, the mysterious lady in the photograph, all of the other narrators share similar fates, appearing for 50-100 pages and then quickly disappearing, their storylines largely abandoned for the rest of the story. Switching narrators also choked out any tension this book may have enjoyed. I would start getting emotionally involved with one character and their problems only to be quickly whisked away to another character several more chapters in. I think I might've gotten whiplash.
I also didn't personally enjoy the way in which the big mystery was set up and played out. I think Morton could've gotten a lot of traction out of this story, but because of the way it was structured (see above) and because of illogical character decisions, the mystery was more tedious than anything else. It felt like Morton wanted certain things to happen, but couldn't figure out how to set them up or have them play out so she forced them to happen or else, dropped them into the story without any set up.
I'm not sure if I'll read anymore of Morton's books. I heard her first three are fantastic, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to detox after this one.
I also didn't personally enjoy the way in which the big mystery was set up and played out. I think Morton could've gotten a lot of traction out of this story, but because of the way it was structured (see above) and because of illogical character decisions, the mystery was more tedious than anything else. It felt like Morton wanted certain things to happen, but couldn't figure out how to set them up or have them play out so she forced them to happen or else, dropped them into the story without any set up.
I'm not sure if I'll read anymore of Morton's books. I heard her first three are fantastic, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to detox after this one.
Slow to get started, but it definitely picked up in the middle. A lot of the characters weren't fully fleshed out (Ada, Mrs. Mack, etc.), and ultimately we never find out what happened after (presumably) Elodie and Jack find Birdie's body? The ghost being stuck in the house for the rest of all time was kind of a bummer. Several parts, notably at the end, were contrived to make all the characters fit together in the end. A good read, and I liked the plot, but not a great book.