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3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this (it was a freebie pre-publication copy) - full review here
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/bellman-black-diane-setterfield.html
http://0651frombrighton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/bellman-black-diane-setterfield.html
I hate to say "after reading Setterfield's Thirteenth Tale"..., but it's impossible not to compare. Without doing so, this is a perfectly fine novel, nicely written. But it just didn't grab me. I kept waiting for the "reason" or "answer" behind "the deal/understanding" to be revealed, and it was essentially done in the last 10 pages. And that was kind of a head-scratcher. It was so subtle and quiet that it was the polar opposite of the huge payoff at the end of Thirteenth Tale. I'm disappointed, but only because I'm comparing. Oh well.
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/bellman-and-black-clean-fiction-book-review/
Read my full review, including a rating for content, at RatedReads.com: https://ratedreads.com/bellman-and-black-clean-fiction-book-review/
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5⭐ widzę te niskie oceny, ale mnie się podobała. Autorka pisze w sposób tak wciągający, płynny, że czyta się błyskawicznie. W takich opowieściach zdarzają się momenty przestoju i czytający ponagla autorkę, żeby już poszła dalej. Tak jak dzieci, które słuchają bajek pytają: i co dalej było, co dalej!? Historia głównego bohatera może być nasza, zmodyfikowana nie identyczna, ale ludzka. Mnie się podobało.
As with her first book, the beauty of this one is in the narration. The plot is good, but without her splendid narration, this book would just be about a man killing a bird and dying.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
‘Without the past to cast its long shadow, might you see the future more clearly?’
Bellman & Black is the story of William Bellman who’s life was irrevocably altered after killing a crow with a slingshot when he was eleven years old. The brief yet ominous event foreshadows his life to come. William leads a prosperous life for many years having a large family and doing wells in business until it slowly begins to decay. A sickness spreads through his family and one by one they die yet at each of their funerals William Bellman is stricken to realize there is a smiling man dressed all in black, watching him. When William finds him one day in the graveyard, waiting with a suspicious proposition.
I think the fact that I actually have not yet read the much touted ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ was a benefit as I didn’t have the lofty expectations that others seemed to have going into this story. Alas, despite my lack of expectation this was still a dreadfully dull and disappointing tale. It had a very ‘Dickens’ writing style to it yet was less adroit. William Bellman even took on a similar feel to Ebenezer Scrooge who was obsessed with his business and making money (except William Bellman had a family to come home to). The attempted moral of this story is one choice can change everything, which is a powerful message, yet the deaths surrounding William Bellman didn’t even seem to be written as a result of him killing the crow but rather it was just an implied assumption. That powerful message was definitely diminished.
The beginning part of the story dawdles along telling the story of an unexceptional man and detailing his factory and the business he conducted. While it was evident that the author conducted the research necessary to make her detailing convincing, it didn’t generate an ounce of interest in me. It was historically interesting but not appealing in the least as it overwhelmed the story completely. I found myself halfway through and realized that I had no interest in any of the characters, there wasn’t a single ghost to be found in this ‘ghost story’ and any sort of plot was completely nonexistent. I was confused and incredibly bored. The second half didn’t get any better and the plot (and purpose of the story) remained absent. The one saving grace of this was my decision to opt for the audio route. Jack Davenport was a fantastic narrator and managed to make this a tolerable tale.
Suffice it to say, this is an apt description of my reaction when it was all said and done:
I received this book free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
‘Without the past to cast its long shadow, might you see the future more clearly?’
Bellman & Black is the story of William Bellman who’s life was irrevocably altered after killing a crow with a slingshot when he was eleven years old. The brief yet ominous event foreshadows his life to come. William leads a prosperous life for many years having a large family and doing wells in business until it slowly begins to decay. A sickness spreads through his family and one by one they die yet at each of their funerals William Bellman is stricken to realize there is a smiling man dressed all in black, watching him. When William finds him one day in the graveyard, waiting with a suspicious proposition.
I think the fact that I actually have not yet read the much touted ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ was a benefit as I didn’t have the lofty expectations that others seemed to have going into this story. Alas, despite my lack of expectation this was still a dreadfully dull and disappointing tale. It had a very ‘Dickens’ writing style to it yet was less adroit. William Bellman even took on a similar feel to Ebenezer Scrooge who was obsessed with his business and making money (except William Bellman had a family to come home to). The attempted moral of this story is one choice can change everything, which is a powerful message, yet the deaths surrounding William Bellman didn’t even seem to be written as a result of him killing the crow but rather it was just an implied assumption. That powerful message was definitely diminished.
The beginning part of the story dawdles along telling the story of an unexceptional man and detailing his factory and the business he conducted. While it was evident that the author conducted the research necessary to make her detailing convincing, it didn’t generate an ounce of interest in me. It was historically interesting but not appealing in the least as it overwhelmed the story completely. I found myself halfway through and realized that I had no interest in any of the characters, there wasn’t a single ghost to be found in this ‘ghost story’ and any sort of plot was completely nonexistent. I was confused and incredibly bored. The second half didn’t get any better and the plot (and purpose of the story) remained absent. The one saving grace of this was my decision to opt for the audio route. Jack Davenport was a fantastic narrator and managed to make this a tolerable tale.
Suffice it to say, this is an apt description of my reaction when it was all said and done: