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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
The Whalebone Theatre has received lots of love on Instagram. I read it and enjoyed it but with an interrelated caveat or two. For me this was very much a book of two halves, yet the blurb and publicity material all focus on the first half - and possibly give the impression that the titular theatre is a more central to the book than it actually is.
For me this is the story of the Seagrave Family, wealthy, complicated and ever less conventional over the years. At its centre is Christabel, a precocious and slightly wild child who is effectively parentless after her mother dies when she is born. Her father is grieving and disinterested in a daughter. He later remarries a socialite whom he does not love. They have Florence and when he dies Florence’s mother marries his brother and they have Digby. The parents are more interested in partying than parenting which gives the children a great deal of freedom. This suits Christabel and her vivid imagination. In cooperation with bohemian visitors she helps put on a small outdoor theatre production one year. This becomes a semi-regular occurrence and at some stage the bones from a whale that died nearby and which fascinated Christabel are incorporated into the theatre’s design. I liked the first part of this book with its Downton Abbey like vibes. Christabel was an especially appealing character - bright, unconventional and often overlooked. The second part of the novel sees the children grown up and all involved in World War II in various ways. One works for the Land Army, another as a spy, the third for the French resistance. Nothing wrong with this section. It was solid if conventional, but I’m a bit over World War II stories and this didn’t really offer anything new in that regard, with the exception of an LGBTIQA+ storyline.
A good family story with a strong coming of age element. Just one with more World War II and less whalebone theatre than the title and publicity material lead me to expect. The writing was strong and the characters, particularly the children, interesting and engaging, but to me the book’s strength lay in its first half.
For me this is the story of the Seagrave Family, wealthy, complicated and ever less conventional over the years. At its centre is Christabel, a precocious and slightly wild child who is effectively parentless after her mother dies when she is born. Her father is grieving and disinterested in a daughter. He later remarries a socialite whom he does not love. They have Florence and when he dies Florence’s mother marries his brother and they have Digby. The parents are more interested in partying than parenting which gives the children a great deal of freedom. This suits Christabel and her vivid imagination. In cooperation with bohemian visitors she helps put on a small outdoor theatre production one year. This becomes a semi-regular occurrence and at some stage the bones from a whale that died nearby and which fascinated Christabel are incorporated into the theatre’s design. I liked the first part of this book with its Downton Abbey like vibes. Christabel was an especially appealing character - bright, unconventional and often overlooked. The second part of the novel sees the children grown up and all involved in World War II in various ways. One works for the Land Army, another as a spy, the third for the French resistance. Nothing wrong with this section. It was solid if conventional, but I’m a bit over World War II stories and this didn’t really offer anything new in that regard, with the exception of an LGBTIQA+ storyline.
A good family story with a strong coming of age element. Just one with more World War II and less whalebone theatre than the title and publicity material lead me to expect. The writing was strong and the characters, particularly the children, interesting and engaging, but to me the book’s strength lay in its first half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and War
Minor: Homophobia
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