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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
dark
slow-paced
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Christine Higdon's two novels have been my favourite books of the last decade. I could hardly put this book down. The characters are engaging; the plot is heartbreaking in spots; the shift in narration keeps all the stories prominent. I shed some tears, but was left with a feeling of hope. It is such a pleasure to read such a well-crafted, well-written piece of work.
This book was not my style. I found the plot to be very slow, and difficult to get into. I also found it to be difficult to keep track of the characters at the beginning, and the timeline as well. I listened to this book as an audiobook though so that might have been part of the issue. I struggled with all the changes in perspective and found the addition of a dog as a narrator to be both odd and unnecessary. The topics discussed included abortion, sexual orientation, and women's rights issues, which were big in the 20's. These issues were relatively well handled. I did like that this book was set in Vancouver, a city I am familiar with, so all the familiar place names were nice to see.
I listened to an Audio version of this book, and the narrator was good, but I don't think this book is the best in audio format as it can be difficult to keep track of the timeline, and characters, especially a the beginning.
I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I listened to an Audio version of this book, and the narrator was good, but I don't think this book is the best in audio format as it can be difficult to keep track of the timeline, and characters, especially a the beginning.
I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There's a lot to like about this novel, some of it right from the beginning and some of it that had to grow on me, like the narrating dog. Of course the central topic is abortion, and the author does a great job of spinning up all of the webs and networks of thought and fact and history about abortion in the early 20th century. The characters, though, we not evenly developed, and some of their thoughts and actions seemed rather arbitrary because of this: Flore, the firebrand radical, never seems to do much that is actually radical, and she lives off her dad's money; Llew, the cop who also runs whiskey is also a bit of a flat character, and--spoiler alert--the only reason he runs whiskey is so that the author can kill him off easily near the end. Ahmie has more of a personality in the epilogue than the entire rest of the book, and killing off Morag in the epilogue just feels weird--what does her death serve, from a literary perspective, other than to tell readers that her child has been taken by her estranged in-laws...and what does that do, other than set up a sequel, maybe? It felt pointless. I'd love to send this back for one more round of edits.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
LGBTQ+ diverse, not ethnically diverse.