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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
I love Lisa Jewell's book. They are kind of chick lit, but not as romancy. The protagonists are usually not annoying and Betty fit that bill. I like how the story was told with shifting time periods. I got more into Arlette's story near the end. The entire story held my interest, and I would recommend it to those who like stories with female leads with some historical fiction thrown in.
I had planned to read more physical books and find a new author's audio book for my travelling needs so I wouldn't go through all of Jewell's books so quickly, but I really wanted to listen to Helen Duff read me another book and, therefore, I picked this one. This book is more similar to the last two of Jewell's I'd read, family dramas with long-hidden secrets revealed. Elizabeth is forced to move in with her step-grandmother at age 11 on the island of Guernsey, where Arlette has lived her whole life. Despite a rocky start, Elizabeth eventually greatly admires the woman who nicknames her Betty. As an adult, Betty takes care of Arlette until the older lady's death and then finds out that the majority of the estate has been bequeathed to her, but only if Clara Pickle can't be located within a year to receive her portion. Who is Clara Pickle? No one knows. Betty moves to London to strike out on her own and search for the mystery woman who meant so much to Arlette but was never mentioned to any remaining family members. I loved this book! Such an interesting story, told partly in the present as Betty searches for Clara and partly in the past as Arlette's story unfolds. I would 100% suggest this book to lovers of general fiction with one caveat: there is a portion of the story that could trigger victims of sexual assault and rape.
This lovely novel had me completely enraptured. Liz moves to the island of Guernsey at the age of ten with her mother, Alison, and stepfather, Jolylon, to live with her stepfather's mother, Arlette, and becomes Betty. Betty is very close to her grandmother, a woman who loves clothes and stylish things. When Arlette has a stroke and the develops Alzheimer's, Betty's parents can't cope and move out, but Betty stays, becoming Arlette's caregiver for several years. Upon Arlette's death, the will mentions a beneficiary none of the family have ever heard of, Clara Pickle, and Betty sets off to London on a search that will take her places she never imagined.
The story goes back and forth between Betty's search for Arlette's story and Clara, and Arlette's story in the years from 1919 to 1921 in London. Arlette's London is a London of fashion, music, parties, art, and love. From Liberty's to jazz clubs, parties with black jazz musicians, sitting for portraits, living a life full of happiness to heartbreak and tragedy, this is a life you won't forget. And Betty too, finds a life in London, from working in a burger joint, to mixing with rock stars, antique dealers, and others looking to make a life for themselves.
This is a story of London, of a particular bubble of time in the years just after World War I, and of learning the stories of those we love. A wonderful story.
The story goes back and forth between Betty's search for Arlette's story and Clara, and Arlette's story in the years from 1919 to 1921 in London. Arlette's London is a London of fashion, music, parties, art, and love. From Liberty's to jazz clubs, parties with black jazz musicians, sitting for portraits, living a life full of happiness to heartbreak and tragedy, this is a life you won't forget. And Betty too, finds a life in London, from working in a burger joint, to mixing with rock stars, antique dealers, and others looking to make a life for themselves.
This is a story of London, of a particular bubble of time in the years just after World War I, and of learning the stories of those we love. A wonderful story.
I loved the parallel narratives in this book.
A good, serviceable read. The story flips between post WWI and the early 90s, the stories of a step-grandmother when she was young and her step-granddaughter making her own way in London in her footsteps. The sense of place in Guernsey and Soho were quite powerful, though the earliest part of the novel is slow going.
Where it was successful: Arlette's actions seem rooted in the era, but were still relatable to the modern reader, which can be tricky when writing historical fiction. Betty's observations of the attractions/flaws of the popstar across the street also felt mature (though perhaps beyond her years). Where it was not so successful: the constant attention from the narrative to both women's beauty was unnecessary-- would have been a more interesting story if they were regularly pretty or even just regular and attractive for their manner or personality.
Where it was successful: Arlette's actions seem rooted in the era, but were still relatable to the modern reader, which can be tricky when writing historical fiction. Betty's observations of the attractions/flaws of the popstar across the street also felt mature (though perhaps beyond her years). Where it was not so successful: the constant attention from the narrative to both women's beauty was unnecessary-- would have been a more interesting story if they were regularly pretty or even just regular and attractive for their manner or personality.
I really really enjoyed this book! It did take me a bit of time trying to get used to the back and forth nature of the chapters, as they flit between Arlette in 1920 and Betty (Arlette's step-granddaughter) in 1995. Once that happened though, I did not want to put the book down. I was completely drawn in to their lives, and I found it deeply fascinating to read about Arlette's life in 1920, and imagining London then.
This book gives up its secrets slowly, bit by bit and it made me want to keep coming back to read it and find out more.
I have read and loved Lisa Jewell's other books, and this new one most definitely hasn't disappointed. I absolutely recommend this.
This book gives up its secrets slowly, bit by bit and it made me want to keep coming back to read it and find out more.
I have read and loved Lisa Jewell's other books, and this new one most definitely hasn't disappointed. I absolutely recommend this.
I've read and enjoyed Lisa Jewell's books for more than ten years, and I highly recommend both One-Hit Wonder and A Friend of the Family. But Before I Met You left me cold. Jewell does a good job of portraying the combination of wide-eyed wonder, tinge of fear, and naive determination that both Betty, in the 1990s, and Arlette, in the 1920s, feel as young women on their own in a big city for the first time. She also keeps the pages turning to find out the mystery behind the beneficiary in Arlette's will who Betty is determined to find. But the narration is strangely distant from the characters, and I never felt fully connected to them. The object of Arlette's passion is more of a paragon than a real person. It was difficult to believe, even in those short "enlightened" years between the World Wars, that almost nobody batted an eyelash when Arlette became the lover of a black musician. In fact, none of the male characters work, with the exception of the taciturn young man who is one of the first people Betty encounters in her new life. All in all, not my favorite Lisa Jewell by far.
Lisa Jewell is an amazing author – I adore her novels and she’s evolved so much since her earlier novels of Ralph’s Party and Thirtysomething, and has become a much better author. I adored Thirtysomething, it’s one of my favourite books, but her newer novels just have an added something, an extra layer of emotion. As soon as I heard about Before I Met You, I couldn’t wait to read it. I adore novels told in dual timelines, and I’m really starting to enjoy novels set in the 20s/30s/40s etc. I love learning about these time periods, and I love how authors bring these decades back to life with so much charm and verve and I was very interested on Jewell’s take on the 20s.
Before I Met You, as I’ve said, is a dual timeline story. There’s Arlette, who moves to London in the 20s from her home in Guernsey, and finds herself caught up in the glitz and glamour of 20s London, the parties, the nightlife, the jazz, the people. Until one day it all falls apart, after she learns a tragic secret, and she flees back to Guernsey, never to return. Decades later, Arlette’s step-grand-daughter Betty is following in her grandmother’s footsteps, not that she knows it yet, having made the exact same journey from Guernsey to London, happy to be standing on her own two feet for the first time in her life. But she has another reason to be in London: she’s there to track down the mysterious Clara Pickle, named in Arlette’s will, and as Betty starts her new life in London, and as she attempts to track down Clara Pickle, she has no idea how her life is going to change.
I really LOVED Before I Met You. It’s such a multi-layered story, with so many threads, and I adored it. I found it to be such an emotional read, one that I both desperately wanted to read and desperately wanted to savour. I loved both tales immensely, I adored learning more about Arlette’s life in the 20s, especially as prior to that we only knew her as Betty knew her, as a frail old lady, and life in the 20s sounded so glamourous, so achingly glamorous. Betty’s story was also amazing, seeing a young girl in the mid-90s trying to make her way in London was great. I enjoyed Betty’s life so, so much. I imagined myself as Betty, hanging out on her fire escape, chatting to the market traders, being friends to the celeb next door! The story alternates chapter by chapter from Betty to Arlette and the lives they lead are fairly similar, though obviously decades apart, and I enjoyed Betty’s search for Clara while running parallel we learned all about it first-hand from Arlette. The search for Clara Pickle was so enjoyable, normally I’m not a massive fan of mysteries in books but this one was so, so good.
Before I Met You was spectacular, the stories were so immensely told that I didn’t want either of them to end, although the ending was very much satisfactory. I was so caught up in Arlette and Betty’s lives, they felt so real to me. This is such a special novel and Jewell is such a special writer, a writer that seems to have grown so, so much with each novel she writes and she’s one of the finest Chick Lit writers around. I’m really, really excited for her new novel The House We Grew Up in which sounds (and looks) absolutely amazing, also. Do read this book, it is an amazing story, with amazing characters that you’ll really adore. It’s an amazing novel, one that I can’t praise highly enough and one I will very much re-read because it was just THAT GOOD. It was so amazing, and I know I’ve started to repeat myself, but it was just that good, and I miss it already.
Before I Met You, as I’ve said, is a dual timeline story. There’s Arlette, who moves to London in the 20s from her home in Guernsey, and finds herself caught up in the glitz and glamour of 20s London, the parties, the nightlife, the jazz, the people. Until one day it all falls apart, after she learns a tragic secret, and she flees back to Guernsey, never to return. Decades later, Arlette’s step-grand-daughter Betty is following in her grandmother’s footsteps, not that she knows it yet, having made the exact same journey from Guernsey to London, happy to be standing on her own two feet for the first time in her life. But she has another reason to be in London: she’s there to track down the mysterious Clara Pickle, named in Arlette’s will, and as Betty starts her new life in London, and as she attempts to track down Clara Pickle, she has no idea how her life is going to change.
I really LOVED Before I Met You. It’s such a multi-layered story, with so many threads, and I adored it. I found it to be such an emotional read, one that I both desperately wanted to read and desperately wanted to savour. I loved both tales immensely, I adored learning more about Arlette’s life in the 20s, especially as prior to that we only knew her as Betty knew her, as a frail old lady, and life in the 20s sounded so glamourous, so achingly glamorous. Betty’s story was also amazing, seeing a young girl in the mid-90s trying to make her way in London was great. I enjoyed Betty’s life so, so much. I imagined myself as Betty, hanging out on her fire escape, chatting to the market traders, being friends to the celeb next door! The story alternates chapter by chapter from Betty to Arlette and the lives they lead are fairly similar, though obviously decades apart, and I enjoyed Betty’s search for Clara while running parallel we learned all about it first-hand from Arlette. The search for Clara Pickle was so enjoyable, normally I’m not a massive fan of mysteries in books but this one was so, so good.
Before I Met You was spectacular, the stories were so immensely told that I didn’t want either of them to end, although the ending was very much satisfactory. I was so caught up in Arlette and Betty’s lives, they felt so real to me. This is such a special novel and Jewell is such a special writer, a writer that seems to have grown so, so much with each novel she writes and she’s one of the finest Chick Lit writers around. I’m really, really excited for her new novel The House We Grew Up in which sounds (and looks) absolutely amazing, also. Do read this book, it is an amazing story, with amazing characters that you’ll really adore. It’s an amazing novel, one that I can’t praise highly enough and one I will very much re-read because it was just THAT GOOD. It was so amazing, and I know I’ve started to repeat myself, but it was just that good, and I miss it already.
I highly recommend this book. It was so good. I loved the back and forth between the two time periods. The book was fast paced. Check it out.