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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
literatequokka's review
1.0
This book is a hot mess. Usually I enjoy time jumps and working to piece together a story, but this timeline is too scattered. The numerous "poor little rich girl/boy" characters and their attempts at racial and religious profundity are eyerolling. Editorial sins include letting this book go on 200 pages too long, the overuse of "relish," and--one of my pet peeves--the misuse of "bemused." Skip this one.
devonnotdevin's review
1.0
I hated this book. Rich white assholes realize they’re rich white assholes. (Not sure if goodreads allows swearing, but here we are.) It reads as though the author was trying to make a philosophical argument, but instead it’s overwritten and disjointed.
thegourmetbookworm's review
3.0
3.5 stars. I’m afraid I got lost in the words. There were just too many. The author’s command of language was fluid and poetic, but seemed too contrived, overdone. Many of the themes in the book were powerful, but there was too many of them. The characters were complex yet hard to like. Honestly the book was unnecessarily long, but there were moments of brilliance.
ealebrun's review against another edition
5.0
WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS
The novel was very slow moving, but by the end I felt its tone and pace lent to the powerful impact of the story being told. There are pages of the description of the wallpaper and the flowers, reminiscent of Dickens, that many modern readers will find a chore to plow through. However, the languid and boring pace of the novel is analogous to the largely languid and boring lives the Milton family choose to lead. It is only families of extreme wealth that can spend time worrying what to do with the island they're inheriting, where they can spend hours arguing about wallpaper and paint.
However, beneath the drowsing pace of the novel is exposed the ugly truth behind the life of wealth and leisure. There is so much truth of America's history of white privilege in the Milton family. A family that does not consider itself racist, that chooses never to speak of business or money, or of anything unpleasant. It's a family whose elders have passed down an unpleasant and unspoken silence through generations. The unspoken truths of a fortune built by aligning with Nazi's throughout WWII, not because they were racist, but because it made good business sense. This is a family that put wealth and status above all else, and in the end the silence of those actions, the actions they take to keep that silence, erects barriers between all of them. None of the members of the family are able to successfully break away from their insulated and comfortable family, in fact none of them really even try. The result is a family that harbors its resentments and while they continue to function as a family, vacationing together on the island every summer, they live their lives under a constant veil of sadness, anger, and misery.
I was relieved that Evelyn finally learns the truth of the rift between her mother and aunt, the truth about her own heritage. I do understand that while I want to vilify Joan for not disowning her family and following her heart, I say this as woman of an entirely different generation and perspective. It did irk me that we do not get to witness Reg telling Joan who her father was, that this is glossed over. However, there is quite the poetic justice that Evelyn herself has married a Jewish man, which is evidence that things have actually started to change.
While Ogden is certainly one of the villains of the novel, having built his fortune and success on the genocide of the Jewish people and the United State's enemy during the war, it is Kitty whom I found myself despising with the most vehemence. It is the nature of all mothers to protect their own children above all else. I understand her desire to provide for her children, to want them to be happy and in her mind happy meant marrying well to ivy league WASPs. For Kitty, a woman's role is to be a good hostess, keep the dinner conversation light, and steer it away from any controversial discussion, to soften all the edges, to be pleasant. It is this constant focus on pleasantness at all costs that is the most horrifying aspect of the novel, is in fact the most horrifying part of the one percent in real life historically and in the present. The hardheartedness to have been able to look a Jewish woman in the eye at the start of WWII and be able to tell her no, you will not keep and protect her child, it chills me to the bone. And yet I know it's likely that many women did just this. Kitty wasn't even in a position where she would have been risking anything to offer that protection. She was safe in America with plenty of influence, power, and money, but it was not her responsibility to help. It was not polite of Elsa to even suggest such a thing. Didn't she know the rules? And in the moment where she has the audacity to slap Reg in the face when he refuses to absolve her of her guilt, I loathed her with a fiery passion.
Blake has held a mirror up to America's face as to what is beneath the truth of the American Dream. The truths of the 1940's are unfortunately still largely true today. We are still a country that profits off of white privilege and racism, where people of color, LGBTQ people, and women have to fight for equality. However, one thing has noticeably changed. We no longer live in a culture of silence. I am grateful for that.
The novel was very slow moving, but by the end I felt its tone and pace lent to the powerful impact of the story being told. There are pages of the description of the wallpaper and the flowers, reminiscent of Dickens, that many modern readers will find a chore to plow through. However, the languid and boring pace of the novel is analogous to the largely languid and boring lives the Milton family choose to lead. It is only families of extreme wealth that can spend time worrying what to do with the island they're inheriting, where they can spend hours arguing about wallpaper and paint.
However, beneath the drowsing pace of the novel is exposed the ugly truth behind the life of wealth and leisure. There is so much truth of America's history of white privilege in the Milton family. A family that does not consider itself racist, that chooses never to speak of business or money, or of anything unpleasant. It's a family whose elders have passed down an unpleasant and unspoken silence through generations. The unspoken truths of a fortune built by aligning with Nazi's throughout WWII, not because they were racist, but because it made good business sense. This is a family that put wealth and status above all else, and in the end the silence of those actions, the actions they take to keep that silence, erects barriers between all of them. None of the members of the family are able to successfully break away from their insulated and comfortable family, in fact none of them really even try. The result is a family that harbors its resentments and while they continue to function as a family, vacationing together on the island every summer, they live their lives under a constant veil of sadness, anger, and misery.
I was relieved that Evelyn finally learns the truth of the rift between her mother and aunt, the truth about her own heritage. I do understand that while I want to vilify Joan for not disowning her family and following her heart, I say this as woman of an entirely different generation and perspective. It did irk me that we do not get to witness Reg telling Joan who her father was, that this is glossed over. However, there is quite the poetic justice that Evelyn herself has married a Jewish man, which is evidence that things have actually started to change.
While Ogden is certainly one of the villains of the novel, having built his fortune and success on the genocide of the Jewish people and the United State's enemy during the war, it is Kitty whom I found myself despising with the most vehemence. It is the nature of all mothers to protect their own children above all else. I understand her desire to provide for her children, to want them to be happy and in her mind happy meant marrying well to ivy league WASPs. For Kitty, a woman's role is to be a good hostess, keep the dinner conversation light, and steer it away from any controversial discussion, to soften all the edges, to be pleasant. It is this constant focus on pleasantness at all costs that is the most horrifying aspect of the novel, is in fact the most horrifying part of the one percent in real life historically and in the present. The hardheartedness to have been able to look a Jewish woman in the eye at the start of WWII and be able to tell her no, you will not keep and protect her child, it chills me to the bone. And yet I know it's likely that many women did just this. Kitty wasn't even in a position where she would have been risking anything to offer that protection. She was safe in America with plenty of influence, power, and money, but it was not her responsibility to help. It was not polite of Elsa to even suggest such a thing. Didn't she know the rules? And in the moment where she has the audacity to slap Reg in the face when he refuses to absolve her of her guilt, I loathed her with a fiery passion.
Blake has held a mirror up to America's face as to what is beneath the truth of the American Dream. The truths of the 1940's are unfortunately still largely true today. We are still a country that profits off of white privilege and racism, where people of color, LGBTQ people, and women have to fight for equality. However, one thing has noticeably changed. We no longer live in a culture of silence. I am grateful for that.
cwknudsen's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
littlemisswordcollector's review against another edition
Did not finish.
The writing is fine and I liked the cover art. BUT, I’m so tired of reading about racist rich people. So basically I’m at the part where this Jewish woman (Elsa) and her small son visit her “friend” and tells everyone at the table about the upcoming war. The wife of the friend, Kitty, can’t stand it any longer and just wants to eat her lobster in peace. She interrupts Elsa who is pleading for help and basically says (paraphrasing here): just look at the sky and the beautiful island we’re on that my guy and I just bought! Stop talking about ugly war.
Their rich friends all nod their heads in agreement and say: “Kitty’s not only right, but Kitty has just done what she does best - pointed out the good, (thank god!) and the beautiful! Nevermind the rest for now.”
And just moments later when Elsa asks Kitty to take her son and save him…Kitty is so offended - how dare she say her son is the same as my son! 🙄🙄🙄
Does this book get better??? I get so lost in the time changes from 1937 to present…I wish there was also a chapter change to indicate. It felt like such a chore to read…and then I found out there’s 484 pages?? No thank you. I wasted 5 hours, and I’m not wasting anymore.
The writing is fine and I liked the cover art. BUT, I’m so tired of reading about racist rich people. So basically I’m at the part where this Jewish woman (Elsa) and her small son visit her “friend” and tells everyone at the table about the upcoming war. The wife of the friend, Kitty, can’t stand it any longer and just wants to eat her lobster in peace. She interrupts Elsa who is pleading for help and basically says (paraphrasing here): just look at the sky and the beautiful island we’re on that my guy and I just bought! Stop talking about ugly war.
Their rich friends all nod their heads in agreement and say: “Kitty’s not only right, but Kitty has just done what she does best - pointed out the good, (thank god!) and the beautiful! Nevermind the rest for now.”
And just moments later when Elsa asks Kitty to take her son and save him…Kitty is so offended - how dare she say her son is the same as my son! 🙄🙄🙄
Does this book get better??? I get so lost in the time changes from 1937 to present…I wish there was also a chapter change to indicate. It felt like such a chore to read…and then I found out there’s 484 pages?? No thank you. I wasted 5 hours, and I’m not wasting anymore.
hefuller's review
4.0
I think it’s a 3.5 to me, I probably would’ve liked it more but it was so hyped up for me for so long that I didn’t love it as much as I was expecting. I think it was good, but I haven’t read something this intellectual in a hot minute so I think some of the references and themes got a bit lost in the sauce for me, but at the end it came together a lot more. I think I need to marinate on the book a little further to soak some of it up.
This is dumb, but I do wish there was a character index or something in the back bc some of the couples/cousins/etc got jumbled up in my head especially if I took a break from the book.
This is dumb, but I do wish there was a character index or something in the back bc some of the couples/cousins/etc got jumbled up in my head especially if I took a break from the book.