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themumwhoreads's review
2.0
Review also published on my blog StudentSpyglass
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★
Readability: ★★★
Overall: ★★
The Art of Leaving follows Eva Elliott, the daughter of a pilot and and serial abandoner. Introverted and flighty, Eva’s favourite moments are the endings – the final scene of a film, the last words of a dying character and the end of a romance. For Eva, these moments hold far more meaning and excitement, filled with possibilities offering so many more choices.
Despite Eva’s determination to keep leaving things, her relationship with Luke endures, lasting significantly longer than any of her other relationships. Although she’s tried to leave him in the past, it’s never quite worked out and Eva begins to realise that leaving just isn’t as easy as it used to be. The novel also follows the plight of an escaped eagle from London Zoo, and Eva’s her musings on the mysterious Scorpio Club over the road from her office. Inspired by a story told to her by her Grandmother, Eva imagines magician’s assistants, escaped rabbits and tangled secrets, drawn in until she is unsure what exactly is real and what is part of her imagination.
Stothard manages to bring rainy London to life, rich with description and colour, where it could so easily have been bleak. The writing is hugely atmospheric; from Regent’s Park to Eva’s Office, the settings reach out and draw you in. The Scorpio Club in particular is hypnotising, vaguely reminiscent of something from a (more) sinister version of The Prestige.
However, despite Stothard’s fantastic writing, I didn’t love The Art of Leaving – perhaps because I found it difficult to connect with Eva. Her nomadic, distant approach to life is obviously necessary for the book, but I just found it hard to like her. I couldn’t help sympathising with Luke, and the plot was just a little looser than I would have liked. Similar in feel to something like Life of Pi, the plot felt too loose to me – more contemplative than action-packed.
For a book so clearly about endings, I found the novel’s conclusion to be lacking. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have any real impact – a month after finishing the book I couldn’t remember how it ended!
I would strongly recommend this for readers who love a book to make them think and for anyone looking for beautiful prose. I can easily imagine this being a huge hit, but the plot was just too open for me.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★
Readability: ★★★
Overall: ★★
The Art of Leaving follows Eva Elliott, the daughter of a pilot and and serial abandoner. Introverted and flighty, Eva’s favourite moments are the endings – the final scene of a film, the last words of a dying character and the end of a romance. For Eva, these moments hold far more meaning and excitement, filled with possibilities offering so many more choices.
Despite Eva’s determination to keep leaving things, her relationship with Luke endures, lasting significantly longer than any of her other relationships. Although she’s tried to leave him in the past, it’s never quite worked out and Eva begins to realise that leaving just isn’t as easy as it used to be. The novel also follows the plight of an escaped eagle from London Zoo, and Eva’s her musings on the mysterious Scorpio Club over the road from her office. Inspired by a story told to her by her Grandmother, Eva imagines magician’s assistants, escaped rabbits and tangled secrets, drawn in until she is unsure what exactly is real and what is part of her imagination.
Stothard manages to bring rainy London to life, rich with description and colour, where it could so easily have been bleak. The writing is hugely atmospheric; from Regent’s Park to Eva’s Office, the settings reach out and draw you in. The Scorpio Club in particular is hypnotising, vaguely reminiscent of something from a (more) sinister version of The Prestige.
However, despite Stothard’s fantastic writing, I didn’t love The Art of Leaving – perhaps because I found it difficult to connect with Eva. Her nomadic, distant approach to life is obviously necessary for the book, but I just found it hard to like her. I couldn’t help sympathising with Luke, and the plot was just a little looser than I would have liked. Similar in feel to something like Life of Pi, the plot felt too loose to me – more contemplative than action-packed.
For a book so clearly about endings, I found the novel’s conclusion to be lacking. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have any real impact – a month after finishing the book I couldn’t remember how it ended!
I would strongly recommend this for readers who love a book to make them think and for anyone looking for beautiful prose. I can easily imagine this being a huge hit, but the plot was just too open for me.
annabanana96's review
3.0
3.5/5⭐
There are a lot of things I love and a lot of things I very much dislike about this book. I love the style of writing, the story, the topic, the little wisdoms between the lines, the symbolism, the story inside the story, the plot twist. It's a good book. But just not for me... I'm not sure... The things I don't like: The characters. As in Pink Hotel, Stothard creates these unambitius characters floating through life just being so joyless and boring. The setting. London is described as such a hopeless gray place. Apartments full of moths. Clubs with teenage prostitutes. As in Pink Hotel (set in LA as far as I can remember), Stothard has the talent to turn every setting into a place you really don't want to go. Ever. Because it just feels hopeless and full of people who have given up on life. And then the ending. I'm just not a big fan of open endings and I can't understand Eva's reaction.
There are a lot of things I love and a lot of things I very much dislike about this book. I love the style of writing, the story, the topic, the little wisdoms between the lines, the symbolism, the story inside the story, the plot twist. It's a good book. But just not for me... I'm not sure... The things I don't like: The characters. As in Pink Hotel, Stothard creates these unambitius characters floating through life just being so joyless and boring. The setting. London is described as such a hopeless gray place. Apartments full of moths. Clubs with teenage prostitutes. As in Pink Hotel (set in LA as far as I can remember), Stothard has the talent to turn every setting into a place you really don't want to go. Ever. Because it just feels hopeless and full of people who have given up on life. And then the ending. I'm just not a big fan of open endings and I can't understand Eva's reaction.
geekyzoogirl's review
2.0
Review also published on my blog StudentSpyglass
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★
Readability: ★★★
Overall: ★★
The Art of Leaving follows Eva Elliott, the daughter of a pilot and and serial abandoner. Introverted and flighty, Eva’s favourite moments are the endings – the final scene of a film, the last words of a dying character and the end of a romance. For Eva, these moments hold far more meaning and excitement, filled with possibilities offering so many more choices.
Despite Eva’s determination to keep leaving things, her relationship with Luke endures, lasting significantly longer than any of her other relationships. Although she’s tried to leave him in the past, it’s never quite worked out and Eva begins to realise that leaving just isn’t as easy as it used to be. The novel also follows the plight of an escaped eagle from London Zoo, and Eva’s her musings on the mysterious Scorpio Club over the road from her office. Inspired by a story told to her by her Grandmother, Eva imagines magician’s assistants, escaped rabbits and tangled secrets, drawn in until she is unsure what exactly is real and what is part of her imagination.
Stothard manages to bring rainy London to life, rich with description and colour, where it could so easily have been bleak. The writing is hugely atmospheric; from Regent’s Park to Eva’s Office, the settings reach out and draw you in. The Scorpio Club in particular is hypnotising, vaguely reminiscent of something from a (more) sinister version of The Prestige.
However, despite Stothard’s fantastic writing, I didn’t love The Art of Leaving – perhaps because I found it difficult to connect with Eva. Her nomadic, distant approach to life is obviously necessary for the book, but I just found it hard to like her. I couldn’t help sympathising with Luke, and the plot was just a little looser than I would have liked. Similar in feel to something like Life of Pi, the plot felt too loose to me – more contemplative than action-packed.
For a book so clearly about endings, I found the novel’s conclusion to be lacking. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have any real impact – a month after finishing the book I couldn’t remember how it ended!
I would strongly recommend this for readers who love a book to make them think and for anyone looking for beautiful prose. I can easily imagine this being a huge hit, but the plot was just too open for me.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Plot: ★★
Characters: ★★
Readability: ★★★
Overall: ★★
The Art of Leaving follows Eva Elliott, the daughter of a pilot and and serial abandoner. Introverted and flighty, Eva’s favourite moments are the endings – the final scene of a film, the last words of a dying character and the end of a romance. For Eva, these moments hold far more meaning and excitement, filled with possibilities offering so many more choices.
Despite Eva’s determination to keep leaving things, her relationship with Luke endures, lasting significantly longer than any of her other relationships. Although she’s tried to leave him in the past, it’s never quite worked out and Eva begins to realise that leaving just isn’t as easy as it used to be. The novel also follows the plight of an escaped eagle from London Zoo, and Eva’s her musings on the mysterious Scorpio Club over the road from her office. Inspired by a story told to her by her Grandmother, Eva imagines magician’s assistants, escaped rabbits and tangled secrets, drawn in until she is unsure what exactly is real and what is part of her imagination.
Stothard manages to bring rainy London to life, rich with description and colour, where it could so easily have been bleak. The writing is hugely atmospheric; from Regent’s Park to Eva’s Office, the settings reach out and draw you in. The Scorpio Club in particular is hypnotising, vaguely reminiscent of something from a (more) sinister version of The Prestige.
However, despite Stothard’s fantastic writing, I didn’t love The Art of Leaving – perhaps because I found it difficult to connect with Eva. Her nomadic, distant approach to life is obviously necessary for the book, but I just found it hard to like her. I couldn’t help sympathising with Luke, and the plot was just a little looser than I would have liked. Similar in feel to something like Life of Pi, the plot felt too loose to me – more contemplative than action-packed.
For a book so clearly about endings, I found the novel’s conclusion to be lacking. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have any real impact – a month after finishing the book I couldn’t remember how it ended!
I would strongly recommend this for readers who love a book to make them think and for anyone looking for beautiful prose. I can easily imagine this being a huge hit, but the plot was just too open for me.
aliceworldea's review
2.0
Beautiful Prose and the description is really vivid, but i didn't liked the ending.
sarahsass's review
emotional
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
smartin1991's review
3.0
I won this through Goodreads First reads and I loved the way that the story was woven and the beautiful language that was used to describe the surroundings and the life she was setting up in the story. But I just had no connection to the main character. She just seemed to fall flat, although that was used in the story. It just made it much harder for me to get into the story.
blshep's review
3.0
It’s a very well written story that unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. Eva is emotionally flat, and sometimes I couldn’t see where the story was going. However, the writing style is beautifully descriptive and really appeals to all senses.
bookdancing's review
4.0
4.5 stars actually
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Art_of_Leaving_by_Anna_Stothard
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Art_of_Leaving_by_Anna_Stothard
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