Reviews

Things We Once Held Dear by Ann Tatlock

debs4jc's review

neil sadler returns to his home town in ohie, somehow knowing that that is what he needs to do following the death of his beloved wife. while there he stays at "the house", a huge farmhouse in the gothic style, with seventeen rooms, a ballroom, and a tower--which is where he finds his uncle bernie. bernie knows he will die soon, and has returned to the house where he was born. he says there is some unfinished business to attend to first, and that begins to be evident when neil runs into his old flame mary. mary's husband is a policeman and is under investigation after shooting someone while responding to a domestic violence call. neil knows that mary is no stranger to tragedy, her father--neil's adopted uncle--was jailed after her ill mother was found dead in their home.

evamadera1's review against another edition

3.0

This book lacked the emotional depth that I've come to relish in Tatlock's other books. Perhaps it's because the protagonist is male. Perhaps it's because Tatlock spreads the narrative too thin and never goes deep. She just scratched the surface with every character and his struggles. My problem with this book is not what is there. My problem is that so much is missing. It's good but not good enough.

*Update* I stand by my original review and add the following. Tatlock spent too much time reminiscing to drive the plot. She tried to weave too many old stories to make anything comprehensible which is unfortunate because it could have been so much more. This book did not survive the second "purge."