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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was an uneventful at best, and a slog at worst. The book tells the story of a bindery girl, Peggy, and her twin sister, Maude, as they work binding books at the Oxford Press, and how their lives are completely altered by World War One. Having read the summary, I thought there would be far more going on than there was, as the plot was nonexistent. You read about Peggy studying for Oxford entrance exams, you read about Peggy being jealous because her sister who she sees as a burden wants to spend time with someone else, you read about her reading the books she’s binding, you read about her complaining about women not having rights while also not doing anything about it… and that’s about it. The romantic subplot was the only thing keeping me interested and even that was bland.
Much of the story centers around the twin sister, Maude, as well. The book kept mentioning how she was “extraordinary yet vulnerable”, but she didn’t really seem like she was either. Her condition didn’t seem well-researched, and it didn’t seem that she had difficulties other than only being able to repeat what had been said (similar to Echo). Also—not sure what is extraordinary about folding paper.
The themes of how books are an invaluable source of knowledge and how relationships allow people to support each other in times of difficulty were both unoriginal and poorly-executed. Overall, was not very interesting for me personally.
Much of the story centers around the twin sister, Maude, as well. The book kept mentioning how she was “extraordinary yet vulnerable”, but she didn’t really seem like she was either. Her condition didn’t seem well-researched, and it didn’t seem that she had difficulties other than only being able to repeat what had been said (similar to Echo). Also—not sure what is extraordinary about folding paper.
The themes of how books are an invaluable source of knowledge and how relationships allow people to support each other in times of difficulty were both unoriginal and poorly-executed. Overall, was not very interesting for me personally.
This book had a lot going for it until 2/3rds of the way in and it began to collapse in on itself. On the surface the premise is interesting, the characters engaging, the plot intriguing.
But then the main character, Peggy, decides to try to get into Oxford as one of the early women scholars in England, and the story turns into nothing more than a bunch of rote and tiresome praise of the classics, Ancient Greek and Latin, and English literature. It doesn’t help that the main character also somehow devolves into the worst version of herself and begins to be necessarily rude and selfish with other people on her life. She continues this pattern of behavior by knowingly engaging one of her friends in a debate about women suffrage in Britain and tries to gaslight her friend (and readers) into feigning pity for her. This pattern of poor coping continues through the rest of the book and is often taken out on her sister, who has some unnamed intellectual disability or neurodivergence, and readers are just expected to empathize with this character?
Beyond this otherwise extremely aggravating protagonist, the writing style is quite dry. There are a lot of instances where there is extremely verbose descriptive passages that don’t add anything to the story, and drag it out. The writing quality really suffers the most with some jarring intimacy scenes that have no context and are quite frankly cringeworthy. I can tell the author has done significant research to try and cover so much in this plot but in the attempt to cram all that information in, the book starts to read like a history book formatted in a narrative.
I came into this work with some high hopes so I’m pretty disappointed with how this book panned out. I definitely feel like I wasted some time getting through this book and I’ll be a pretty forgettable read for me.
But then the main character, Peggy, decides to try to get into Oxford as one of the early women scholars in England, and the story turns into nothing more than a bunch of rote and tiresome praise of the classics, Ancient Greek and Latin, and English literature. It doesn’t help that the main character also somehow devolves into the worst version of herself and begins to be necessarily rude and selfish with other people on her life. She continues this pattern of behavior by knowingly engaging one of her friends in a debate about women suffrage in Britain and tries to gaslight her friend (and readers) into feigning pity for her. This pattern of poor coping continues through the rest of the book and is often taken out on her sister, who has some unnamed intellectual disability or neurodivergence, and readers are just expected to empathize with this character?
Beyond this otherwise extremely aggravating protagonist, the writing style is quite dry. There are a lot of instances where there is extremely verbose descriptive passages that don’t add anything to the story, and drag it out. The writing quality really suffers the most with some jarring intimacy scenes that have no context and are quite frankly cringeworthy. I can tell the author has done significant research to try and cover so much in this plot but in the attempt to cram all that information in, the book starts to read like a history book formatted in a narrative.
I came into this work with some high hopes so I’m pretty disappointed with how this book panned out. I definitely feel like I wasted some time getting through this book and I’ll be a pretty forgettable read for me.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
this book was amazing and said so many important things!! women’s stories matter !!!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love this book. It’s about books! Making books! It is about World War I and the horrors experienced in Belgium. And, much like Run, it’s about class struggles. “towns and Gowns.” The haves and have nots. The disregard for women. A great read.
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
Loved the book, but didn't like the ending. It seemed too rushed (I would have liked to see Peggy's process finally getting into college) and I have a personal gripe with it; the main character struggles with something very similar to me, and the way it ended signaled a lack of understanding from the author's part. At the start, I thought, finally, a book with a main character with a disabled sibling they have to take care of. Then in the end, the sibling didn't need taking care of at all because she learned how to take better care of herself very easily. It just seemed too easy. What if Maude actually did need Peggy's support? Would she still have been able to become a Sommerville girl? I was very disappointed; it felt like the only way for people like me to achieve their dreams is if the person they need to support suddenly doesn't need all that suppport. But what if they do? It's like the author didn't want to struggle with that question, and instead gave an unsatisfying and unrealistic answer. It honestly really upset me.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes