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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
First time I have read this author - somehow he came off as sexist to me.
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The pace is great. And that is pretty much the best thing I can say about this book. Damn it, Follett. Showing the powerful people don't always win is obviously a great thing too. So is showing how things worked in 1996, when it comes to rape crimes (which makes me glad things are far better, even if still far from perfect). But obviously the powerful couldn't win when they are the bad guys. And the second one would only have worked if Lisa hadn't ended up forgotten and only brought up again when it was convinient for the plot.
The fact that every single reaction feels artificial doesn't help either. The problem wasn't the reaction itself. Everyone is allowed to react differently and I no one can judge that. But I sure as hell can judge the wya it is written and that made me want hit my head against a wall because there was nothing human about Follett's description. He seemed ditached from what was being written. And it was like that for the entire book, except in this one scene with Jeannie and Steve, which I will talk about later.
Knowing exactly what was going to happen didn't help either. What was Follett thinking when he named this book The Third Twin?? I just ended up frustrated it was taking the characters so long to figure things out even if I knew it wasn't really their fault. Only one plot twist surprised me. And it was quite well-done, I do have to give Follett that much.
But definitely this is far from one of Follett's best books.
Full review coming soon!
The fact that every single reaction feels artificial doesn't help either. The problem wasn't the reaction itself. Everyone is allowed to react differently and I no one can judge that. But I sure as hell can judge the wya it is written and that made me want hit my head against a wall because there was nothing human about Follett's description. He seemed ditached from what was being written. And it was like that for the entire book, except in this one scene with Jeannie and Steve, which I will talk about later.
Knowing exactly what was going to happen didn't help either. What was Follett thinking when he named this book The Third Twin?? I just ended up frustrated it was taking the characters so long to figure things out even if I knew it wasn't really their fault. Only one plot twist surprised me. And it was quite well-done, I do have to give Follett that much.
But definitely this is far from one of Follett's best books.
Full review coming soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape, Police brutality
Minor: Infidelity, Dementia
DNF at page 160 (Feb 2018).
The characters are horribly written, flat and ridiculous.
Is Jeannie supposed to be exotic because she has a nose ring? And she's incredibly stupid for somebody who is supposed to be a genius. Her reaction to the black policewoman was so idiotic I had to google when this book was published. (In 1996!) Standing up for a potential rapist rather than her friend was also lovely. And saying that the potential rapist "gave no wrong signals" after CLEARLY GIVING WRONG SIGNALS was beyond me.
I kept reading on thinking that even if the characters are horrible, maybe the plot gets better. But no, one quarter in, we still don't know what everything is actually about (even though I can venture a guess - there are more than two twins! :O).
Here's the paragraph that made me quit:
However, she was going crazy living the life of a nun. She missed having someone hairy in bed with her; she missed the masculine smells - bicycle oil and sweaty football shirts and whiskey - and most of all she missed the sex. When radical feminists said the penis was the enemy, Jeannie wanted to reply, "Speak for yourself, sister."
The characters are horribly written, flat and ridiculous.
Is Jeannie supposed to be exotic because she has a nose ring? And she's incredibly stupid for somebody who is supposed to be a genius. Her reaction to the black policewoman was so idiotic I had to google when this book was published. (In 1996!) Standing up for a potential rapist rather than her friend was also lovely. And saying that the potential rapist "gave no wrong signals" after CLEARLY GIVING WRONG SIGNALS was beyond me.
I kept reading on thinking that even if the characters are horrible, maybe the plot gets better. But no, one quarter in, we still don't know what everything is actually about (even though I can venture a guess - there are more than two twins! :O).
Here's the paragraph that made me quit:
However, she was going crazy living the life of a nun. She missed having someone hairy in bed with her; she missed the masculine smells - bicycle oil and sweaty football shirts and whiskey - and most of all she missed the sex. When radical feminists said the penis was the enemy, Jeannie wanted to reply, "Speak for yourself, sister."
This was a typical Ken Follett book. He is the master at creating bad guys and horrible impossible situations. This one was a little more predictable than other books I've read written by the author. Still a fun read. It kept me interested.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I did not really enjoy this book. The first and most pertinent reason was that the big plot twist was easily deduced very early on in the book. This just made the rest of the book tedious and annoying as we painstakingly watched the characters try to puzzle out a seemingly obvious solution. The obviousness of the main plot twist (the origins of the twins) is probably due to the fact that the twist is due to, what was at that time, a relatively new an unknown medical procedure. Unfortunately in this day and age in vitro fertilization is not a bizarre and new scientific discovery but rather an established and reasonably accepted procedure. This in turn renders most of the mystery and tension around the twins' origins moot.
Ken Follet is not terrible at writing a female character but there are still some inconsistencies that lend a superficity to the characters. Additionally there was a lot of strange and focused attention on woman and their bodies in this book, with overt and weird sexual overtures concerning both. Which seemingly clashed with the conversations and subsequent condemnation of sexual assault and rape in the book.
I also felt that the books final opinions on the issues that it brought up were somewhat ambiguous. The book did valiantly address some big issues like rape culture, eugenics and sexism however the resolution of the plot left me personally, unsatisfied.The old boys club, consisting of Berrington and his friends, wreaked absolute havoc on people's lives, including impregnating eight unsuspecting women and being freaking nazis and yet faced no consequences other than social disgrace and the loss of potential wealth and power . Additionally Harvey Jones , who brutally rapes a woman faces only 5 years in prison. While these are perhaps realistic endings it certainly left me wanting. These were bad people who committed terrible crimes that our protagonists had to risk life and limb to unearth and their punishment simply feels insufficient.
Despite all of these complaints I will acknowledge that considering the time in which the book was written and the fact that it was written by a man, the novel is surprisingly adept at addressing rape culture. While the conversation is in no way subtle or nuanced it is definitely there and that still deserves congratulations. (Such are the low standards set by every other novel that likes to parade toxic masculinity as the unquestionable norm).
I did feel like the ending was unnecessarily dragged out, particularlySteve's deception of Berrington, contacting the clones and the press conference. We know the story is going to end and we know the protagonists are going to emerge victorious so all of the little twists and sudden discoveries of Jeannie's plan were annoying and just served to stall the inevitable ending and offer cheap tension.
Overall my opinion of the book was that it was boring but a relatively engaging read for say the first 200 pages, however after that it plateaus. I definitely think depending on when you read the book and how much you know aboutin vitro fertilization will definitely impact your enjoyment of the book.
Ken Follet is not terrible at writing a female character but there are still some inconsistencies that lend a superficity to the characters. Additionally there was a lot of strange and focused attention on woman and their bodies in this book, with overt and weird sexual overtures concerning both. Which seemingly clashed with the conversations and subsequent condemnation of sexual assault and rape in the book.
I also felt that the books final opinions on the issues that it brought up were somewhat ambiguous. The book did valiantly address some big issues like rape culture, eugenics and sexism however the resolution of the plot left me personally, unsatisfied.
Despite all of these complaints I will acknowledge that considering the time in which the book was written and the fact that it was written by a man, the novel is surprisingly adept at addressing rape culture. While the conversation is in no way subtle or nuanced it is definitely there and that still deserves congratulations. (Such are the low standards set by every other novel that likes to parade toxic masculinity as the unquestionable norm).
I did feel like the ending was unnecessarily dragged out, particularly
Overall my opinion of the book was that it was boring but a relatively engaging read for say the first 200 pages, however after that it plateaus. I definitely think depending on when you read the book and how much you know about
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault
Not going to lie. I’m a huge fan and this didn’t disappoint. Story line from 1996 is now a little dated (modems, landlines got calls) but I was hooked from the start. Great characterisation, as you’d expect, and a page turner to the end.