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kadyjak's review against another edition
1.0
Didn't read it. I read some reviews and skimmed the book. Absolutely awful. Going straight in the garbage.
heavensdark's review
3.0
Maybe 2.5 stars? I'm not exactly sure where this book lands for me. It did a lot of hard hitting stuff, which I enjoy, but it didn't convey them in a coherent way. I feel like some of the little things were probably lost on me. Also that ending fell flat. I wasn't expecting a happy ending in the least but I was at least expecting some form of closure. This didn't really give us that. There was still a lot it could have done but it was a long enough book already.
footnotes_and_tangents's review
"Guillotin calls every morning and again in the early evening. He stands over his patient, weighs the odds, then looks out at the church of les Innocents, thinks large thoughts about men, their heads, their hearts, the way of the world. The old world and the world that is, perhaps, coming."
It is Paris, 1785. In four years something will happen. But for now, the Minister in Versailles needs a Parisian cemetery emptied. All those bones are cluttering up and stinking out the neighbourhood. Time to clear out the past and get the earth ready. Ready for what? An engineer is brought in from Normandy. He believes in reason and the future and Voltaire. But the old Paris, wild and irrational, is not quite ready to be swept away. The engineer is heading for a fall, a blow to the head. Best call the doctor. Call doctor Guillotin.
A weird, absurd story. I enjoyed the first half better than the second, but would definitely pick up something else by Andrew Miller.
It is Paris, 1785. In four years something will happen. But for now, the Minister in Versailles needs a Parisian cemetery emptied. All those bones are cluttering up and stinking out the neighbourhood. Time to clear out the past and get the earth ready. Ready for what? An engineer is brought in from Normandy. He believes in reason and the future and Voltaire. But the old Paris, wild and irrational, is not quite ready to be swept away. The engineer is heading for a fall, a blow to the head. Best call the doctor. Call doctor Guillotin.
A weird, absurd story. I enjoyed the first half better than the second, but would definitely pick up something else by Andrew Miller.
xxreadwithcharliexx's review
1.0
This was an easy but awkward read.
The first part was just the first sexual experiences of a teenage girl with a teenage boy. Standard right? But then the second part jumped from what, 15, to 27 (31 really). Like what was that?!
This was a story that should have been left untold. It was uncomfortable and unnecessary. It went straight into the bin after I finished it, and I've never done that with a book ever. Says a lot.
The first part was just the first sexual experiences of a teenage girl with a teenage boy. Standard right? But then the second part jumped from what, 15, to 27 (31 really). Like what was that?!
This was a story that should have been left untold. It was uncomfortable and unnecessary. It went straight into the bin after I finished it, and I've never done that with a book ever. Says a lot.
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