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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
A new Kate Atkinson set during the war, ripe with spies and counter spies and utterly original characters mixed with the shades of the historic Cambridge spies. Be still my heart. I wanted this book to last forever.
4.5 stars, damned close to 5. As someone who has no taste for "will he/wont he" romance subplots, that was a bit messed up and (for today) mysoginystic. I have no doubt that Atkinson was writing to the times, and probably also to more conservative sensibilities in England during and after the war (although American women did not enjoy the freedoms they have today, they were much closer to the fun-loving French in WWII than English women).
That aside, this is a spy novel wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in almost a thriller, with lots of visuals of London during WWII.
Were it not for my personal dislike of the "weak woman waiting for a stronger man" (which Atkinson shows is only half of a very tough woman who acts as a spy, this providing an intersting foil), it would be a solid 5 stars.
I think that this will grow on me and become 5 stars after a while.
That aside, this is a spy novel wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in almost a thriller, with lots of visuals of London during WWII.
Were it not for my personal dislike of the "weak woman waiting for a stronger man" (which Atkinson shows is only half of a very tough woman who acts as a spy, this providing an intersting foil), it would be a solid 5 stars.
I think that this will grow on me and become 5 stars after a while.
Kate Atkinson is a great story-teller, and this was a good story. Again it’s about British fascists, this time during WWII. I don’t know how there are so many of these books out, I guess it’s because it’s some D-Day anniversary this year. The main character is part of an MI5 operation keeping tabs on the fifth-columnists in Britain. These were British who were sympathetic to Hitler and the government was worried they would try to pass info to the Germans. It’s a little story as to how these operations were run and the complicated people who are involved in spying. The twist at the end is a bit weird, I don’t know why the author felt the need to add it. Maybe to just show that people who choose to go into the secret service do so for a variety of complicated reasons.
adventurous
medium-paced
Smart, self-deprecating and so witty...I imagine Phoebe Waller-Bridge would play Juliet in the movie! A very well-structured story...not the usual "spy" novel. Looking forward to reading more of her work.
I gave up around page 200. This moved so slowly and Juliet was so distant.
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Not my favourite Kate Atkinson story but still full of the qualities that make her books so good. She sees the absurdities of how people think and behave. The element of historical fact works really well
Absorbing story of MI5 agents during the early stages of World War Two and 10 years later in 1950, told through the eyes of Juliet who is employed to transcribe spied-on meetings by fifth columnists. Evoking the period well, it reflects the humdrum day-to-day experiences, cock-ups and other incidents of being a wartime spy and the legacy of paranoia and intrigue that lasted for decades to come.
My first Kate Atkinson. Easy to read secret service novel set in London in 1941 and 1950. Read Michael Oondatje Warlight straight before and felt it had more heft.
Entertaining enough as a novel, with some nice echoes of the era.
Entertaining enough as a novel, with some nice echoes of the era.
Nope. I feel like I have been bludgeoned by all kinds of the nonsense. The ending is like a soap opera where you find out that the star is married to the brother she never knew existed.