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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
While there are many people who enjoy reading for the pleasure of beautiful words, this is not always enough to create a good book. Poetry provides a certain magic when it comes to reading, but without a plot and strong characters the story often loses its way.
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter is a long title and this sets the tone for the entire book. It’s overwritten, with excessive description, considering the lack of plot. If one were to remove the many layers of adjectives, we would not be left with much. Many will love this lyrical text, but it plods, rather than flows, which is a shame.
It begins with a sense of mystery and promise of adventure on the Seven Seas. Instead we get a ramble around a small town of Australia, with no real conclusion.
Nature lovers will adore it, but for those of us less interested in sea creatures and poisonous beasts, the many diary entries are just another irritation. They add nothing to the story, but more words and pages.
Characters – of which there are many – lack development and feel neglected. Eliza is pitched as feisty and while we glimpse this at times, for the most part she is rather naïve and boring.
Yet the book is by no means awful; it has a certain charm, despite its unnecessary length and I did enjoy parts of it. The topic itself is fascinating and there are moments of profound insight and research, providing information on a profession that is often overlooked. The cruelties of life for the Aboriginals in Australia are stark and horrific; Pook’s description here is vital and raw.
Pook is a good writer, but the flowery, descriptive way of narration, just isn’t for me. However, if you enjoyed The Paper Palace and Crawdads, then I urge you to buy and read this book.
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter is a long title and this sets the tone for the entire book. It’s overwritten, with excessive description, considering the lack of plot. If one were to remove the many layers of adjectives, we would not be left with much. Many will love this lyrical text, but it plods, rather than flows, which is a shame.
It begins with a sense of mystery and promise of adventure on the Seven Seas. Instead we get a ramble around a small town of Australia, with no real conclusion.
Nature lovers will adore it, but for those of us less interested in sea creatures and poisonous beasts, the many diary entries are just another irritation. They add nothing to the story, but more words and pages.
Characters – of which there are many – lack development and feel neglected. Eliza is pitched as feisty and while we glimpse this at times, for the most part she is rather naïve and boring.
Yet the book is by no means awful; it has a certain charm, despite its unnecessary length and I did enjoy parts of it. The topic itself is fascinating and there are moments of profound insight and research, providing information on a profession that is often overlooked. The cruelties of life for the Aboriginals in Australia are stark and horrific; Pook’s description here is vital and raw.
Pook is a good writer, but the flowery, descriptive way of narration, just isn’t for me. However, if you enjoyed The Paper Palace and Crawdads, then I urge you to buy and read this book.
emotional
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is a wonderful debut from Pook. Moonlight and the Pearler's daughter is a historical novel set in Australia at the end of the 19th Century. It focuses on Eliza Brightwell, the intelligent daughter of a missing pearler. When her father doesn't come home from a routine yet dangerous trip to locate shells and pearls, Eliza is frustrated by the lack of effort made by the local men to try and find him. Eliza is determined to solve the mystery and will stop at nothing in order to discover what has become of the man she idolises. She is joined by Axel, a young German adventurer and the unlikely pair set off to find out what could have happened to Eliza's father.
Pook is really adept at bringing the myriad of wild and exotic wildlife alive in this book. The descriptions are rich and lush and allow you to feel as though you really have stepped back in time to a world that we'll never see the likes of again. She does not shy away from the harsh or harder aspects of living in outback Australia at the turn of the century. There's a wide variety of characters from many different backgrounds representing the varied cultures that were drawn to the area seeking wealth.
It's a great exploration of how difficult it was to navigate the social and natural world as a female in a world that most men struggled with. Eliza is strong to a fault; born before her time and frustrated with the weaknesses of the men in the world.
There were a few threads of the story that were still not tied up by the end of the story and I would have liked to have known the eventual fate of some of the minor characters in the novel. However, I really enjoyed the novel. It reminded me of 'Where the Crawdads sing' or 'Dangerous women'.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc of this fascinating novel.
Pook is really adept at bringing the myriad of wild and exotic wildlife alive in this book. The descriptions are rich and lush and allow you to feel as though you really have stepped back in time to a world that we'll never see the likes of again. She does not shy away from the harsh or harder aspects of living in outback Australia at the turn of the century. There's a wide variety of characters from many different backgrounds representing the varied cultures that were drawn to the area seeking wealth.
It's a great exploration of how difficult it was to navigate the social and natural world as a female in a world that most men struggled with. Eliza is strong to a fault; born before her time and frustrated with the weaknesses of the men in the world.
There were a few threads of the story that were still not tied up by the end of the story and I would have liked to have known the eventual fate of some of the minor characters in the novel. However, I really enjoyed the novel. It reminded me of 'Where the Crawdads sing' or 'Dangerous women'.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc of this fascinating novel.
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
informative
I typically don’t care for books that denigrate a woman to nothing more than male-adjacent like this. However, in this case it was sort of fitting because Eliza was treated as nothing more than a pearler’s daughter. The premise was interesting and the atmospheric descriptions really gave me a sense of what the town was like (very mildewed and damp, apparently). I wish the characters were a bit more fleshed out, though. I found it hard to want to care about them and didn’t really understand some of their motivations in conjunction with the character that was being presented.
I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway. This review is my honest opinion of the book.
I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway. This review is my honest opinion of the book.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced