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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What I enjoyed was the beauty of the writing, the clear passion the author has for art and Florence (which was a joy to read around my own trip to the city), the small tribute to Forster and A Room with a View, and the portrayal of found family. However it has to be said that most of the characters bored me. The relationships and bonds that they had were made out to be so profound and life-changing but I just failed to feel what I assume I was supposed to feel about them. None of the characters were particularly flawed or vulnerable. There was a tone of all-knowingness to all the main cast, especially the women, that made them so... idk, boring? I am a bit surprised at how high the rating for this book is, because while it is lovely in many ways I couldn't feel any of the emotional impact due to the distance of the characters from me as the reader. The choice to forego quotation marks also didn't improve things for me, but I do get what she was going for. Clearly just isn't for me! Look forward to discussing it with my buddy reader though, as always.
More specific character rants:I found the calling of Alys "Kid" so weirdly annoying, and her unrealistic cleverness at 9yo, though I guess it was meant to be quirky the way the parrot was also super intelligent? Don't get me started on Peg, the beautiful enigma who can do no wrong and has everybodyyy obsessed with her while actively making stupid choices and choosing not to parent her daughter. I found Evelyn (and her several lesbian cohorts) such a boringggg character, most of her chapters were a drag to read including the epilogue. Lastly, why does the book place emotional weight on Darnley, who gets about 2 paragraphs of screen time and of whom we know basically nothing about and then gets the closing passage of the book focused on him?
More specific character rants:
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A cozy, heartfelt historical fiction. Slow and not plot-driven, if the characters don’t keep you engaged you’re not going to be into it!
Aiiiiiii so beautiful. I had to push quite hard through the first 100 pages of too many art references I didn't understand, but after that, the romantic writing was flowy and dreamlike. A fave.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved, loved this book it will stay with me. I’ll add a full review later.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I feel I don’t even know where to begin with this book. It took me an extraordinarily long time to read it, mostly because I picked it up ad hoc on my iPad but also I felt I couldn’t binge read it.
I found the lack of quotation marks and structure around people talking actually really stressful because it flowed on so much I felt I was just reading so fast with it - too fast!
However the story itself is genuinely so beautiful, with memorable characters (special shout out Evelyn and Cress).
A story spanning decades of grief and loss but also unbreakable friendship and love - both platonic and romantic.
It made me pine for Italy tremendously.
I found the lack of quotation marks and structure around people talking actually really stressful because it flowed on so much I felt I was just reading so fast with it - too fast!
However the story itself is genuinely so beautiful, with memorable characters (special shout out Evelyn and Cress).
A story spanning decades of grief and loss but also unbreakable friendship and love - both platonic and romantic.
It made me pine for Italy tremendously.