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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
‘The Imperfects’ by Amy Meyerson, tells the story of the dysfunctional Miller family who are brought together by the death of their grandmother Helen. When Helen leaves her granddaughter Beck a brooch in her will, the family are forced to work together to uncover the truth about the brooch’s jewels and the secrets of both their grandmother and great grandmother. This novel combines family drama with historical fiction and even a little touch of mystery. I found the character of Helen to be so, so interesting and I wish that the book had focused more on her rather than on the three siblings. I enjoyed this book and really liked the premise of it but I did find the incessant fighting of the siblings a bit much. I actually really liked the character of Deborah and couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. A good, interesting read. A solid 3.5 stars from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the copy of this book.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A family drama, wrapped in historical fiction, wrapped in the mystery of the a missing, royal diamond. Well written and thoroughly engrossing!
I want to feel differently about this book than I actually do.
Very intriguing premise: a long-lost, multi-million-dollars worth, crown-jewel of actual royalty diamond just turns up in deceased, escaped-Europe-in-WWII-as-a-teenager grandmother's brooch, the one everyone assumed was just some cheap costume jewelry.
But how did she get it? Is she supposed to have had it? Did she know what it was? Can her descendants keep it? And if so, can they sell it, and would that help them all with their individual concerns?
Here are my drawbacks:
I didn't feel like there was anyone in the story to root for. None of them are villians, but certainly none of them are heroes either. They are all equally uninteresting that way. Even the one character who could most likely be called a villain doesn't really fit the bill. There's something to be said about characters that exhibit some very real humanness, but I guess I expect that if it's worth creating a story for people, fictional or not, they're not just representing run of the mill folks.
I also don't feel like the characters made a lot of progress of any sort, from beginning to end of the book. They didn't get closer together; they didn't get further apart. Their lives kind of changed, but not in a way that feels like it fits the magnitude of their experience. If each character's life had been given a numerical value at the beginning, they all went through a dramatic drop during the story, and by the end are maybe 1-2 points higher than when it all started. Better ... but not the expected increase based on what they actually went through to get there.
The "action" of the story reached a plateau, stayed there for a while, and then slowly descended. I don't like stories with overly excessive peaks and valleys, but a few ups and downs are nice. There was just enough going on that I didn't stop listening, but I did increase the speed of the audiobook.
By the end, this whole massive, potentially life-changing event, feels like barely a blip on the radar, both as a reader of the story, and how I imagine I would feel if I had been one of these family members going through it. I'll be honest, the ending was kind of a let down for me (although maybe more realistic since the real-life diamond it's all based on remains lost???). If I had lived through it myself, it feels like the sort of thing I'd talk about my siblings like this: "Remember grandma's diamond?" "Oh yeah, that was a weird year. So, what can I bring to the barbecue?"
But the story does mention the Sundance Film Festival a couple of times, since one of the siblings is a screenwriter, and I live less than an hour away from Park City, UT, so that was cool.
Very intriguing premise: a long-lost, multi-million-dollars worth, crown-jewel of actual royalty diamond just turns up in deceased, escaped-Europe-in-WWII-as-a-teenager grandmother's brooch, the one everyone assumed was just some cheap costume jewelry.
But how did she get it? Is she supposed to have had it? Did she know what it was? Can her descendants keep it? And if so, can they sell it, and would that help them all with their individual concerns?
Here are my drawbacks:
Spoiler
I didn't feel like there was anyone in the story to root for. None of them are villians, but certainly none of them are heroes either. They are all equally uninteresting that way. Even the one character who could most likely be called a villain doesn't really fit the bill. There's something to be said about characters that exhibit some very real humanness, but I guess I expect that if it's worth creating a story for people, fictional or not, they're not just representing run of the mill folks.
I also don't feel like the characters made a lot of progress of any sort, from beginning to end of the book. They didn't get closer together; they didn't get further apart. Their lives kind of changed, but not in a way that feels like it fits the magnitude of their experience. If each character's life had been given a numerical value at the beginning, they all went through a dramatic drop during the story, and by the end are maybe 1-2 points higher than when it all started. Better ... but not the expected increase based on what they actually went through to get there.
The "action" of the story reached a plateau, stayed there for a while, and then slowly descended. I don't like stories with overly excessive peaks and valleys, but a few ups and downs are nice. There was just enough going on that I didn't stop listening, but I did increase the speed of the audiobook.
By the end, this whole massive, potentially life-changing event, feels like barely a blip on the radar, both as a reader of the story, and how I imagine I would feel if I had been one of these family members going through it. I'll be honest, the ending was kind of a let down for me (although maybe more realistic since the real-life diamond it's all based on remains lost???). If I had lived through it myself, it feels like the sort of thing I'd talk about my siblings like this: "Remember grandma's diamond?" "Oh yeah, that was a weird year. So, what can I bring to the barbecue?"
But the story does mention the Sundance Film Festival a couple of times, since one of the siblings is a screenwriter, and I live less than an hour away from Park City, UT, so that was cool.
Soooooo good! I wasn’t sure what to expect and I fell in love with this whole story. The characters were believable and the story was riveting. A complete and unexpected gem of a book.
Hade velat veta mer om Helen bakgrund och historia men orkade inte med tjafset mellan syskonen, plus "spänningen" kring diamanten.
Gillade verkligen The Bookshop of Yesterdays, hade kanske för höga förväntningar på den här...
Gillade verkligen The Bookshop of Yesterdays, hade kanske för höga förväntningar på den här...
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
I enjoyed Meyerson’s other novels, and was excited to pick this up. Unfortunately, this was not my favourite of hers. It had a few familiar elements, similar to her other novels, namely, mystery that is centred around family or relationships. This one just didn’t do it for me. There were too many moving parts, and it felt like the thread got lost, especially with multiple perspectives in every chapter, making the chapter is quite lengthy.
<SPOILER>
I get there is historical context for this, but really, they have no follow up on the diamond?
<SPOILER>
I get there is historical context for this, but really, they have no follow up on the diamond?
The storyline was compelling enough, but I struggled with how dysfunctional the family dynamics were and how they just kind of accepted their dysfunction as ~who they are~. Additionally, all of their pasts/presents had some extreme milestone: abandoning children & wracking up debt in their name, being expelled from high school/law school for breaking into the computer to edit grades, an FBI warrant, a major screenplay. It just felt like a lot for a group of people who weren't terribly likeable.
I also struggled with the "tell, don't show" style of writing at times. At first it was spread out enough in the story that it was just a teensy annoyance, but by the end, when all the loose ends were beginning to wrap up, I felt like I was getting smothered with "and that's why this is the way it is in the novel" and it took away from the actual plot for me.
A small detail, but two of the main men in the story (the son and one of the husbands) were named Jake and Ryan and I kept getting the 4-letter, male names confused so I'd start a new passage and wonder why this male cared about X before realizing it was the wrong one. Again, minor but such an easy change to rename one of them to something even a letter or two longer!
All in all, 3 stars. I wanted to keep reading and see where the plot was going, but I liked THE BOOKSHOP OF YESTERDAYS better.
I also struggled with the "tell, don't show" style of writing at times. At first it was spread out enough in the story that it was just a teensy annoyance, but by the end, when all the loose ends were beginning to wrap up, I felt like I was getting smothered with "and that's why this is the way it is in the novel" and it took away from the actual plot for me.
A small detail, but two of the main men in the story (the son and one of the husbands) were named Jake and Ryan and I kept getting the 4-letter, male names confused so I'd start a new passage and wonder why this male cared about X before realizing it was the wrong one. Again, minor but such an easy change to rename one of them to something even a letter or two longer!
All in all, 3 stars. I wanted to keep reading and see where the plot was going, but I liked THE BOOKSHOP OF YESTERDAYS better.