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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I didn't really like it. At times it was beautiful and I enjoyed it and in the way it was written there were glimpses of really gorgeous, thoughtful prose and the story was an interesting take and I loved how it started BUT I found it slooooow and I ploughed on not particularly because I was riveted but because I wanted to see how it ended. It's narrated from the first person and yet when Daniel talks he uses a Yorkshire vernacular that the book isn't actually written in, and I didn't dig that. Harrumph.
You don't need to get very far into this book before you know what's going to happen. The characters are begging for it. So the question is whether you can stand the tension.
I think if I read it on paper, I may have had trouble getting through, but the audio was well done.
This novel contains some beautiful prose and was compelling to read, but overall, I found it to be much too dark and disturbing for my taste.
Well, it wasn’t a boring book. I’ll give it that. Overwritten, inconsistent, and melodramatic with a vaguely absurd narrative voice. But not boring.
It’s a debut novel, and I think the author shows some promise in her descriptions. So long as she steers clear of metaphor, she writes some evocative prose. In addition, I found a number of inconsistencies and though some were regarding minutia, I found them annoying. One scene everyone is liking their coffee dark, bitter, and long roasted; the next scene the protagonist is dumping a boatload of sugar and milk into the coffee. One scene the children are not permitted to invite their teacher to their home for dinner because “she prefers to be alone, in her own home”, the next scene, they are having a huge union organizing session and the teacher attends. Similarly, the motivations of some of these characters just eluded me (hard to elaborate without spoiling however).
The narrator is a young boy who alternately speaks like a young boy and like an accomplished poet. And he’s not the only one who tends toward the use of language that doesn’t fit the circumstance.
After a fairly subtle narrative throughout the first three quarters of the book, the end was brutal, blunt, and had a written-for-movies feel to it. I love dark books, so honestly I think I’m more of the target for this book than most people would be, but my inner critic would just not shut up while reading it, and that’s not a good sign.
It’s a debut novel, and I think the author shows some promise in her descriptions. So long as she steers clear of metaphor, she writes some evocative prose. In addition, I found a number of inconsistencies and though some were regarding minutia, I found them annoying. One scene everyone is liking their coffee dark, bitter, and long roasted; the next scene the protagonist is dumping a boatload of sugar and milk into the coffee. One scene the children are not permitted to invite their teacher to their home for dinner because “she prefers to be alone, in her own home”, the next scene, they are having a huge union organizing session and the teacher attends. Similarly, the motivations of some of these characters just eluded me (hard to elaborate without spoiling however).
The narrator is a young boy who alternately speaks like a young boy and like an accomplished poet. And he’s not the only one who tends toward the use of language that doesn’t fit the circumstance.
After a fairly subtle narrative throughout the first three quarters of the book, the end was brutal, blunt, and had a written-for-movies feel to it. I love dark books, so honestly I think I’m more of the target for this book than most people would be, but my inner critic would just not shut up while reading it, and that’s not a good sign.
Beautifully written, particularly the descriptions of the countryside, but the characters lack depth and the story is not especially original. I found it overlong and a bit dull at points - a good editor could have done wonders.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No