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lisa_bergin's review
4.0
Interesting book about TB treatment in a sanatorium in the late 1940's and the cast of characters there.
eliza_v_paige's review
3.0
More like 2.5. I found this book pretty boring. I couldn't connect with the characters at all so listening to them convalescing wasn't engaging at all. I liked the hospital setting though and the moral conflicts of untested cures. It was an interesting image of how a disease that is now outdated, altered the lives of so many people in such intense ways.
riskee's review
2.0
I don't know why but I found this book incredibly boring. I kept waiting for something to happen and every time an opportunity for an event came up it ended in anti-climax.
booktwitcher23's review
4.0
A 1950's version of The Magic Mountain with characters stuck in a sanatorium to recover from TB or at least stave it off for a while, especially as new medicine from USA is coming.
missgravesy's review
2.0
i read this book for the third month of my book club, when i read the blurb of it i thought it sounded brilliant and couldnt wait to get started.However my excitement only laster a few pages i found it dull and boring and far too long winded, and by roughly half way through i was tired of the book, by the time i had 50 pages left i was ready to give up. If i had bought this book on my own i would have given up straight away it was only the fact it was for book club that kept me going. I was disappointed by this book that sounded like it had so much potential
wardy7836's review
3.0
There is no doubt that this book was extremely well written. If you don’t need a plot driven story then this would be prefect.
katrina_likes_reading's review
2.0
As the sun rises on a post-war London, a new fight emerges against the dreaded tuberculosis.
Refused entry into the army for national service, Lenny finds himself transported to a newly nationalised NHS sanitorium in Kent along with his twin sister, Miriam. The story then follows both the twins and other patients in the sanitorium as they undergo their treatments and ponder the life before they walked through the doors.
I started off really enjoying this book. I found it interesting as I had never really read anything based around the time the book is set. However, the book failed to keep my attention the further I read. I struggled to associate and feel sympathy for the characters and struggled to keep up with the changing viewpoints in the novel. I so wanted to enjoy this book as it had been on my to-read list for a long time, however I found myself slightly disappointed. I did like how the book looked at the future of the characters, however, and felt that this part of the novel drew back my attention. However, it was not enough to drag my attention back to earlier events in the book.
Refused entry into the army for national service, Lenny finds himself transported to a newly nationalised NHS sanitorium in Kent along with his twin sister, Miriam. The story then follows both the twins and other patients in the sanitorium as they undergo their treatments and ponder the life before they walked through the doors.
I started off really enjoying this book. I found it interesting as I had never really read anything based around the time the book is set. However, the book failed to keep my attention the further I read. I struggled to associate and feel sympathy for the characters and struggled to keep up with the changing viewpoints in the novel. I so wanted to enjoy this book as it had been on my to-read list for a long time, however I found myself slightly disappointed. I did like how the book looked at the future of the characters, however, and felt that this part of the novel drew back my attention. However, it was not enough to drag my attention back to earlier events in the book.
vickytx's review
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0