huskerbee 's review for:

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

3.0

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I thought it a bit of a poor man's Waterland / English Patient. The thoughts are there, the musings about history and personal story and all of that, and I felt that the bits set during the war you could really feel for Claudia, but the rest of it got a bit confusing and rambly. I'm not sure if it's because I read it as an ebook - perhaps the print version has clearer demarcations? - but the book tends to flip from first to second to third person, from past to present, from linear to repeating the exact same scene, and there's no sense of break before the switch happens. This makes it very difficult to follow.

Spoiler

The whole diary entry bit at the end was also a bit cliched. I thought that the bits with Tom in already spelt out this feeling, and it wasn't necessary to beef it up with having a mysterious diary suddenly pop up - it added nothing but cliche.

Would definitely recommend Waterland instead if the themes of history and story interest the reader.