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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Juliet Armstrong is a MI5 transcriptionist during WWII. She knows secrets. She gets involved in some double agent story lines. I enjoyed the listen but after awhile the story became a little monotonous.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Homophobia
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
had potential but ended up being disappointed by a dismal plot with dry characters.
Whipped through this in just a few days. A pretty enthralling spy story that sneaks up on you, then throws a few (kinda confusing) twists into the end. Makes for a fascinating companion to Ondaatje's Warlight. The novels are almost mirror images of one another.
I've just come through a period of reading books by writers who seemed so afraid of their protagonist being a Mary-Sue that they made her thoroughly unlikable, and it frankl;y made me want bad things to happen to them. So this was a real relief.
Juliet Armstrong is real, complex, and has some very obvious faults. But she is also someone I could really root for. Maybe it's an age thing, but unlike other reviewers, I didn't find her naive at all - except in one instance where what was going on was obvious to me, but I'm sure would not have been to my mother, who was of Juliet's generation.
I had been quite disappointed by 'Started Early, Took My Dog' (where her writing was very pedestrian), so it was a real pleasure to feel safe in Kate Atkinson's hands again.
I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, the writing, the characters I could so easily picture - and although the ending was a surprise, it did make sense to me, and in a way it harked right back to 1940, as well as Juliet's pragmatism being overtly on display throughout the book.
And it was just so nice to be on the side of the protagonist again.
Juliet Armstrong is real, complex, and has some very obvious faults. But she is also someone I could really root for. Maybe it's an age thing, but unlike other reviewers, I didn't find her naive at all - except in one instance where what was going on was obvious to me, but I'm sure would not have been to my mother, who was of Juliet's generation.
I had been quite disappointed by 'Started Early, Took My Dog' (where her writing was very pedestrian), so it was a real pleasure to feel safe in Kate Atkinson's hands again.
I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, the writing, the characters I could so easily picture - and although the ending was a surprise, it did make sense to me, and in a way it harked right back to 1940, as well as Juliet's pragmatism being overtly on display throughout the book.
And it was just so nice to be on the side of the protagonist again.
I'm being generous giving this book 3 stars. It was lacklustre and dawdled along to a bizarre ending that was at complete odds to the rest of the book.
I liked Lily the dog but that's about it.
I liked Lily the dog but that's about it.