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mikewa14's review against another edition
3.0
Really not that good, the book took ages to get going and didn't really know what is was - whimsical story, mystery or serious study of the effects of war. I struggled to finish it.
Full review here
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bleakly-hall-elaine-di-rollo.html
Full review here
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/bleakly-hall-elaine-di-rollo.html
lizaroo71's review against another edition
4.0
Bleakly Hall has seen better days. It is a hydrotherapy hotel and its clientele is much like the building: dilapidated. Roberta Montgomery and Ada worked together on the battlefields in WWI. Ada gets Monty a nursing job at Bleakly Hall and it is here that the story picks up. Monty is interested in one of the hotel's guests: Captain Foxley. He is elusive and abrasive, but Monty knows that he knew a friend of hers Sophie. And Monty means to remind him of just how misguided his actions were in regards to her friend.
The story takes place in the aftermath of the war. The proprietors of the hotel are brothers that fought in the war together. We see the characters in their interaction at Bleakly Hall and we get flashbacks of what occurred on the battlefields.
I think the narrative suffers a little when it switches from present to past, but I found the characters interesting and the time period one I haven't often found in novels I read.
The story takes place in the aftermath of the war. The proprietors of the hotel are brothers that fought in the war together. We see the characters in their interaction at Bleakly Hall and we get flashbacks of what occurred on the battlefields.
I think the narrative suffers a little when it switches from present to past, but I found the characters interesting and the time period one I haven't often found in novels I read.
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
Book of the Week on my blog https://verityreadsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/book-of-the-week-bleakly-hall/
A really readable look at the effect that the First World War had - featuring a disputer group of people gathered at a hydropathic spa. All have been changed forever by the war - but in different ways. Some are damaged physically, almost all are damaged mentally. Some miss it. Some wish life could go back to the way it was - others find that the world hasn't changed enough. Funny in some places, black horror in others, thought provoking but not ultimately too madly depressing or gory.
If you've worked your way through books like Pat Barker's Regeneration, Graves' Goodbye to All That, Brittan's Testament of Youth, this may be a good next place for you to go.
A really readable look at the effect that the First World War had - featuring a disputer group of people gathered at a hydropathic spa. All have been changed forever by the war - but in different ways. Some are damaged physically, almost all are damaged mentally. Some miss it. Some wish life could go back to the way it was - others find that the world hasn't changed enough. Funny in some places, black horror in others, thought provoking but not ultimately too madly depressing or gory.
If you've worked your way through books like Pat Barker's Regeneration, Graves' Goodbye to All That, Brittan's Testament of Youth, this may be a good next place for you to go.
your_true_shelf's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit torn over Bleakly Hall. The main characters, Foxley, Monty, Grier, Curran, Sophia & Ada were very well done, and I felt like I could really get a feel for their personalities. It went from well-written battle and casualty scenes, to cliffhangers, to mundane saga-like day to day life at Bleakly. I could envisage the hall and the huge weight of all the attention & cash that it needed.
Foxley's syphilis diagnosis made sense near the end (combined with PTSD).
The ending was frustrating - how the money worked out & Curran was quite happy to marry Ada instead & raise the child. However I liked the fact that Monty stuck to her guns and left to live her own life - I thought she'd end up staying, marrying Grier & living happily ever after.
Overall, a good read & 3.5 stars.
Foxley's syphilis diagnosis made sense near the end (combined with PTSD).
The ending was frustrating - how the money worked out & Curran was quite happy to marry Ada instead & raise the child. However I liked the fact that Monty stuck to her guns and left to live her own life - I thought she'd end up staying, marrying Grier & living happily ever after.
Overall, a good read & 3.5 stars.
tashabye's review
2.0
I just couldn't get into this book. I went into this book expecting more but instead was disappointed. The characters never felt fully developed and the story, although promising from the first few chapters, went into a completely different direction from what I expected and I never regained interest. I do read a lot of non-fiction war accounts so this may have effected my experience of the fictionalized war accounts in this book. the desperation of the character Sophie really bugged me. Monty not accepting her role in the death of Sophie, and blaming Foxley, bugged me. She was the one who sent Sophie to the hotel that night, if she would have given her full disclosure on the letter she may never have gone there, ugh. Very annoying. All around, the characters felt really flat and undeveloped. I never felt emotionally connected or effected by the characters or the story.
I hate giving negative reviews but it appears i am on the minority as many seem to enjoy this book.
I hate giving negative reviews but it appears i am on the minority as many seem to enjoy this book.
ruthiella's review
3.0
I would give Bleakly Hall 3.5 stars if I could. I thought as a whole, it was an ambitious tragic-comic novel, that didn’t quite realize its potential. It is packed with eccentric characters, but they aren’t all as fleshed out as I would have liked. However, when it is good, it is very good. I found the flashback portions of the book to be especially compelling. The story takes place a few years after WWI at a neglected hotel spa in the English countryside that caters to aging hypochondriacs. The owners of the hotel, Curran and Grier Blackwood, are veterans of the war, along with the hotel’s semi-permanent resident, Captain Foxley, who has a rather tenuous grip on reality and Ada, the girl-Friday who drove ambulances on the frontlines. Into this mix comes Nurse Monty who has a mysterious grudge against Foxley. Read for the Readers' Summer Book Club 2012.
bookdancing's review
5.0
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Bleakly_Hall_by_Elaine_di_Rollo
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