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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
The whole incest thing made it pretty tough to read.
This is the first book of Phillippa Gregory's I've ever read. Her prose is lovely, and she paints some very vivid word images and is very effective at making me long for the British countryside. However, I despise *everyone* in the book. Really, everyone. (This is probably actually a mark of good characterization given the nature of my hatred... but I still despise them.) Beatrice Lacey is a headstrong young lady who is addicted to the land and would like nothing better than to inherit the family estate Wideacre. There's just one minor problem: she's a girl. Actually, let me elaborate on that: she's covetous, vicious, vain, shallow, obsessive, and self-obsessed (yeah, sorry, but I loathe her) who has no problem destroying anything that gets in her way. Starting in her teenage years, she embarks on a quest to make Wideacre her own by whatever means possible. We've got murder, incest, lies lies lies, and general bad behavior all accounted for here! As one might expect, such a heavy handed approach does not end well for Miss Lacey, but it's a hell of a ride getting there. This thing reads rather like an E! True Hollywood Story for the agricultural literature set.
A page turner full of vivid color. Anyway I prefer the Tudors serie PG's books.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
so far? I will be surprised if this improves. The lead character is one-dimensional and the overuse of descriptive words distracts from the narrative. How many times do you need to remind me of her chestnut curls? update. I am grateful for the distraction this book provided during an incredibly long overseas flight. however the lead character is beyond repulsive and I only kept on in the hopes that things would spur for her. but even that was not satisfying enough to have kept at it.
Too much incest and an unlikable/unrealistic main character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder
What a disturbing book. It's a testament to Philippa Gregory's skill as a writer that I was able to sympathize with her horrible protagonist even to the very end. I had read the second book in the series already (not realizing it was a series), so I knew what was coming in this one and didn't expect to like it much. "Like" is a difficult word to use with this book, but the story was still riveting from beginning to end. Beatrice is a tragic train wreck and it's hard to look away.
As much as I normally enjoy a good Philippa Gregory historical fiction, I just couldn't get into this book, as hard as I tried. It was more of a romance novel type story than anything resembling a gripping historical fiction book.
I almost put this book away several times. If it weren't for a college professor that once encourage us to hate a book to completion I would have. If it hadn't ended the way it did I probably would have been forced to do something drastic to get it away from me.