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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This was my first finished book for 2019. I love Kate Morton and has been eagerly awaiting this one, but like others who have reviewed it, I was disappointed. It has a lot of the favorite qualities— turn of the century setting, evocative house as character, mystery, multiple narrators and time frames— buy it just felt unwieldy.
The individual threads had beauty but the book felt overwhelmed by the number of them
. Threads were started but never adequately followed through and once engaged she would pick up another one. Less is more sometimes and I think that was true with this book.
I did enjoy reading it but it took forever— how much was the holidays and how much the story remains to be seen. It is now 7 days past due to the library!
The individual threads had beauty but the book felt overwhelmed by the number of them
. Threads were started but never adequately followed through and once engaged she would pick up another one. Less is more sometimes and I think that was true with this book.
I did enjoy reading it but it took forever— how much was the holidays and how much the story remains to be seen. It is now 7 days past due to the library!
I expected more from this after The Secret Garden. There was so much shifting of eras that the story was hard to follow. I can’t imagine how a person who takes things in spurts would be able to keep things straight. There was some delightful descriptions and seeing artists’ models as real people was illuminating. Even with some pretty writing, the story was spoiled by not being clear enough to follow. There didn’t appear to be some great hidden meaning to learn, so why obfuscate the plot. Is there a storyteller who can tell of an epoch without leaping to and fro?
This one was a surprise for me usually I pick up Kates books and read them cover to cover . For some reason I struggled with this one. And I can not put my finger on why. It has all the right ingredients just like her other books. I think now though I find myself trying to second guess the story before I know the outcome and this put me off slightly. Still a wonderful story , well written and researched . Yes read it and enjoy. I never put spoilers in reviews I feel its up to the reader to find out what happens .
I did really enjoy this story.. BUT>>> I think if guided the reader a bit better it would have been a better experience and less confusing.
1) There are a lot of characters and they all run together so much that I caught myself backtracking and rereading a lot.
2) if I knew from the start that one of the narrators was a ghost that would have changed my approach to the book from the get-go. I had to read a review to figure out whether or not the person talking was a ghost or not.
3) while things kinda came together at the end in surprising ways. I wanted to know what Elodie thought and if she ever figured that she held a key item the whole time.
4) what happened to Elodie and the guy who was not her fiancé. What happened to Elodie when she talked to her dad?
So yeah I liked the story but it was frustrating at the same time and geez so many characters.
1) There are a lot of characters and they all run together so much that I caught myself backtracking and rereading a lot.
2) if I knew from the start that one of the narrators was a ghost that would have changed my approach to the book from the get-go. I had to read a review to figure out whether or not the person talking was a ghost or not.
3) while things kinda came together at the end in surprising ways. I wanted to know what Elodie thought and if she ever figured that she held a key item the whole time.
4) what happened to Elodie and the guy who was not her fiancé. What happened to Elodie when she talked to her dad?
So yeah I liked the story but it was frustrating at the same time and geez so many characters.
So disappointed with this read. Which is quite the shame as I usually love Kate Morton novels.
I've read other Kate Morton books that were not as ambitious as this one. It felt, throughout, as if Morton were trying to up her game--to write a layered, connected, touch-of magic tale about a beautiful, mysterious home on a bend in the Thames. Morton seems to be saying that history is layered beneath us and around us (sometimes, literally) and it's up to us to pay attention to all the details. Reading Clockmaker's Daughter felt a bit like reading David Mitchell--everything is tied together, objects and places and souls. All Will Be Revealed.
So--this wasn't a quick read, or funny or light or chick-littish. It was history on history, with threads that ran through the house and the people who lived there, searched for peace and meaning there, and, alas, died there. If you've ever been in an old home that breathes, you'll know what I mean.
And because it was a book about the history--a long, 400+ yr history--of one house, it took time to unfold and was, occasionally, confounding. Not confusing--but the characters and their relationships to one another (and they're all related) took some mental effort to sort out, like a 1000-piece puzzle. I like Morton, but I liked this book more than most. It felt deeper and richer.
So--this wasn't a quick read, or funny or light or chick-littish. It was history on history, with threads that ran through the house and the people who lived there, searched for peace and meaning there, and, alas, died there. If you've ever been in an old home that breathes, you'll know what I mean.
And because it was a book about the history--a long, 400+ yr history--of one house, it took time to unfold and was, occasionally, confounding. Not confusing--but the characters and their relationships to one another (and they're all related) took some mental effort to sort out, like a 1000-piece puzzle. I like Morton, but I liked this book more than most. It felt deeper and richer.
Really interesting but a bit too long. She didn't spend enough time on the beat parts of the story though. I feel like there were jus a bit too many characters for the author to control. It was a wonderful story at it's heart though and made me long.to experience a drowsy summer in the English countryside..