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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Read in Braille
Pub. 1991, 617pp
___
This second instalment in the Cazalet Chronicle had me just as gripped as the first and I flew through it! It kept me company during some nights when I slept badly and kept me from settling down to sleep at other times as I was enjoying it so much. It’s a brilliant epic family drama set in 1941, mainly in East Sussex and London.
I’m not going to go into the story as this is part of a series but here’s a lovely snapshot of the writing; a great diary entry from one of the children, Clary, capturing the randomness of what we include in our journals:
“They are getting people back from France now, but there are thousands to collect and quite a lot of them are wounded, which must make it terribly difficult.they are clearing out the people who are convalescent from Mill Farm in case the beds are wanted for soldiers. M R James is rather good: he writes as though he always wears a dark suit. One cannot imagine him in shirtsleeves. The stories frighten me just the right amount. Goodness, I hate knitting!”
Elizabeth Jane Howard is just so skilled at making you care about her characters and I’ve got the third book ready to dive into now…
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love this series, it's very easy reading. Loses a mark because it used the N-word to describe the colour of something which is completely unnecessary for a book written in the 90's.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Book two of the Cazalet chronicles. I really don't know if this makes as much sense if you haven't read "The Light Years" but I enjoyed coming back to the same characters and seeing what was going on with them now. I really enjoy the skill by which Elizabeth Jane Howard forces us to live at the same time as the Cazalets. In the middle of something you can't know how it will turn out - a feat hard to achieve with something as all-consuming in our media as WWII. Britain is now well and truly in the war, but life has to go on too with all the cooking, shopping, anxiety, endless family meals and so on.