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2.94 AVERAGE
2.94 AVERAGE
I've read 100 pages of this and I'm not feeling it, so I've abandoned it. The plot summary sounded good but it's very slow moving and while I can empathize with the main character, I don't like much like her as a main character. I think my main problem is that it sounded like The Time Traveller's Wife (a book that I cherish and love), but turned out to be more along the lines of The Memory Keeper's Daughter (a book that I detest): An upper middle-class drama featuring rather flat -and in some cases Mary Sue-like- characters. Also, it may be because the book was about someone in a very different place in her life from the place I'm in in my life: frumpy, middle-aged motherhood vs. young, soon-to-graduate studenthood. There's a good chance that I will not come back to this. Maybe give it a shot if you liked the latter of the titles I compared it to, but other than that, I didn't think it was anything good or special.
The verdict: Interesting premise, mediocre execution.
This book was provided as an ARC in a Goodreads giveaway from St. Martin's Press.
The verdict: Interesting premise, mediocre execution.
This book was provided as an ARC in a Goodreads giveaway from St. Martin's Press.
I received a copy of Hugo & Rose from Goodreads FirstReads.
In Hugo & Rose, Foley presents a tale of Rose who, since an unfortunate accident of youth, has dreamed of the Hugo and an island of adventure they share every night, battling unusual monsters and creating mischief in their attempts to reach an illusive city. The two grow up together on their dream island, beautiful and brave--constant companions of nightfall.
In her waking hours, as years progress, Rose deviates further and further from the dream version of herself, becoming increasingly dissatisfied with herself, her family, her life--preferring dream to reality. That is, until a random sequence of events leads Rose to Hugo in the waking world, helping Rose realize that reality can sometimes offer much more adventure and a greater allure of mystery than she might have otherwise dreamed possible.
Upon her discovery, Rose is filled with numerous questions. Is the man she saw truly Hugo? And, if so, how is it that the boy she thought she dreamed up truly exists? Were their minds connected? How? Why? These questions and more are what drives her foward, as an outlet to escape her reality ooncene again and in an effort to discover the unusual ties that bind them.
Sounds great right? I thought so, until I read on...
So disappointed. Nothing like I expected. After reading the book's summary, I thought this story would be an interesting fantasy. What I got was more of a glance into the lives of some creepy people, and overwhelmingly self-centered and annoying protagonists--one of which who foolishly puts her and her family's lives in danger.
After drudging through over half of the book, I got a weak explanation for the strange phenomenon involving Rose and Hugo in the dream world. I kept thinking that there had to be more to it than what was offered. Well, if there was Foley never shared it. And it wasn't until the penultimate chapter that Foley revealed what happened to Hugo before Rose, what lead him to her.
To go with (what I would deem) unlikable characters, a poorly developed (and incomplete) plot, and intermittent droning about unimportant filler details, the conclusion left much to be desired. It felt as if the characters barely developed (or gained anything meaningful from their experiences). Let's just say that all the eagerness I had when starting this book and discovering their dream world quickly turned into a frustrating sprint through an increasingly annoying story to an unsatisfying end.
This definitely was not for me. Hopefully, the intended audience will have a better experience than I did.
In Hugo & Rose, Foley presents a tale of Rose who, since an unfortunate accident of youth, has dreamed of the Hugo and an island of adventure they share every night, battling unusual monsters and creating mischief in their attempts to reach an illusive city. The two grow up together on their dream island, beautiful and brave--constant companions of nightfall.
In her waking hours, as years progress, Rose deviates further and further from the dream version of herself, becoming increasingly dissatisfied with herself, her family, her life--preferring dream to reality. That is, until a random sequence of events leads Rose to Hugo in the waking world, helping Rose realize that reality can sometimes offer much more adventure and a greater allure of mystery than she might have otherwise dreamed possible.
Upon her discovery, Rose is filled with numerous questions. Is the man she saw truly Hugo? And, if so, how is it that the boy she thought she dreamed up truly exists? Were their minds connected? How? Why? These questions and more are what drives her foward, as an outlet to escape her reality ooncene again and in an effort to discover the unusual ties that bind them.
Sounds great right? I thought so, until I read on...
So disappointed. Nothing like I expected. After reading the book's summary, I thought this story would be an interesting fantasy. What I got was more of a glance into the lives of some creepy people, and overwhelmingly self-centered and annoying protagonists--one of which who foolishly puts her and her family's lives in danger.
After drudging through over half of the book, I got a weak explanation for the strange phenomenon involving Rose and Hugo in the dream world. I kept thinking that there had to be more to it than what was offered. Well, if there was Foley never shared it. And it wasn't until the penultimate chapter that Foley revealed what happened to Hugo before Rose, what lead him to her.
To go with (what I would deem) unlikable characters, a poorly developed (and incomplete) plot, and intermittent droning about unimportant filler details, the conclusion left much to be desired. It felt as if the characters barely developed (or gained anything meaningful from their experiences). Let's just say that all the eagerness I had when starting this book and discovering their dream world quickly turned into a frustrating sprint through an increasingly annoying story to an unsatisfying end.
This definitely was not for me. Hopefully, the intended audience will have a better experience than I did.
This book was promising but it was SO CRAP. SO SO CRAP.
The decisions the main character makes are just laughable.
I don't know how i persevered with this one.
The decisions the main character makes are just laughable.
I don't know how i persevered with this one.
medium-paced
I didn't really care for this book. I didn't hate it, but I found so much of it to be really annoying, from Rose and her whining, to the silly dream sequences that were really just fluff (and therefore truly unnecessary to the story overall, until the end) and more. I ended up skimming so much. The book did explore childhood trauma and how children deal with that, but it was not well done, in my opinion. I think the premise was not a bad one, but none of the book held my interest such that the premise mattered or could be carried out well.
I started reading this, things went all crazy, and then I ended up skimming the rest of the book (so I may not have the best grasp on the content...). Not what I expected at all, and not really in a good way. I'm sure the moral of the story is great though - something like, the grass is not greener, stop and smell the roses, be careful what you wish for, etc.
~Scored this book through a Goodreads giveaway!~
Bridget Foley's Hugo & Rose is as much as a fantasy novel as it is a how-to book. The vivid imaginations and colorful scenarios Foley weaves tangle with the harsh realities of motherhood, marriage, and self-respect that are so apparent. My first impression of the book was that it would be a playful, sweet novel about a young woman's dreams that become reality (quite literally). While part of that assumption was true, in that there are truly spectacular visions of fantasy in this book, overall, Hugo & Rose is a dark tale of a tortured woman.
The two main characters, Hugo and Rose, might be some of the least likable characters in any book I've ever read. In the beginning, I related to Rose: her wanderlust, her need for change, her self-esteem problems. As we came to know Rose more deeply, though, her hostility was overwhelming. The horrible things she thought about her own children and herself, the way she recoiled at the touch of a man who loves her more than anyone or anything, the way she so readily betrayed her family and would give up her life for the one in her dreams... It was so hard to feel pity for a character like that. Though Hugo was endearing at some points, he also engaged in some terribly inconsiderate actions having to do with interfering with another woman's family and traumatizing them in doing so.
This is a complicated novel. There is a lot of hurt and negativity among all the whimsy and creativity. I fell in love with the concept of this book--Rose and Hugo meeting in real life after spending three decades together in their dreams--but once they did meet each other in real time, the book started to get difficult to understand, as to when the dreams separated from real life and vice versa. I think Hugo & Rose would work beautifully as a children's book involving only the mere dream aspect of the novel. More often than not, I finished a chapter feeling devastated at the betrayal and the sadness. These aren't feelings I want to have when I'm reading a book. However, Bridget Foley's representations of a fantasy land are such gorgeous successes that I think would benefit a lot of people to revel in the magic of them--without the sad realities that sit sulking across from our dancing dreams.
Bridget Foley's Hugo & Rose is as much as a fantasy novel as it is a how-to book. The vivid imaginations and colorful scenarios Foley weaves tangle with the harsh realities of motherhood, marriage, and self-respect that are so apparent. My first impression of the book was that it would be a playful, sweet novel about a young woman's dreams that become reality (quite literally). While part of that assumption was true, in that there are truly spectacular visions of fantasy in this book, overall, Hugo & Rose is a dark tale of a tortured woman.
The two main characters, Hugo and Rose, might be some of the least likable characters in any book I've ever read. In the beginning, I related to Rose: her wanderlust, her need for change, her self-esteem problems. As we came to know Rose more deeply, though, her hostility was overwhelming. The horrible things she thought about her own children and herself, the way she recoiled at the touch of a man who loves her more than anyone or anything, the way she so readily betrayed her family and would give up her life for the one in her dreams... It was so hard to feel pity for a character like that. Though Hugo was endearing at some points, he also engaged in some terribly inconsiderate actions having to do with interfering with another woman's family and traumatizing them in doing so.
This is a complicated novel. There is a lot of hurt and negativity among all the whimsy and creativity. I fell in love with the concept of this book--Rose and Hugo meeting in real life after spending three decades together in their dreams--but once they did meet each other in real time, the book started to get difficult to understand, as to when the dreams separated from real life and vice versa. I think Hugo & Rose would work beautifully as a children's book involving only the mere dream aspect of the novel. More often than not, I finished a chapter feeling devastated at the betrayal and the sadness. These aren't feelings I want to have when I'm reading a book. However, Bridget Foley's representations of a fantasy land are such gorgeous successes that I think would benefit a lot of people to revel in the magic of them--without the sad realities that sit sulking across from our dancing dreams.
***Update*** I changed the rating to two stars because the longer I was away from this book, the less I remembered any of the things I actually liked about it, while all of the awful things just crystallized in my brain. ***End Update***
This is a tough book for me to rate. There were parts that I really connected to, and others that just infuriated me. I couldn't decide between two or three stars, but in the end I went with three, because while I disliked a lot about the character of Rose and her decisions, there were aspects that I really enjoyed, and the concept was really intriguing.
MASSIVE SPOILERS FORTHCOMING:
Rose is a SAHM with three kids. Much of the novel centers around her feelings and thoughts as she goes through the motions of parenting. She does all of the things a SAHM is 'supposed' to do, but none of it actually seems to bring her joy. She feels inadequate when comparing herself to what she imagines the other moms are like. I don't think that's necessarily an uncommon thing. Many people struggle with their own insecurities when comparing themselves to their neighbors...it's that 'grass is always greener' mentality. I actually appreciated this part of the story, because it felt vaguely familiar to me. Rose finding her only joy in her dreams is where this novel veers off the course of a run-of-the-mill fiction.
Rose dreams of a boy named Hugo every night. In her dreams, they are in a different land and trying to get to a castle in the distance. There are barricades and obstacles in their way, and they never make it to the castle before Rose wakes up.
Then she meets a man who reminds her of Hugo...and surprise, surprise...it IS Hugo! She stalks him for several weeks before actually approaching him, and their relationship progresses from there, in the real world as well as the dream world.
This is where I started having real issues with the book. In the first part, she obviously not happy but she is still doing what she needs to do as a mother. When she starts following Hugo, she begins to shirk her responsibilities. She doesn't take her daughter to preschool because it interferes with her time to spy on Hugo. So she takes her daughter WITH her and they spend all day in the car being stalkery. She takes too long to get home from being with Hugo and her young sons have to wait for two hours outside their house for her to get home and let them in. After they actually meet face to face, it just gets worse.
My biggest aggravation with this book is the infidelity on Rose's part. Now, her husband is a trauma surgeon. He works insane hours, as is to be expected for someone in his line of work. And as someone who is a SAHM with a husband who sometimes has to work extra long hours, I understand that it isn't always easy. It's hard to get any time for yourself, and that can be stressful. But her husband is awesome. He thinks she is beautiful and sexy. She hates her body and turns away from him any time he tries to initiate intimacy with her. When she actually DOES reciprocate, she admits that she is disgusted by it because of her post-baby body. She admits to just going through the motions there too. But then Hugo kisses her in the dream world (where they both look hot), and she gets all lusty over him in the real world (where he is overweight and not especially attractive.) Now, if the kids had happened before Rose realized that Hugo was actually REAL, I could understand that, and it wouldn't bother me. But she knew he was real. She had invited him TO THEIR HOUSE for her son's birthday party and for dinner later on.
Later in the book she completely sets fire to her marriage vows by going to his home for the sole purpose of being with him physically. They begin kissing and messing around but he can't get it up so they decide to take sleeping pills so they can fool around in the dream world. While all of this is happening she thinks in passing about her responsibilities to her kids and her husband, but pushes it aside. "She wanted this, she wanted to know what it would be like." As if that is a good reason to step out on your marriage.
She continues to justify her disgusting behavior thusly:
"And besides, it was just sleep.
She had stopped just shy of any REAL infidelity. What haunted her was the possibility that she would have to think of herself as an unfaithful wife. A few minutes more and she would've been denied that...but this...
Well really...this was just a nap."
Someone needs to tell this bitch that emotional cheating is the same as physical cheating...and kissing another man and letting him rub all over you IS physical! She is an unfaithful wife!
Also, while the drug-induced sleep-cheating was happening her sons were waiting for hours at their front steps until someone called the hospital and her husband was pulled out of surgery because they couldn't get hold of her.
So needless to say, I had a real problem with Rose's character, as far as her moral compass goes. I felt like she redeemed herself somewhat after that point, once she realized that she was completely throwing her life away for what was essentially a fantasy. But the redemption didn't really click with me. I wanted to see her appreciation and love for Josh more than I did. I wanted a conversation and an apology AFTER the final incident with Hugo. I just felt like Josh deserved a lot better than what he got from her.
Hugo was creepy. From the very beginning he really weirded me out. They way he stared at Penelope when Rose brought her over, his demeanor when talking about his ex-wife and daughter, his coming over to their home uninvited and telling the boys who he was, and finally taking Adam in order to lure Rose to him...it was all freaking creepy. And when we learned his backstory, how he ended up in the dream...I didn't really feel sorry for him. I felt bad for the boy he'd been, because what happened was awful. Having his parents die the way they did would be traumatizing for anyone. But the fact that he was trying to take Rose away from her family...that was sick. And any romantic moments they had made my stomach turn because he creeped me out.
I did appreciate the whole idea of the dream world and its purpose. I didn't really care for the earlier dream scenes, but later on in the scenes when Rose's dreams and her reality were colliding...those were pretty compelling.
One last thing, and this may seem like a nitpick, but oh well. I don't feel like the cover to this book accurately conveys the tone and themes of this story. From the cover and the brief synopsis I read, I assumed that this was going to be a light, quirky story. That is not the case whatsoever, which could also add to the slight disappointment I felt after reading this book. I felt like it was misleading in some way.
All in all, I appreciated aspects of this book and could identify with some of the things going on in Rose's life as it pertained to motherhood and its struggles. But Rose's actions in reaction to her boredom just rubbed me the wrong way, and it was difficult to get past it.
This is a tough book for me to rate. There were parts that I really connected to, and others that just infuriated me. I couldn't decide between two or three stars, but in the end I went with three, because while I disliked a lot about the character of Rose and her decisions, there were aspects that I really enjoyed, and the concept was really intriguing.
MASSIVE SPOILERS FORTHCOMING:
Rose is a SAHM with three kids. Much of the novel centers around her feelings and thoughts as she goes through the motions of parenting. She does all of the things a SAHM is 'supposed' to do, but none of it actually seems to bring her joy. She feels inadequate when comparing herself to what she imagines the other moms are like. I don't think that's necessarily an uncommon thing. Many people struggle with their own insecurities when comparing themselves to their neighbors...it's that 'grass is always greener' mentality. I actually appreciated this part of the story, because it felt vaguely familiar to me. Rose finding her only joy in her dreams is where this novel veers off the course of a run-of-the-mill fiction.
Rose dreams of a boy named Hugo every night. In her dreams, they are in a different land and trying to get to a castle in the distance. There are barricades and obstacles in their way, and they never make it to the castle before Rose wakes up.
Then she meets a man who reminds her of Hugo...and surprise, surprise...it IS Hugo! She stalks him for several weeks before actually approaching him, and their relationship progresses from there, in the real world as well as the dream world.
This is where I started having real issues with the book. In the first part, she obviously not happy but she is still doing what she needs to do as a mother. When she starts following Hugo, she begins to shirk her responsibilities. She doesn't take her daughter to preschool because it interferes with her time to spy on Hugo. So she takes her daughter WITH her and they spend all day in the car being stalkery. She takes too long to get home from being with Hugo and her young sons have to wait for two hours outside their house for her to get home and let them in. After they actually meet face to face, it just gets worse.
My biggest aggravation with this book is the infidelity on Rose's part. Now, her husband is a trauma surgeon. He works insane hours, as is to be expected for someone in his line of work. And as someone who is a SAHM with a husband who sometimes has to work extra long hours, I understand that it isn't always easy. It's hard to get any time for yourself, and that can be stressful. But her husband is awesome. He thinks she is beautiful and sexy. She hates her body and turns away from him any time he tries to initiate intimacy with her. When she actually DOES reciprocate, she admits that she is disgusted by it because of her post-baby body. She admits to just going through the motions there too. But then Hugo kisses her in the dream world (where they both look hot), and she gets all lusty over him in the real world (where he is overweight and not especially attractive.) Now, if the kids had happened before Rose realized that Hugo was actually REAL, I could understand that, and it wouldn't bother me. But she knew he was real. She had invited him TO THEIR HOUSE for her son's birthday party and for dinner later on.
Later in the book she completely sets fire to her marriage vows by going to his home for the sole purpose of being with him physically. They begin kissing and messing around but he can't get it up so they decide to take sleeping pills so they can fool around in the dream world. While all of this is happening she thinks in passing about her responsibilities to her kids and her husband, but pushes it aside. "She wanted this, she wanted to know what it would be like." As if that is a good reason to step out on your marriage.
She continues to justify her disgusting behavior thusly:
"And besides, it was just sleep.
She had stopped just shy of any REAL infidelity. What haunted her was the possibility that she would have to think of herself as an unfaithful wife. A few minutes more and she would've been denied that...but this...
Well really...this was just a nap."
Someone needs to tell this bitch that emotional cheating is the same as physical cheating...and kissing another man and letting him rub all over you IS physical! She is an unfaithful wife!
Also, while the drug-induced sleep-cheating was happening her sons were waiting for hours at their front steps until someone called the hospital and her husband was pulled out of surgery because they couldn't get hold of her.
So needless to say, I had a real problem with Rose's character, as far as her moral compass goes. I felt like she redeemed herself somewhat after that point, once she realized that she was completely throwing her life away for what was essentially a fantasy. But the redemption didn't really click with me. I wanted to see her appreciation and love for Josh more than I did. I wanted a conversation and an apology AFTER the final incident with Hugo. I just felt like Josh deserved a lot better than what he got from her.
Hugo was creepy. From the very beginning he really weirded me out. They way he stared at Penelope when Rose brought her over, his demeanor when talking about his ex-wife and daughter, his coming over to their home uninvited and telling the boys who he was, and finally taking Adam in order to lure Rose to him...it was all freaking creepy. And when we learned his backstory, how he ended up in the dream...I didn't really feel sorry for him. I felt bad for the boy he'd been, because what happened was awful. Having his parents die the way they did would be traumatizing for anyone. But the fact that he was trying to take Rose away from her family...that was sick. And any romantic moments they had made my stomach turn because he creeped me out.
I did appreciate the whole idea of the dream world and its purpose. I didn't really care for the earlier dream scenes, but later on in the scenes when Rose's dreams and her reality were colliding...those were pretty compelling.
One last thing, and this may seem like a nitpick, but oh well. I don't feel like the cover to this book accurately conveys the tone and themes of this story. From the cover and the brief synopsis I read, I assumed that this was going to be a light, quirky story. That is not the case whatsoever, which could also add to the slight disappointment I felt after reading this book. I felt like it was misleading in some way.
All in all, I appreciated aspects of this book and could identify with some of the things going on in Rose's life as it pertained to motherhood and its struggles. But Rose's actions in reaction to her boredom just rubbed me the wrong way, and it was difficult to get past it.
I'd give this book a 3.5. I almost hated it at the beginning, but then I was sucked into the story. Was a bit of the story disturbing? Yes. Was Hugo disturbing? Yes. Was Rose's discontent with her life disturbing? No. But it was boring to read about. Was Hugo a sympathetic character? Yes. Spun all together, it was OK.
Quick summary: Rose is in an bike accident at the age of six which puts her in a coma. She dreams that she is on an island and meets a young boy, Hugo. Through the years Hugo and Rose grow up together within dreams. Rose in her real life marries a surgeon and has three lovely children, but she's disappointed with herself (she put on weight and doesn't feel she's a good mother. She's always comparing herself to others). But in her dreams, she's a brave, fit warrior going off on adventures with Hugo. But her whole life changes when a chance meeting puts her face-to-face with David, a man who looks like her Hugo.
Quick summary: Rose is in an bike accident at the age of six which puts her in a coma. She dreams that she is on an island and meets a young boy, Hugo. Through the years Hugo and Rose grow up together within dreams. Rose in her real life marries a surgeon and has three lovely children, but she's disappointed with herself (she put on weight and doesn't feel she's a good mother. She's always comparing herself to others). But in her dreams, she's a brave, fit warrior going off on adventures with Hugo. But her whole life changes when a chance meeting puts her face-to-face with David, a man who looks like her Hugo.