Take a photo of a barcode or cover
randomreadingbunny 's review for:
The Marriage Portrait
by Maggie O'Farrell
With a slow start of days trying to get into it, I finished the other half of the book in one sitting on a nice morning off work. It was really hard for me to engage at the beginning; I had a hard time focusing because this book is rich in description, but after I was able to pass the pain threshold, I became intrigued and fascinating.
I knew very little about the main character, but the plot of the book is laid out clearly from the beginning.
I liked how atmospheric and visual this book is. There's no sparing of details; it comes with a great deal of information that, once it grabs you, drags you down as part of it all, even the onomatopoeias—at first they took me by surprise, but later I found myself reading them aloud, making my own special effects while powering through the plot nearing the end.
It is somewhat predictable; at some point, I started to plot what could happen and guess many things to come. However, I enjoyed getting all the way to the end just to prove to myself that that initial hurdle had not been in vain.
At some point, the main character feels nauseous, and it's the kind of reading —as a woman— that got a hard grip on my guts, making me feel just the same way. It made me wonder how books in the far future would write about today's potential historical figures. There's a moment where Lucrezia thinks certain practices are barbaric in her century, yet it brings to mind today's thinking about the many things we still do and allow as a society.
This is definitely not a book I'd have chosen to read; it was part of my book club. But now I feel like keeping Maggie O'Farrel on my bookshelves. I'll be reading Hamnet later on this year for sure, and I would look forward to any future work she shares.
Last but not least, I appreciated the books she acknowledged as instrumental in conceiving this fiction; a real treat.
I knew very little about the main character, but the plot of the book is laid out clearly from the beginning.
I liked how atmospheric and visual this book is. There's no sparing of details; it comes with a great deal of information that, once it grabs you, drags you down as part of it all, even the onomatopoeias—at first they took me by surprise, but later I found myself reading them aloud, making my own special effects while powering through the plot nearing the end.
It is somewhat predictable; at some point, I started to plot what could happen and guess many things to come. However, I enjoyed getting all the way to the end just to prove to myself that that initial hurdle had not been in vain.
At some point, the main character feels nauseous, and it's the kind of reading —as a woman— that got a hard grip on my guts, making me feel just the same way. It made me wonder how books in the far future would write about today's potential historical figures. There's a moment where Lucrezia thinks certain practices are barbaric in her century, yet it brings to mind today's thinking about the many things we still do and allow as a society.
This is definitely not a book I'd have chosen to read; it was part of my book club. But now I feel like keeping Maggie O'Farrel on my bookshelves. I'll be reading Hamnet later on this year for sure, and I would look forward to any future work she shares.
Last but not least, I appreciated the books she acknowledged as instrumental in conceiving this fiction; a real treat.