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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
This one was hard to rate for me. It's securely between a 4 and 3 star I think. I really liked the writing at times, and then was bored in others. It's a very low-key book. Fielding was brilliant and easily my favorite part of the book. Smallwood was a human, flawed in believable ways, and mostly readable. He made sense in his constant misreading of others and the story was laid out, for the most part, well enough to not make you love him or hate him. Sometimes he was hilarious and other times an asshole. But a realistic one.
The theme, unrequited dreams, was a slow build but well executed by the end on multiple levels. Though this is a story about what could have been for Newfoundland it's more a story about Smallwood and Fielding, which are the parts both painful and easy to love. I wanted more snappy dialogue from both of them, more often.
Glad I read it. Kinda glad I'm done now though.
The theme, unrequited dreams, was a slow build but well executed by the end on multiple levels. Though this is a story about what could have been for Newfoundland it's more a story about Smallwood and Fielding, which are the parts both painful and easy to love. I wanted more snappy dialogue from both of them, more often.
Glad I read it. Kinda glad I'm done now though.
"That's why there'll always be newspaper jobs. No one else wants them."
"... it was my daily task to convince blacks whose ancestors had been brought to America in slave ships that the election of thirty-seven white presidents in a row was no cause for them to do something cynical like refuse to vote."
"... it was my daily task to convince blacks whose ancestors had been brought to America in slave ships that the election of thirty-seven white presidents in a row was no cause for them to do something cynical like refuse to vote."
"That's why there'll always be newspaper jobs. No one else wants them."
"... it was my daily task to convince blacks whose ancestors had been brought to America in slave ships that the election of thirty-seven white presidents in a row was no cause for them to do something cynical like refuse to vote."
"... it was my daily task to convince blacks whose ancestors had been brought to America in slave ships that the election of thirty-seven white presidents in a row was no cause for them to do something cynical like refuse to vote."
I enjoyed the writing at the beginning but it was too long and drawn out, bogged down in dense descriptive passages
emotional
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
it was boring. basically a history of newfoundland that is very long. if i grew up in newfoundland or had any ties with it, the book may have had more relevance and been more interesting.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
All of us Newfoundlanders know who Joe Smallwood is. Johnston's epic story tells the fictionalized life of Newfoundland's first premier, Joe Smallwood.
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a beautiful story. I laughed, cried and felt a deep connection to a place that is my home and native land.
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a beautiful story. I laughed, cried and felt a deep connection to a place that is my home and native land.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No