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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just a brilliant novel, the first 80 to 100 pages lay the foundation for a special journey that the author takes you on. A book about friendship and that sometimes friendships become family. Primarily set in Florence the author writes in such a beautiful way that you are transported to the city. A book to savor and learn about art. This maybe one novel that I will re-read.
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I struggled with the writing style here - jumping across storylines and introducing characters left and right, plus the lack of quotations with the dialogue meant it was so hard to settle into the story. The last 1/3rd is a huge improvement over the beginning but still shuffled around a lot.
I likely would have DNFed this if it wasn’t a book club read…
I likely would have DNFed this if it wasn’t a book club read…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy
Minor: Domestic abuse
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Read as part of BooksandLala's Buzzwordathon - "life" and "death"
They travelled more than a thousand miles, had eaten twenty plate of spaghetti, nine stews, seventeen baguettes, a crop of apricots and a wheel of cheese. They had drunk forty coffees and eight bottles of wine and seven beers and two brandies. Nights in a bed: one. The first. They had seen wild boar and falcons and stars falling across the Alps. And they come to rely on one another because they were all they had.
This is a beaut of a book. The writing is extraordinary, the scene-setting is beautiful, and the story is packed to the brim with vibrant, complex characters and relationships that you simply cannot help but care deeply about.
So why didn’t I LOVE this book?
I think I’ve placed a couple of reasons. The visual art history, for one. I am an art lover who cannot for the life of me being myself to truly invest in and care about visual art. So when I am trying to curl up with a book and I am finding myself so invested in these unremarkable but beautiful characters, and then we go down a long ramble of art theory… it loses me every time.
The second is the plodding format of the book. By the end we gave covered more than 50 years of history and it really feels like it. This is a slow read with very few active scenes to provide respite. It is hard to stop one’s mind from skimming and drifting… and then because the writing and characters are so good you feel guilty for skimming and drifting!
Because they ARE so good. These are well-built characters with deep, meaningful roots and connections - platonic (Cress and Peg!), familial (Alys and Ulysses!), and romantic (Massimo and Jem & Evelyn and Livia!). Period-appropriate queer rep abounds.
This was a LOVELY book that made me SO HUNGRY for a trip to Florence. It’s just someone else’s favourite book.
We will find your soul, and bring it back to you. And she wrapped her up in a mac that smelt of rubber, that had clementines in the pockets.
They travelled more than a thousand miles, had eaten twenty plate of spaghetti, nine stews, seventeen baguettes, a crop of apricots and a wheel of cheese. They had drunk forty coffees and eight bottles of wine and seven beers and two brandies. Nights in a bed: one. The first. They had seen wild boar and falcons and stars falling across the Alps. And they come to rely on one another because they were all they had.
This is a beaut of a book. The writing is extraordinary, the scene-setting is beautiful, and the story is packed to the brim with vibrant, complex characters and relationships that you simply cannot help but care deeply about.
So why didn’t I LOVE this book?
I think I’ve placed a couple of reasons. The visual art history, for one. I am an art lover who cannot for the life of me being myself to truly invest in and care about visual art. So when I am trying to curl up with a book and I am finding myself so invested in these unremarkable but beautiful characters, and then we go down a long ramble of art theory… it loses me every time.
The second is the plodding format of the book. By the end we gave covered more than 50 years of history and it really feels like it. This is a slow read with very few active scenes to provide respite. It is hard to stop one’s mind from skimming and drifting… and then because the writing and characters are so good you feel guilty for skimming and drifting!
Because they ARE so good. These are well-built characters with deep, meaningful roots and connections - platonic (Cress and Peg!), familial (Alys and Ulysses!), and romantic (Massimo and Jem & Evelyn and Livia!). Period-appropriate queer rep abounds
Spoiler
although I’m not sure if I can forgive Sarah Winman for not giving us a satisfying resolution to whatever the hell was going on between Ulysses and DarnleyThis was a LOVELY book that made me SO HUNGRY for a trip to Florence. It’s just someone else’s favourite book.
We will find your soul, and bring it back to you. And she wrapped her up in a mac that smelt of rubber, that had clementines in the pockets.
I loved the theme of this book that family is not necessarily the one you’re born into but who keeps showing up for you. The idea that it is about who you are as a person that is what people love not your age, disability, or sexuality.
Evelyn is an awesome character and would have been such a cool person to know.
The parrot seems to be somewhat anthropomorphized and I’m not sure parrots are smart enough to have some of the one liners that he did. However I wonder if he was actually reflecting the subconscious thinking of the other characters.
While I did not agree with the decision Peg made she seemed to be a character who truly struggled and had regrets later in life.
A lovely story of a group of mismatched people (that grow along the way) who continually show up for each other and show us that love is not always romantic but that doesn’t make it any less special.
Evelyn is an awesome character and would have been such a cool person to know.
The parrot seems to be somewhat anthropomorphized and I’m not sure parrots are smart enough to have some of the one liners that he did. However I wonder if he was actually reflecting the subconscious thinking of the other characters.
While I did not agree with the decision Peg made she seemed to be a character who truly struggled and had regrets later in life.
A lovely story of a group of mismatched people (that grow along the way) who continually show up for each other and show us that love is not always romantic but that doesn’t make it any less special.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship
A wonderful story of different personalities who come together through life and become and remain staunch friends. They are there through each other’s ups and downs; teach each other about life and love;
Written in an unusual format, like a conversation and occasionally a staccato fashion, the story weaves its way until the different characters come together.
Written in an unusual format, like a conversation and occasionally a staccato fashion, the story weaves its way until the different characters come together.
It took me a while to get in to this, but I ended up really enjoying it. This is one of those fabulous books that follows the characters over decades of their lives. The sense of time and location really added to it. The only negative was the last chapter, which felt a bit tacked on and didn’t match the flow of the rest of the book. But still definitely a great book, one I would be happy to read again