Reviews

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

ellsoquent's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hotbiscuits's review against another edition

2.0

I had mixed feelings about this book. It shares many similarities with Birdsong, lovers, war, etc etc. The language is gorgeous, Faulks writes in a way that really engages the you. You feel as though you really know Charlotte, you almost feel what she feels. For me it felt as if all that was missing from this novel was a good story. For huge sections of the novel nothing happens at all. Faulks has seemed to have just focused on the travelling between places and writing out many conversations in which Charlotte describes, and in my view, exaggerates her love for Gregory. She seems to view love as one person exploiting another through a wound. Read into that what you will. And I guess one could agree with her. Charlotte is a strange character, at points in the book she seems very wise and strong willed, and at others almost infantile. I think beneath it all she is still a child and seeks from Gregory the love that was never/rarely bestowed on her as a child. That's another thing I dislike about this book, it's transparency. The ending is obvious from the moment you open the book. All the other components(everything but the story) however, were perfect. If you read this expecting another Birdsong, you will probably, like me, be disappointed.

mamasquirrel's review against another edition

4.0

I expected a war-romance kind of book (perhaps because I haven't read Sebastian Faulks before?) and got so much more. It feels like Faulks takes his readers very seriously, and gives us something to really chew on and think about.

Yes, there's romance, but it's complicated. In addition, there is beautiful descriptions of the scenery of France, a delve into how people handle the psychological damage of war, and a historical narrative on life in France during the Second World War.

One of my favourite things about Faulks' writing: his thorough descriptions of food and clothing. It really helps build a mental picture of the world of 1940s era France and England.

bhumi_19's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

moon_flower's review against another edition

The writing is so bad, I was surprised this got published. 

culturenator's review against another edition

3.0

Not really sure what I think about this one. Definitely not as gripping as the other two books in this series, I think there was maybe too many characters I just didn't care enough for to keep me going, it felt like a struggle to finish this book and for me that's a bad sign.

yilulikestoread's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.25

Very disappointed overall. The most interesting plot points of the novel and the characters aims were hollow. I found it very hard to relate to them or agree with them. It was very well written but just a poor plot planning and lacking characters.
Very well written though - in the sense that the vocabulary was broad and the style was elaborate.

briasbooks's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

rebeccagee's review against another edition

3.0

Far from being the best of Faulks' work, Charlotte Gray was an interesting read but a little bland for me. Some of the dialogue dragged, the central love story was completely hollow, and Faulks' narrative seemed to know that; the weaknesses were constantly prodded with awkward conversations between the protagonist and interchangeable characters, all summarising thusly: 'Just because you barely know each other doesn't mean that you shouldn't spend a year tramping around war-torn France looking for him, even if he didn't tell you why he was here, oh and he might be dead anyway, but yeah, go ahead, look for him. Sounds great. Honestly.' The more gripping parts of the book - the missions into Occupied French countryside, brushes with the SS, the truly heartbreaking concentration camp chapters which had me in tears - were skimmed over, quickly narrated as though they were irrelevant portions of the much bigger picture. Frankly, the bigger picture was dull. I love Faulks but Charlotte Gray was a serious disappointment and the only reason I'm giving it three stars is because he still has the ability to reduce me to tears, although sometimes with despair.

markatong's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

My rating doesn't give justice to Faulks' good writing in Charlotte Gray. However, my hopes in Charlotte Gray had been easily dampened with the emotionally detached romantic involvements of Gray. With such good words, Faulks wrote a largely dull plot of an SOE agent in the World War II era. 

Julien's world had been rather interesting than Charlotte's and that was the only thing keeping me from dragging the very first Faulks book I've read to a lone-star rating.