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2.92 AVERAGE
2.92 AVERAGE
The English boarding school setting was very well done. However, I was disappointed overall by the scattered narratives and especially the way the ending was tied up in a neat bow.
Eh. That's all I can muster for this book. Not bad, but not good. Set at a boarding school in England during Vietnam (for no apparent reason), this book is supposedly about secrets? But with the shifting POV readers know the secrets the whole novel. And because there are 5 or so POVs (some first person and some third, which is very strange), you never really get into the any of the characters.
I had very high expectations of this book, based on the synopsis. The premise sounded great, and I was very excited to read this book.
Unfortunately I was very disappointed. I DNF at about 35%. I just couldn't get into the book, the characters or the plot. I was bored reading.
Unfortunately I was very disappointed. I DNF at about 35%. I just couldn't get into the book, the characters or the plot. I was bored reading.
Warning: thematic spoilers below the fold.
It's the late 60s or early 70s, and Jenny's off to England for a semester abroad in boarding school. Her older brother is in university in England—away from the States and away from the draft—but their close friend has shipped out to Vietnam.
But the story is not only Jenny's, and this was what I found both most frustrating and most compelling about the book.
"I think about this all the time," said Nico. "Like, for instance, who is telling this story?"
"Which story?" Jasper seemed a bit bemused.
"This one!" said Nico. "The story of the English lesson on Friday morning in a shabby ex-stable that hasn't had the windows washed in a hundred years. We have"—he looked around—"sixteen stories in here, right? And all of them are true, right? According to the"—he twitched his fingers to show that he was quoting—"narrators. But all of them are unreliable, if you're one of the other fifteen people. So how can it be some literary genre, the unreliable narrator? There isn't anything else." (124)
The story is told in so many different voices—there's Jenny, of course, but then there's Nico (trying to live outside his mother's shadow) and Penelope (missing her mother and always keeping her ears and eyes open) and Robbie (trying to deal with his horrible older brother and also his own sexuality) and on it goes.
'She's trying to do too much,' I said to my s.o. when I was about halfway through. 'Too many people's stories in one book.' And it does feel that way in places—I'd get invested in one character's story, but then the POV would switch, and it would be another 90-odd pages before the book moved back to that character.
But then I realised—quite late in the book—that that's kind of the point. We leave Jenny's head and go into Robbie's, for example, and to Robbie Jenny's story is not crucial. Or even on his radar. To Brenda, Robbie is (inadvertently) part of her life, but again...she has other things to worry about. What's more, each character sees the others differently. Jenny shreds her uniforms in a last-ditch attempt at a fashion statement; to her it seems to work, but later you can see other characters raising their eyebrows, privately.
I didn't love the book. There was surprisingly little to place it in time (odd, given the Vietnam War in the—distant—background), and very, very few of the characters' stories come to any real conclusion...although that's another love/hate thing, as it's far more realistic than having lots of tidy endings. Ultimately I wanted more space, I think, for (some of...) the characters' lives to be explored...but it does some pretty cool things in terms of perspective and reliability.
Brief witterings about POV here.
It's the late 60s or early 70s, and Jenny's off to England for a semester abroad in boarding school. Her older brother is in university in England—away from the States and away from the draft—but their close friend has shipped out to Vietnam.
But the story is not only Jenny's, and this was what I found both most frustrating and most compelling about the book.
"I think about this all the time," said Nico. "Like, for instance, who is telling this story?"
"Which story?" Jasper seemed a bit bemused.
"This one!" said Nico. "The story of the English lesson on Friday morning in a shabby ex-stable that hasn't had the windows washed in a hundred years. We have"—he looked around—"sixteen stories in here, right? And all of them are true, right? According to the"—he twitched his fingers to show that he was quoting—"narrators. But all of them are unreliable, if you're one of the other fifteen people. So how can it be some literary genre, the unreliable narrator? There isn't anything else." (124)
The story is told in so many different voices—there's Jenny, of course, but then there's Nico (trying to live outside his mother's shadow) and Penelope (missing her mother and always keeping her ears and eyes open) and Robbie (trying to deal with his horrible older brother and also his own sexuality) and on it goes.
'She's trying to do too much,' I said to my s.o. when I was about halfway through. 'Too many people's stories in one book.' And it does feel that way in places—I'd get invested in one character's story, but then the POV would switch, and it would be another 90-odd pages before the book moved back to that character.
But then I realised—quite late in the book—that that's kind of the point. We leave Jenny's head and go into Robbie's, for example, and to Robbie Jenny's story is not crucial. Or even on his radar. To Brenda, Robbie is (inadvertently) part of her life, but again...she has other things to worry about. What's more, each character sees the others differently. Jenny shreds her uniforms in a last-ditch attempt at a fashion statement; to her it seems to work, but later you can see other characters raising their eyebrows, privately.
I didn't love the book. There was surprisingly little to place it in time (odd, given the Vietnam War in the—distant—background), and very, very few of the characters' stories come to any real conclusion...although that's another love/hate thing, as it's far more realistic than having lots of tidy endings. Ultimately I wanted more space, I think, for (some of...) the characters' lives to be explored...but it does some pretty cool things in terms of perspective and reliability.
Brief witterings about POV here.
*3.5*
Overall I enjoyed this book. It takes place in a boarding school in England during the early seventies. It follows mostly students at this school and the secrets that they keep.
Of all the books I've read with multi-perspectives this one did a very good job at distinguishing between the characters and their point of views. The style of writing was very different for each character and there were distinct personalities shown.
That being said I think that there were too many perspectives. It was a relatively short book (275 pages) and covered 8 different characters. It felt more like a bunch of short stories with overlapping characters than a fully fleshed novel with a distinct plot. I think there should have been fewer perspectives with more focus on each or it should have been a longer book.
I enjoyed the characters and would really liked to have known more about them, or heard more about their individual stories. I felt that we missed a lot at times because we were hearing things from so many people.
That said I did like this book and almost wish that there would be another book with the same characters. I definitely want to know more about their lives!
Overall I enjoyed this book. It takes place in a boarding school in England during the early seventies. It follows mostly students at this school and the secrets that they keep.
Of all the books I've read with multi-perspectives this one did a very good job at distinguishing between the characters and their point of views. The style of writing was very different for each character and there were distinct personalities shown.
That being said I think that there were too many perspectives. It was a relatively short book (275 pages) and covered 8 different characters. It felt more like a bunch of short stories with overlapping characters than a fully fleshed novel with a distinct plot. I think there should have been fewer perspectives with more focus on each or it should have been a longer book.
I enjoyed the characters and would really liked to have known more about them, or heard more about their individual stories. I felt that we missed a lot at times because we were hearing things from so many people.
That said I did like this book and almost wish that there would be another book with the same characters. I definitely want to know more about their lives!
Arghhh this review crashed on me thrice so I am too annoyed to say much.
Ambitious working from multiple characters from multiple viewpoints, so I was hesitant to read but this book managed to pull it off.
Each character had distinct backgrounds, ideas, and voices. The more unique voices stemming from Oona and Percy who used a different approach to tell their story — Oona from writing letters to her best friend Sarah who moved to Canada and Percy in his screenplay writings (perhaps subconsciously influenced by his never-present famous movie director father).
However, I was pretty ticked off by a few characters, namely air-headed Oona and unrepentant Penelope.
Ambitious working from multiple characters from multiple viewpoints, so I was hesitant to read but this book managed to pull it off.
Each character had distinct backgrounds, ideas, and voices. The more unique voices stemming from Oona and Percy who used a different approach to tell their story — Oona from writing letters to her best friend Sarah who moved to Canada and Percy in his screenplay writings (perhaps subconsciously influenced by his never-present famous movie director father).
However, I was pretty ticked off by a few characters, namely air-headed Oona and unrepentant Penelope.
I got my hands on a copy of this book when I was at a library conference back in January. I was lucky enough to meet the author and get my copy signed (yes, this is why I love library conferences). Of course, as soon as I get the book at home it languishes on my book shelf. I decided to give it a try this weekend and I was sucked into life at an English boarding school.
What We Hide was completely unexpected. From the cover, I was expecting something more girly and less serious, and frankly more romantic. But, in this case, I'm glad my expectations were not met. This was a great novel, and one that I think will have a wide appeal. What We Hide is told in multiple viewpoints from the students attending Illington Hall, a boarding school in England. Each of these students is very different, but they all have one thing in common, they are all hiding something. These secrets range from the serious to the superficial, but it's what binds them together in this narrative. Only the reader is treated to the undisclosed truth.
Aside from the less frivolous subject matter that I was expecting, I was also surprised by the historical setting. I assumed that this would be a contemporary book; however, What We Hide is actually set during the Vietnam War. One of the narrators, Jenny, is an American who has come to England to study with her brother, who's dodging the draft by attending university overseas. When I read the description, it didn't click that there would be anything historical about this one, but it totally worked. This era lends another layer to a complex plot and really added something to several of the character's stories and impacted the secrets that they kept. It not a period where I've read a lot of fiction, so I felt that I learned something about the era and the social norms and custom expected. In a lot of ways, it's not all that different from today, especially considering the prejudices and preconceived notions that these teens had about others and for themselves.
There were moments when I was questioning each character's actions and moments when I wanted to give of them a hug and stop them from making a bad decision. But at the end of the day, I think What We Hide offers a very realistic picture of growing up and the things that kids (everyone, really) will do to fit it. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's plain heartbreaking. But there's always a reason to hide something.
Ultimately, I thought this was a fantastic read. My expectations went up in smoke, but that was not a bad thing. This This book turned out to be a smart, thought provoking read. This author knows how to write, and it was a pleasure to read. While I don't think any of these characters will stop having secrets, I do think each learned something or changed in some way during the novel. Most significantly was Jenny (the American). Her final thoughts for the book are one of my favourite quotes from the book:
"What you arrive with somewhere is never what you take home anyway." (p. 275)
If that doesn't sum up the experience of growing up, I don't know what does.
For similar reviews, see The Book Adventures.
What We Hide was completely unexpected. From the cover, I was expecting something more girly and less serious, and frankly more romantic. But, in this case, I'm glad my expectations were not met. This was a great novel, and one that I think will have a wide appeal. What We Hide is told in multiple viewpoints from the students attending Illington Hall, a boarding school in England. Each of these students is very different, but they all have one thing in common, they are all hiding something. These secrets range from the serious to the superficial, but it's what binds them together in this narrative. Only the reader is treated to the undisclosed truth.
Aside from the less frivolous subject matter that I was expecting, I was also surprised by the historical setting. I assumed that this would be a contemporary book; however, What We Hide is actually set during the Vietnam War. One of the narrators, Jenny, is an American who has come to England to study with her brother, who's dodging the draft by attending university overseas. When I read the description, it didn't click that there would be anything historical about this one, but it totally worked. This era lends another layer to a complex plot and really added something to several of the character's stories and impacted the secrets that they kept. It not a period where I've read a lot of fiction, so I felt that I learned something about the era and the social norms and custom expected. In a lot of ways, it's not all that different from today, especially considering the prejudices and preconceived notions that these teens had about others and for themselves.
There were moments when I was questioning each character's actions and moments when I wanted to give of them a hug and stop them from making a bad decision. But at the end of the day, I think What We Hide offers a very realistic picture of growing up and the things that kids (everyone, really) will do to fit it. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's plain heartbreaking. But there's always a reason to hide something.
Ultimately, I thought this was a fantastic read. My expectations went up in smoke, but that was not a bad thing. This This book turned out to be a smart, thought provoking read. This author knows how to write, and it was a pleasure to read. While I don't think any of these characters will stop having secrets, I do think each learned something or changed in some way during the novel. Most significantly was Jenny (the American). Her final thoughts for the book are one of my favourite quotes from the book:
"What you arrive with somewhere is never what you take home anyway." (p. 275)
If that doesn't sum up the experience of growing up, I don't know what does.
For similar reviews, see The Book Adventures.
This wasn't a horrible book and I liked that it was told from different points of view, but by the end it was as if nothing had really happened. I guess that's real life, but it doesn't make for a great story. It starts good and goes downhill to meh by the end.
3.4
Engaging characters, but the multiple POVs ended up getting a bit overwhelming and distracting, especially when it varied from first-person to third-person. The book introduced all the characters' backstories and secrets, but there were so many that they seemed too superficial.
Engaging characters, but the multiple POVs ended up getting a bit overwhelming and distracting, especially when it varied from first-person to third-person. The book introduced all the characters' backstories and secrets, but there were so many that they seemed too superficial.