Reviews

Trzynasta opowieść by Diane Setterfield

annatar1060's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was an interesting read. I was intrigued and enjoyed the auto book with the 2 different voice actors. Enjoyed the mystery part. Love john the dig. It was a little more dark than I expected. A lot of mental health challenges. Overall I loved it except I felt like Margaret's connection to her twin was weird. It always took me out of the story and didn't make sense to me. 

jackieliu's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

journalismchik's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted this to be much better, but I still give it a solid 3.5.

flowers_and_cows's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Not my favorite book. 

It starts off so boring, and then when it picks up we learn about Charlie and Isabelle. And that was something. The book seems to have a cycle of boring to somewhat interesting back to boring again. 

It reads like a modern Bronte book. 

Also like the whole sisters plot and the secrets about the sisters kinda made no sense. Because like why not be honest-ish about it? But eh. 

The ending with Araulius was a bit over the top for my liking. And then the whole twin the with Margaret Lea throughout the whole book was so weird to me?? Like? What? 

11kjmarie's review against another edition

5.0

Off to read this author’s entire backlist! I picked up this book because Once Upon A River was my favorite book from 2021. The Thirteenth Tale is a weird and winding family mystery with twists and turns that surprised me until the very end. One of my favorites of all time!

hidelynch's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

emleemay's review against another edition

5.0

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”

I don't know if I've ever loved words so much.

Lots of people told me that this was a book I needed to read, but many of those people also warned me that I might find it slow. So I went into The Thirteenth Tale prepared for a subtle plot that moved at a gentle pace... well maybe my expectations are to blame but that wasn't what I got. Slow?? Not for me. There was not a slow moment in this story because the prose itself was dynamic and consumingly evocative. I was intrigued by the mystery, seduced by the characters and caught up in page after page of well-written family drama.

Do you like...?:
1) Books
2) Mysteries
3) Family dramas

If you said yes to those, then I really can't see any reason you wouldn't love this book. People were right when they said it's a book for people who love books. It is. A love of literature and words is enthused in every page of this novel. I find myself believing that had I not already been a bibliophile, an encounter with this book would be enough to have me drooling over the endless possibilities and magic that lie within stories.

I must confess that I am almost always a story person first, a character person at a close second and a language/word person last. This book delivered on all three, but it was the latter that most amazed me. Setterfield completely seduces you with words. I read passages over and over again because I loved the language and style so much.

“Books are, for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled.”

The story is about a biographer called Margaret Lea who very suddenly and unexpectedly receives a hand-written letter from the popular and critically-acclaimed novelist - Vida Winters. Ms Winters wants Margaret to recount her life story, she wants to finally stop telling fictional stories and reveal the truth of her childhood and all its dark secrets. Before accepting, Margaret reads and falls in love with one of the author's books called Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation, but she is surprised to find that it contains only twelve stories... where is the thirteenth tale?

Margaret finds herself unable to refuse the job. And as Vida Winters opens up more and more, both women are forced to confront the demons of their pasts.

I, for one, was totally sucked into every aspect of the story. The writing had hold of me, the characters made me need to know more about their lives, the mysteries surrounding Winters' youth kept me guessing. If it's possible, I think this book made me love books even more.

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lbast's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

foryouathena's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

rosadrinkbooks's review against another edition

4.0

Beautiful and engaging, I will always fall for gothic books which involve troubled authors and a booksellers daughter playing detective.
It had something of Shadow of the Wind about it.