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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
A compelling family drama spanning three generations and 50 years. Each chapter and perspective shift added an additional piece to the puzzle, which kept me guessing up until the very end. A wonderful historical novel.
This is a book that I sincerely wanted to like. Like, really wanted to like. While I enjoyed the Glass Ocean, which is also written by these three authors as a tri-perspective / differing timeline book, the fact that The Forgotten Room preceeds Glass Ocean in publication is obvious.
Written in three perspectives, following three generations of women in the same family, The Forgotten Room began with an interesting premise that would examine the way families and relationships develop throughout the years. With the "forgotten room" (not exactly forgotten, per-say) in an old Gilded-Age mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan uniting each generation, three women have their own love/life stories in 1983, 1920, and 1944.
While I sincerely thought I would enjoy this book, there were far too many fall shorts that resulted in my serious skimming the last 75 pages just in hopes of finishing it and getting it overwith. I found myself frustrated with each woman's love-story arc facing familiar issues a love interest that is unattainable (due to class, relationship status, or both). Additionally, as I noted other reviewers had noticed too, the secondary female characters fell flat in being either the "ice princess" trope (the fiancé of a love interest) or a jealous trope, etc. I just wish there were more development of character there. Finally, I wish we got a bit more of a taste of what it was like to live during those periods of times, especially the parts that took place during the 1920s. There was just something about it that made it feel like I was reading a story-line that could have been dropped in many different decades and it just happened to be the 1920s, if that makes sense. That being said, I do have to commend the authors in the interesting premise and the well-done editing to make the novel not feel so disjointed for coming from three different writers.
All in all, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. If you were intrigued by the premise of a book that is written by three authors, with three different timelines or perspectives, I sincerely encourage you to give the Glass Ocean a try!
Written in three perspectives, following three generations of women in the same family, The Forgotten Room began with an interesting premise that would examine the way families and relationships develop throughout the years. With the "forgotten room" (not exactly forgotten, per-say) in an old Gilded-Age mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan uniting each generation, three women have their own love/life stories in 1983, 1920, and 1944.
While I sincerely thought I would enjoy this book, there were far too many fall shorts that resulted in my serious skimming the last 75 pages just in hopes of finishing it and getting it overwith. I found myself frustrated with each woman's love-story arc facing familiar issues a love interest that is unattainable (due to class, relationship status, or both). Additionally, as I noted other reviewers had noticed too, the secondary female characters fell flat in being either the "ice princess" trope (the fiancé of a love interest) or a jealous trope, etc. I just wish there were more development of character there. Finally, I wish we got a bit more of a taste of what it was like to live during those periods of times, especially the parts that took place during the 1920s. There was just something about it that made it feel like I was reading a story-line that could have been dropped in many different decades and it just happened to be the 1920s, if that makes sense. That being said, I do have to commend the authors in the interesting premise and the well-done editing to make the novel not feel so disjointed for coming from three different writers.
All in all, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. If you were intrigued by the premise of a book that is written by three authors, with three different timelines or perspectives, I sincerely encourage you to give the Glass Ocean a try!
I love Beatriz Williams and was genuinely intrigued by the concept of 3 fiction authors co-writing a book, but I must say...I was a bit disappointed in this one. Compared to the typical Williams characters, these ladies were dry and boring - I want bold, witty, and sassy, damnit! And unlike other reviewers, I felt like I could tell the book was written by three people - it felt a little uneven in spots. Overall it was too much of a straight romance novel for my taste - I wanted more intrigue, conflict, levity. More snappy dialogue and brilliant characters. This one really felt lacking; but it's a 2.5 because I flew through it and did have a desire to keep reading.
Fafa's Book Corner (Wordpress)
Fafa's Book Corner (Blogger)
I received this E-ARC via Penguin Group Berkley and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF
When I saw this on Netgalley I was fairly excited. While it didn't sound like my kind of read, it sounded interesting. I love historical fiction, romances and mystery! This seemed like a good blend of them both. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this. I am not going to put a spoiler tag. I have only revealed what happens in the first chapter.
The book begins in 1944 with one of our main characters Kate. When Kate was a little girl her mother and her would walk around the area in which this beautiful mansion was located. Sometime after her mother passed away she took up a job as a doctor in said mansion. It's pretty hard for her because she happens to be the second female doctor. The nurses seem to think that Kate is to proud and didn't want to be a nurse because it was beneath her.
Since the war begun there have been many patients coming to the mansion. As another arrives she leaves to explain that unfortunately they do not have anymore space. The head doctor arrives and he decides to take the soldier. The soldier and the head doctor talk for a bit completely ignoring Kate. Offended she takes the patients file and reads it out loud.
The two of them decide that the soldier needs an operation done. She approaches him and tells him where he is and the operation being done. He then holds her wrist and begs her not to take his leg away. She is surprised that he is staring at her like he knows her. On the stop she makes some decisions about how to go about his operation. She suggests that he take her room and that she continues to check on him. She will perform the operation herself. If she fails the head doctor will take over with her full support.
Kate's point of view is in first person whereas Olive and Lucy are in third. The first chapter was a really good start into the book! I felt bad for Kate and how she was mistreated because she is a woman. We are then taken to Olive and that is where things take a turn for the worst. I didn't understand what I was reading. It was so confusing. It could've been because I was tired. But I highly doubt that.
I think you need to have some patience when reading this book. I didn't and this was more of a 'It's not you but me.' The writing was great! Which is why I'm giving this a 2 star.
Overall I didn't have the patience for this. Despite that I do highly recommend it! It has a good mystery and nice romance. There are some awesome reviews on this book, so look at those as well when you are deciding to read this or not. I do hope that you enjoy it more than I did!
Fafa's Book Corner (Blogger)
I received this E-ARC via Penguin Group Berkley and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF
When I saw this on Netgalley I was fairly excited. While it didn't sound like my kind of read, it sounded interesting. I love historical fiction, romances and mystery! This seemed like a good blend of them both. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this. I am not going to put a spoiler tag. I have only revealed what happens in the first chapter.
The book begins in 1944 with one of our main characters Kate. When Kate was a little girl her mother and her would walk around the area in which this beautiful mansion was located. Sometime after her mother passed away she took up a job as a doctor in said mansion. It's pretty hard for her because she happens to be the second female doctor. The nurses seem to think that Kate is to proud and didn't want to be a nurse because it was beneath her.
Since the war begun there have been many patients coming to the mansion. As another arrives she leaves to explain that unfortunately they do not have anymore space. The head doctor arrives and he decides to take the soldier. The soldier and the head doctor talk for a bit completely ignoring Kate. Offended she takes the patients file and reads it out loud.
The two of them decide that the soldier needs an operation done. She approaches him and tells him where he is and the operation being done. He then holds her wrist and begs her not to take his leg away. She is surprised that he is staring at her like he knows her. On the stop she makes some decisions about how to go about his operation. She suggests that he take her room and that she continues to check on him. She will perform the operation herself. If she fails the head doctor will take over with her full support.
Kate's point of view is in first person whereas Olive and Lucy are in third. The first chapter was a really good start into the book! I felt bad for Kate and how she was mistreated because she is a woman. We are then taken to Olive and that is where things take a turn for the worst. I didn't understand what I was reading. It was so confusing. It could've been because I was tired. But I highly doubt that.
I think you need to have some patience when reading this book. I didn't and this was more of a 'It's not you but me.' The writing was great! Which is why I'm giving this a 2 star.
Overall I didn't have the patience for this. Despite that I do highly recommend it! It has a good mystery and nice romance. There are some awesome reviews on this book, so look at those as well when you are deciding to read this or not. I do hope that you enjoy it more than I did!
Enjoyable but a bit odd, I had many problems with it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Find more of my reviews at meganpareja.com
I have the newest novel co-written by this trio waiting in my library queue and have been meaning to read The Forgotten Room forever, but somehow it always got pushed back in my “to read” list. Recently, I had been craving some juicy historical fiction, though, and needing a Beatriz Williams fix. I have read novels by both Lauren Willig and Karen White as well, and liked the one by Willig and disliked the one by White, so I knew there was the chance that, despite Beatriz’s contribution, I wouldn’t be crazy about this novel.
I wasn’t crazy about it. Not in the same way that I devoured, say, Along the Infinite Sea or A Hundred Summers. The story is completely contrived, but when you have three authors writing -- each contributed one narrator’s story, writing her chapter and then passing the manuscript off to the next, is how I understand it was done -- that seems to be a prerequisite. How else would you fit together the stories of three women, from three different time periods, all living in the same house?
I think one of the problems was that, because each character’s got only one-third of the novel’s space, things developed a bit too quickly and unbelievably. It’s not easy to give a summary without spoilers, although you manage to work out some of the “spoilers” -- as in, who ended up with whom -- early on, just due to the nature of the storytelling. It’s basically about three different women whose lives, for one reason or another, have all brought them to stay for a time in the same Manhattan mansion. The first woman, Olive, works there as a maid in the late 1800s, when the house is a private residence. The second, Lucy, rents a room in the mansion, which by the 1920s has been converted to a women’s boarding house. And finally, Dr. Kate Schuyler works in the home, which has become a private hospital during World War II. All three women find romance within the walls of the beautiful Upper East Side building, and all three women are inextricably linked to one another’s stories, but how? That’s what we spend nearly 400 pages finding out. By the end, I couldn’t put it down, though I was much more intrigued by one character’s story than by the other two. Still, I liked it enough that I have already borrowed The Glass Ocean, the latest joint effort by these three authors, from the library, and I’m very much looking forward to what they do with the story of the doomed Lusitania.
I have the newest novel co-written by this trio waiting in my library queue and have been meaning to read The Forgotten Room forever, but somehow it always got pushed back in my “to read” list. Recently, I had been craving some juicy historical fiction, though, and needing a Beatriz Williams fix. I have read novels by both Lauren Willig and Karen White as well, and liked the one by Willig and disliked the one by White, so I knew there was the chance that, despite Beatriz’s contribution, I wouldn’t be crazy about this novel.
I wasn’t crazy about it. Not in the same way that I devoured, say, Along the Infinite Sea or A Hundred Summers. The story is completely contrived, but when you have three authors writing -- each contributed one narrator’s story, writing her chapter and then passing the manuscript off to the next, is how I understand it was done -- that seems to be a prerequisite. How else would you fit together the stories of three women, from three different time periods, all living in the same house?
I think one of the problems was that, because each character’s got only one-third of the novel’s space, things developed a bit too quickly and unbelievably. It’s not easy to give a summary without spoilers, although you manage to work out some of the “spoilers” -- as in, who ended up with whom -- early on, just due to the nature of the storytelling. It’s basically about three different women whose lives, for one reason or another, have all brought them to stay for a time in the same Manhattan mansion. The first woman, Olive, works there as a maid in the late 1800s, when the house is a private residence. The second, Lucy, rents a room in the mansion, which by the 1920s has been converted to a women’s boarding house. And finally, Dr. Kate Schuyler works in the home, which has become a private hospital during World War II. All three women find romance within the walls of the beautiful Upper East Side building, and all three women are inextricably linked to one another’s stories, but how? That’s what we spend nearly 400 pages finding out. By the end, I couldn’t put it down, though I was much more intrigued by one character’s story than by the other two. Still, I liked it enough that I have already borrowed The Glass Ocean, the latest joint effort by these three authors, from the library, and I’m very much looking forward to what they do with the story of the doomed Lusitania.
As unlikely and fluffy as this book was, I still loved it very much. I’m such a sucker for a good love story, even when it is of the sappy, unpractical star-crossed lovers variety. This was a fun light read for summer that was easy to escape into. I like all three of these authors in their own right and the book felt seamless to have been written by three different people. I throughly enjoyed it.
I really enjoy the story, but thought it dragged slowly towards the middle to end of the novel.
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
