You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Ok...so, this is not my favorite Louise Penny book. Out of the ten I've read so far, this is probably my least favorite.
I somehow had the thought to look up a spoiler for this book and I'm glad I did because I think the end would have gutted me in a way I wasn't looking for in this storyline. I'm sad for the grieving of some of the characters but glad that I had the whole book to process it before it happened.
Big things I loved:
1) Beauvoir and Gamache back at it together again, this time as father and son (in laws)
2) I am such a Stan for Reine Marie and Gamache forever and ever and also love that she's a part of Three Pines now
3) I looooved that Ruth and Reine Marie are becoming besties and Ruth was so involved in this.
I don't know if anything will ever beat How The Light Gets In but this was a decent book to follow.
Big things I loved:
1) Beauvoir and Gamache back at it together again, this time as father and son (in laws)
2) I am such a Stan for Reine Marie and Gamache forever and ever and also love that she's a part of Three Pines now
3) I looooved that Ruth and Reine Marie are becoming besties and Ruth was so involved in this.
I don't know if anything will ever beat How The Light Gets In but this was a decent book to follow.
While I still adore this series, this was my least favorite to date. It didn't have quite the hook I was needing to stay engaged.
A cliff hanger with some thought provoking discussions of art and life.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Louise Penny lovesss to write about art/painting as if it's the most magical, breathtaking, transformative thing in the world, so I can imagine she had a blast with this book. Unfortunately, it got old for me. Her effusiveness just felt fake, after a while - it felt like she was writing this way about art because she likes hearing herself talk about it, not because it services the story this much. I'm usually fine with how she scatters it into other books, but it just felt really over-the-top and took me out of the book too much to ignore. How many times can a character look at a painting or at a beautiful landscape and say something dramatic and vague like "was he of the sea or the stone? Was she?" before it gets old? Especially when these musings don't even contribute or relate to the plot.
That being said, it was still a fun book, as all her books are. It was fun to watch these characters we've known so long go on a little adventure together. I also liked that Gamache was wrong sometimes - I feel like, lately, I've been reading too many mysteries where the characters are too smart to be real, so this was refreshing.
I hope the next book is better, though. I fear I'm becoming skeptical of Penny's books, and I don't want to lose them, because they've been such a staple in my reading.
That being said, it was still a fun book, as all her books are. It was fun to watch these characters we've known so long go on a little adventure together. I also liked that Gamache was wrong sometimes - I feel like, lately, I've been reading too many mysteries where the characters are too smart to be real, so this was refreshing.
I hope the next book is better, though. I fear I'm becoming skeptical of Penny's books, and I don't want to lose them, because they've been such a staple in my reading.
After the intensity of the Sûreté’s crime and corruption featured in the previous novel, Penny takes us back home to the community of Three Pines. Gamache, now retired, and Reine-Marie have moved to the idyllic village in hopes of finding peace, but, of course, tranquility never lasts when it comes to this crew.
After their mutually agreed upon year of separation reaches its end, Clara and Peter Morrow are scheduled to reunite so as to determine whether or not their marriage should and can continue. That date passes without Peter’s return, leaving Clara fearing the worst, and thus ensues the fun foursome of Clara, Myrna, Armand, and Jean-Guy setting off to find Clara’s husband by tracing his travels across Europe and Quebec.
What was best about this tenth novel, though, was the time given to Myrna and Clara. I’ve always wanted them to get more airtime and have their personalities fleshed out beyond the superficial physical features that Penny often seems so unnecessarily preoccupied by, particularly that of Myrna. In The Long Way Home, we get to know these women as full characters with valid, deep, and important thoughts, opinions, and emotions. It’s about time
After their mutually agreed upon year of separation reaches its end, Clara and Peter Morrow are scheduled to reunite so as to determine whether or not their marriage should and can continue. That date passes without Peter’s return, leaving Clara fearing the worst, and thus ensues the fun foursome of Clara, Myrna, Armand, and Jean-Guy setting off to find Clara’s husband by tracing his travels across Europe and Quebec.
What was best about this tenth novel, though, was the time given to Myrna and Clara. I’ve always wanted them to get more airtime and have their personalities fleshed out beyond the superficial physical features that Penny often seems so unnecessarily preoccupied by, particularly that of Myrna. In The Long Way Home, we get to know these women as full characters with valid, deep, and important thoughts, opinions, and emotions. It’s about time
Gamache is retired now and living in Three Pines, which is obviously what was going to happen but is just awesome and so perfect after having read the other books in the series. Anyway, Peter Morrow is missing and Gamache and Beauvoir set out with Clara and Myrna to find him. It’s an interesting ride through northern Quebec, but the entire premise is a little convoluted. It also bugged me that basically none of the conflict in this book would have happened if they hadn’t decided to go looking for Peter, which made the whole story kind of tragic and pointless to me.
I hate to say it, but this may be my least favorite in the series so far. I understand that the books in this series are not your typical heart-stopping mysteries, but this book relied far too much on speculation coming out of paintings (that just happened to correct) and inspiration from poems on solving a real-life problem. The epilogue made me choke up for a moment, but otherwise this book was too out there.
emotional
slow-paced
Another winner from Louise Penny and her Three Pines stories.