Reviews - Un singur fir | The StoryGraph

712 reviews for:

Un singur fir

Tracy Chevalier, Vali Florescu

3.65 AVERAGE

lyndseygemm's review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful slow-paced

reading_with_t's review against another edition

3.0

Easy. Light. Expectant.

Chevalier writes about Violet, a middle aged, single woman, who experienced much loss in her four decades of life. Taking place in 1932, the world is coping with one war, anxious about the potential of another. The drama pulls you in and makes you feel for the characters, hoping for a wonderful outcome. Chevalier's light tone and flowing pace is a refreshing, hopeful story. Chevalier brings the reader to a different time with different norms and lightly describes the views of society then. I would recommend to someone looking for a nice, endearing read that takes you back in time.

numbuh212's review against another edition

3.0

emotional informative reflective 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: Yes

jamescross's review against another edition

4.0

Now, I'm not the target audience for this book. This book is set in the early 1930's about an unmarried thirty something woman who has suffered great losses, who is a typist and the book heavily features cathedrals, embroidery, bell ringing and holidays. I am a gay married man with a child, who likes eating twix chocolate bars and playing Mario games. Hey, we're the same age.

But. Having never read a Tracy Chevalier book I wasn't aware that her writing could wash away my scepticism within about 20 pages. She makes Violet come alive, she is flawed but strong, and her struggle to be free and independent is something you really root for.

I genuinely never thought stitching a kneeler for church could be such a well of emotion and drama, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Also impressive was the firm sense of place and time. Despite the obligatory Nazi foreshadowing (honestly the least interesting part of the book), this is a vivid picture of a society on the cusp of change when it comes to feminism, LGBT issues and emancipation.

I expected to leaf through a standard romance, but I ended up avidly reading a charming involving story.

lizzyhanlon's review against another edition

4.25

funny hopeful 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: Complicated

aljstl's review against another edition

2.0

*2.5 - possible DNF if I hadn't been listening to the audiobook

cate_ninetails's review against another edition

2.0

I suppose that it is my own fault for imagining that a book about embroidery would be nonstop entertainment, but admittedly I was interested in the historical aspects. Put simply I found this book to be a little boring. The author is very detailed even about trivial events and sometimes I felt that I was simply reading Wikipedia vomited up on the page, some of the conversations are just overtly used for this purpose so don't flow naturally at all. Violet is a low-key feminist that I want to cheer for but she's written in a very unlikeable way so I never much enjoyed her inner voice or decision making. For whatever reason on the whole this book was just too nebulous for me and I really got no sense that this was a story that needed telling as it seemed more like several stitched together ideas.