Reviews - The House of Broken Bricks

123 reviews for:

The House of Broken Bricks

Fiona Williams

3.85 AVERAGE

gsoucy's review

3.5

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

chloeliana's review

4.75

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was so incredible

aileensbookshelf's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jennnareads333's review

4.5

emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I borrowed this from the library and was immediately annoyed by its bloated size: the publishers (Faber) should be ashamed of the sheer wastefulness. The book is 380 pages of large print, huge margins and blank pages between characters. It could have been condensed into 200 pages and saved some trees.

The irony is the story is set in the Somerset levels and the author writes long sentences about the flora and fauna. I chose this book because I used to live near the levels and thought it might be interesting.

It is a fish-out-of-water story with family grief and grievances being the major points. If you like descriptions of cooking and gardening then this might be your cup of tea.

Each sentence is well written but the plot moves slowly, there is little action and the major 'reveal' is telegraphed one hundred pages before it is expressed explicitly.