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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
I loved the use of the reverse chronology in this book; you uncover the layers of history the further you go and your questions get answered as you go back in time. A very interesting technique and one which I really enjoyed.
I love the casual way she writes queer characters through history. Too often writers make a characters sexual preference their entire personality or the entire plot revolves around it, but Waters creates fully rounded characters and explores their relationships meaningfully, regardless of gender/preference.
It’s not my favourite Sarah Waters novel, as it was more on the slow side and not a lot happened plot-wise, but I enjoyed the immersive setting and the character development (or reverse-development, whatever the correct word for that may be!)
I love the casual way she writes queer characters through history. Too often writers make a characters sexual preference their entire personality or the entire plot revolves around it, but Waters creates fully rounded characters and explores their relationships meaningfully, regardless of gender/preference.
It’s not my favourite Sarah Waters novel, as it was more on the slow side and not a lot happened plot-wise, but I enjoyed the immersive setting and the character development (or reverse-development, whatever the correct word for that may be!)
I started reading this really slowly and wasn't really into it, but as I got further into the story I began to understand the characters and started to love them. Then I couldn't put it down.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unlike Waters other novels, which follow a chronological order, 'The Night Watch' begins in 1947 and ends in 1941, with 1944 sandwiched inbetween. This narrative trick works very well for this novel and Waters writers clearly so that there is never any confusion. There are several main characters, most of whom are lesbians and have been involved with each other during the six years this novel covers. It is the fluctuations in these relationships, the meetings and partings of this group, that drive the main action of the plot and are what make it so riverting. The idiosyncratic timeline add to the intensity of these relationships as we learn what the conclusions of the characters actions were before we even know what actions they took. Waters uses this backwards timeline to outstanding effect.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I’ve absolutely loved some of Sarah Waters’ stuff - Fingersmith is definitely in my top 5 books - but this one just did not hit the mark. The characters are all basically the same and nothing really happens. I kept finding myself waiting for the twist or mystery. In short, it was deathly boring.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"She supposed that houses, after all - like the lives that were lived in them - were mostly made of space. It was the spaces, in fact, that counted, rather than the bricks" (p. 201).
I've read Sarah Waters books before and really liked them (particularly the intricately plotted "Fingersmith"), but, not this one. It's just really and truly boring. Nothing really happens and it flashes back to World War II, which all of us have read enough about at this point, right? I certainly have. Each character's individual plot is overly familiar as well.
The characters perspectives read as very same-y and I had trouble keeping track of whose plot was whose - especially when we jumped between timelines. Telling the story in reverse chronological order does not help the story or the connection to the characters. Ultimately, this is just too many characters with too little plot.
I've read Sarah Waters books before and really liked them (particularly the intricately plotted "Fingersmith"), but, not this one. It's just really and truly boring. Nothing really happens and it flashes back to World War II, which all of us have read enough about at this point, right? I certainly have. Each character's individual plot is overly familiar as well.
The characters perspectives read as very same-y and I had trouble keeping track of whose plot was whose - especially when we jumped between timelines. Telling the story in reverse chronological order does not help the story or the connection to the characters. Ultimately, this is just too many characters with too little plot.
Gave up after 2 audio hours. Lots of atmosphere and ennui, no plot.
Only when I got to the end did I realise how good this book is. It's certainly not Sarah Waters' finest novel but it's as well-crafted and structured as any of her others. The ending just makes me want to start reading it all over again.
Two hundred pages seems to be the benchmark for deciding whether or not I’m enjoying a book. By the time I reached that marker I had started watching Sex Education on Netflix. If you haven’t watched it, yet, you really should. It’s better than this book. Apart from the fact that it's set in a Wes Anderson-esque picture perfect small town and not London during WW2 all the same themes are explored. Instead of plodding through trying to remember who is who and what their story is, I could enjoy each character’s story arc. I felt like I was getting to know the Sex Education characters but Helen, Kay, and whatshername never left the pages of the book for me. The descriptions of the air raids were the best, most convincing passages. I think part of the problem is that the story is told backwards with annoying hints dropped here and there as to what everyone’s back story is. I often enjoy novels that play with time but this time it didn’t work for me.
I am unsure about this one. The blurb does not really match the content. I also do not like how we get the end and then go to the middle and then the begiining. Not a favourite but an Ok read