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sarai_te's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kandicez's review against another edition
4.0
I want, very much, to give this book five stars. If anyone other than McCullough had written it, I would probably have given it only three, maybe two. I don't care how biased that makes me. I love Colleen McCullough. I crave her books in a way I might crave chocolate on a diet. Making me jones for her is worth an extra star.
This is the story of two sets of twins only 20 months apart. They share a father, but not a mother. This is Edda, Grace, Kitty and Tufts. I love the name tufts, by the way, and kudos to myself for thinking of the story behind the name BEFORE McC tells it. :D Claim your victories where you can.
The story takes place in Australia, clearly the land of McC's heart. Every single book she sets there teaches me so much. If you ever wanted to know more about Australia, read [b:Morgan's Run|3420|Morgan's Run|Colleen McCullough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389920612s/3420.jpg|756442]. Or, maybe [b:The Thorn Birds|3412|The Thorn Birds|Colleen McCullough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391416796s/3412.jpg|816449], but anyway, read McC's books. This, like all her others not set in Rome or Cambridge, is a feast for Historical Fictionistas. McC tells us of Australia right before and during the depression. Being an American, the only view I have of that era is the view state side. I never knew how much impact it had on the rest of the world.
Sometimes McC's history gets in the way of her story, I'll be the first to admit that, but I still love it. She teaches me so much without lecturing. She creates characters (even those as unbelievable as the characters found in this tale), then makes me care about them enough that I care about their environment. Only after she has done this does she tell me everything I could ever want to know about it. History 101 hidden in fiction.
I admit to getting a bit upset at her descriptions of the youths in this novel. They were all, not only years, but decades above their possible wisdom and intelligence, but I can forgive that because of the way she tells it. As I read I believe what she is writing. As soon as I set the book aside, my suspension of disbelief is shattered, but that's ok. I relish it as I read and wish children really were the way McC paints them.
I can't say I will read this over and over as I do some of her other offerings, but it will hold a place in my heart as HERS. A book only she could write in such a way that i would even finish. In anyone else's hands this would have been two, three star tops, tripe.
This is the story of two sets of twins only 20 months apart. They share a father, but not a mother. This is Edda, Grace, Kitty and Tufts. I love the name tufts, by the way, and kudos to myself for thinking of the story behind the name BEFORE McC tells it. :D Claim your victories where you can.
The story takes place in Australia, clearly the land of McC's heart. Every single book she sets there teaches me so much. If you ever wanted to know more about Australia, read [b:Morgan's Run|3420|Morgan's Run|Colleen McCullough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389920612s/3420.jpg|756442]. Or, maybe [b:The Thorn Birds|3412|The Thorn Birds|Colleen McCullough|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391416796s/3412.jpg|816449], but anyway, read McC's books. This, like all her others not set in Rome or Cambridge, is a feast for Historical Fictionistas. McC tells us of Australia right before and during the depression. Being an American, the only view I have of that era is the view state side. I never knew how much impact it had on the rest of the world.
Sometimes McC's history gets in the way of her story, I'll be the first to admit that, but I still love it. She teaches me so much without lecturing. She creates characters (even those as unbelievable as the characters found in this tale), then makes me care about them enough that I care about their environment. Only after she has done this does she tell me everything I could ever want to know about it. History 101 hidden in fiction.
I admit to getting a bit upset at her descriptions of the youths in this novel. They were all, not only years, but decades above their possible wisdom and intelligence, but I can forgive that because of the way she tells it. As I read I believe what she is writing. As soon as I set the book aside, my suspension of disbelief is shattered, but that's ok. I relish it as I read and wish children really were the way McC paints them.
I can't say I will read this over and over as I do some of her other offerings, but it will hold a place in my heart as HERS. A book only she could write in such a way that i would even finish. In anyone else's hands this would have been two, three star tops, tripe.
charityjohnson's review against another edition
1.0
The book started well, but soon lost focus. It meandered and faltered. Sorry, I know how hard it is to write but this was too boilerplate for me.
cami19's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
nursenell's review against another edition
4.0
Two sets of twins, 20 months apart, same father, different mothers. The mother of the first set of twins dies giving birth. The rectory housekeeper ends up marrying their rector father and is the mother of the 2nd set of twins. She is an evil stepmother but as equally evil as a mother, there's no love lost between the young women and their stepmother/mother. The rector himself isn't that fond of her either. The setting is Australia in the 1920's. Nursing at that time, in that place, was more like on the job training rather than professionally educated nurses. The 4 girls enter the first professional education program for nurses in their state. The book follows them through the 3 years of education and the first few years after. I enjoyed the story because of the history of nursing education and practice.
froydis's review against another edition
3.0
I was a little bit disappointed in this one - I've love McCullough's work for quite some time, and was really anticipating this book. Maybe I was hoping for too much. I can't really put my finger on why I wasn't as enthralled with this one as I have been with her other novels. Australia as a country didn't come across as strongly as in her other works, the Thorn Birds in particular. I think the focus was also spread a little too much - with four main characters, its not as easy to go into depth with each one as it is when there are only one or two. I didn't find the plot as riveting as in her other novels, although it was interesting. I did enjoy this read, and would recommend it. I just don't think its as good as her other works.
leleroulant's review against another edition
3.0
It would have been 4 stars if not for the boring lessons on Australia's political history.
colh's review
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
3.75