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kerrymc's review
3.0
Enjoyed the quality of the writing, and learning some interesting history along the way. Storyline was too predictable and characters not that richly drawn. 3.5 if that was an option.
kathleenww's review
3.0
Great writing, with a murderous plot. Like a Shakespearean or Greek tragedy, things go from bad to worse when Mrs Pemberton comes to town, the Serena of the tile. This novel takes place in the Highlands of North Carolina during the Great Depression. And the Pembertons are a greedy couple anxious to snatch up all the timber for their own betterment. Serena has secrets that she keeps from everyone, including her own husband. Is she embittered because of her own tragic past, or does she just have the murder gene?
I was initially turned off by this novel (it is brutal), but the writing sucked me in, great storytelling. Not a re-read for me though. This is a novel for you if you enjoy books like Gone Girl.
I was initially turned off by this novel (it is brutal), but the writing sucked me in, great storytelling. Not a re-read for me though. This is a novel for you if you enjoy books like Gone Girl.
silentcat7135's review
4.0
Serena's milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...then she drinks your milkshake, then everyone's milkshake, and then plans to travel to a country that has fewer pesky regulations on milkshakes.
If chapter 1 doesn't grab you, put the book down; it's not for you. In it, Pemberton arrives back to his timber holding with his new bride, Serena, only to be met at the train station by a young woman pregnant with his child and the young woman's father, out for justice. A knife fight ensues, partly at Serena's urging, and Pemberton kills the girl's father. Serena takes the father's knife, gives it to the pregnant girl, and informs her that as victor of the fight it by rights should belong to Pemberton but it is probably worth some money and will be the only thing she gets from them. Magnanimous of her, don't you think?
The Pembertons are awful people but hard to look away from. They are only for themselves...ambitious, corrupt, ruthless. Interesting to watch from the safety of them being fiction, in real life, they would make your life hell without a second thought, probably without even noticing. Other reviewers have referred to them in terms of an Ayn Randian ideal, and they would certainly put themselves above the rest of humanity, with petty rules, social or legal, not applying to them in their pursuit of profit. The novel is set before any sort of social safety net. Labour is cheap and working conditions brutal. Logging is still one of the more dangerous jobs today; back in the 1930s, death was a commonplace occurence. The author, like Joss Whedon or George R.R. Martin, isn't above killing off fairly major characters so a chase scene that happens late in the book has some real tension to it as the outcome isn't a foregone conclusion.
There are, of course, some decent human beings in the story, the young woman at the train station left to raise her baby without help being one of them, and the Pembertons's actions may occasionally be quietly criticized by other characters, but the novel itself, in contrast, seems to present them as almost a force of nature. They just are. Whether you root for the Pembertons in their all-consuming (in a very literal sense) quest or the decent people (which, I suppose, gives away my sympathies) is up to you.
This next part is commentary on something very spoilery so if you haven't read the book you probably don't want to read it...
A movie version came out recently, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. I'll probably watch it to see how well they caught the tone of the book, but to be honest, I have my doubts that the movie will feel adequately oversized in its scale. I think this movie should have been made back in the 40s or 50s even though it was written in 2008. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are fine as actors, but this story should have starred someone like Charlton Heston or Kirk Douglas as Pemberton. Serena should have been someone like Ava Gardner, or better yet, Barbara Stanwyck. Oh well. You can't have everything, unless you're like Serena and willing to make whatever you want happen no matter the cost.
In summary, Serena was vastly entertaining, with awful characters I found it impossible to look away from no matter how much I was rooting against them.
If chapter 1 doesn't grab you, put the book down; it's not for you. In it, Pemberton arrives back to his timber holding with his new bride, Serena, only to be met at the train station by a young woman pregnant with his child and the young woman's father, out for justice. A knife fight ensues, partly at Serena's urging, and Pemberton kills the girl's father. Serena takes the father's knife, gives it to the pregnant girl, and informs her that as victor of the fight it by rights should belong to Pemberton but it is probably worth some money and will be the only thing she gets from them. Magnanimous of her, don't you think?
The Pembertons are awful people but hard to look away from. They are only for themselves...ambitious, corrupt, ruthless. Interesting to watch from the safety of them being fiction, in real life, they would make your life hell without a second thought, probably without even noticing. Other reviewers have referred to them in terms of an Ayn Randian ideal, and they would certainly put themselves above the rest of humanity, with petty rules, social or legal, not applying to them in their pursuit of profit. The novel is set before any sort of social safety net. Labour is cheap and working conditions brutal. Logging is still one of the more dangerous jobs today; back in the 1930s, death was a commonplace occurence. The author, like Joss Whedon or George R.R. Martin, isn't above killing off fairly major characters so a chase scene that happens late in the book has some real tension to it as the outcome isn't a foregone conclusion.
There are, of course, some decent human beings in the story, the young woman at the train station left to raise her baby without help being one of them, and the Pembertons's actions may occasionally be quietly criticized by other characters, but the novel itself, in contrast, seems to present them as almost a force of nature. They just are. Whether you root for the Pembertons in their all-consuming (in a very literal sense) quest or the decent people (which, I suppose, gives away my sympathies) is up to you.
This next part is commentary on something very spoilery so if you haven't read the book you probably don't want to read it...
Spoiler
There's something awesome in the terrible sense of someone whose narcissism is so great that she will kill her husband for showing a shred of humanity and responsibility towards his illegitimate child and its mother. She judges him unworthy of her because he is not as completely driven and ruthless as she. Wow. I understand why some reviewers compare her to Medea. There's a classical scale to her punishment for disappointing her.A movie version came out recently, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. I'll probably watch it to see how well they caught the tone of the book, but to be honest, I have my doubts that the movie will feel adequately oversized in its scale. I think this movie should have been made back in the 40s or 50s even though it was written in 2008. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are fine as actors, but this story should have starred someone like Charlton Heston or Kirk Douglas as Pemberton. Serena should have been someone like Ava Gardner, or better yet, Barbara Stanwyck. Oh well. You can't have everything, unless you're like Serena and willing to make whatever you want happen no matter the cost.
In summary, Serena was vastly entertaining, with awful characters I found it impossible to look away from no matter how much I was rooting against them.
saram618's review
2.0
So, based on all the reviews and ratings, my opinion is obviously not the same as that of the masses. This book bored me to tears! The story was not at all engaging and the characters were flat. I did not find anything interesting in the story or the characters. Was Serena ruthless? Maybe, but she was also given no background that would make her actions at all intriguing. She was out to get what she wanted just because she wanted it - nothing more. I was never shocked by her actions because I just didn't care at all.
The story itself was also brutally slow. After the 8th chapter of discussion about the park I'll admit I just started skimming. Also, I get that lumberjacking (is that a word) is difficult, but really... how many nameless characters did we need to have killed off? I was able to understand the danger without throwing in a death every other chapter for no real purpose.
I wanted to care about Rachel and her story, but again, it felt like it existed just to exist. There was a small portion towards the end where everything picked up, but my investment in the characters was so minimal that it felt like too little too late.
Maybe it's the genre, maybe it's me, but this was NOT the book for me. I'd give it one star, but it gets an extra 1/2 for being well written (if not interesting) and having a small glimmer of story near the end. I'll round up, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
The story itself was also brutally slow. After the 8th chapter of discussion about the park I'll admit I just started skimming. Also, I get that lumberjacking (is that a word) is difficult, but really... how many nameless characters did we need to have killed off? I was able to understand the danger without throwing in a death every other chapter for no real purpose.
I wanted to care about Rachel and her story, but again, it felt like it existed just to exist. There was a small portion towards the end where everything picked up, but my investment in the characters was so minimal that it felt like too little too late.
Maybe it's the genre, maybe it's me, but this was NOT the book for me. I'd give it one star, but it gets an extra 1/2 for being well written (if not interesting) and having a small glimmer of story near the end. I'll round up, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
nssutton's review
3.0
So, so good. A dark, thrilling page-turner and the first real win in our book club (for me anyway). I loved the descent into the inevitable, the writing, and the way in which some facts were just told and not shown. Even though I generally hate that in storytelling, it really worked here. I would have loved to have made the book club meeting but the exhaustion of the first trimester still had me in its grasp.
hsrudolph's review
2.0
Successful young stud leaves his North Carolina logging company for a visit to Boston, is seduced by an unusual woman with a mysteriously violent past, marries her nearly instantly and brings her back to North Carolina where she completely rules his world to the point that he abandons his conscience almost entirely - and that bit part of himself that he doesn't submit to her is his undoing. Pemberton's falling under the spell of Serena just never seemed believable to me. Yes she was intelligent and unconventional and sexually self possessed but it was pretty clear from the start that she was a lunatic and had no moral compass. He was strong and capable and I couldn't relate to his being so, well, whipped by her. He was at her mercy as much as her eagle but whereas the author explained rather well how Serena earned the eagle's devotion he never gave me a basis for Pemberton's near complete submission. The best developed character was the lovely Rachel Harmon, who possessed a beautiful strength of character and whose story compelled me to finish the book. I did enjoy the "lumberjack chorus" and the perspective those men gave on life in that time in general, the environmental issues, the class struggle, etc.
camilleisreading24's review
4.0
I've had this book sitting on my shelf all year before finally getting around to it. George Pemberton is a timber baron who falls in love with Serena -- a woman who considers herself any man's equal, if not his superior. Pemberton brings Serena back to North Carolina and the timber camp he oversees, and she quickly becomes his partner in all matters both personal and business. However, there is something cold in Serena which she brings out in Pemberton. When the government tries to buy out or seize the camp for a national park, the Pembertons begin killing those who stand in their way. A visceral and real novel with touches of dark magic. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
sunsparks1018's review
4.0
It definitely reminded me of Cold Mountain and took a little bit for me to get into, but it was well worth it.
hippiechick56's review
3.0
It wasn't a bad story but the main female character was a very unlikeable woman and the male character was torn between conflicting emotions for his wife and child. I was rooting for the mother of his child to make it and in the end the wife finally got what she deserved. But then you're left thinking "Doesn't that make them just as bad?"
marcies_8's review
5.0
I cannot wait to see what Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper do with these roles. This was an awesome book with a great ending! The writing was beautiful, the story and characters captivating, and I could just picture the scenery.