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bunburyist 's review for:
The American Heiress
by Daisy Goodwin
One of the things I find odd about Goodread's star rating system is that a score of 2/5 is still somewhat positive to neutral. So I'm going with the "It was OK" rating of 2 starts for this book, because it really was just OK.
I was really expecting to like this book. It is hailed as something that would entertain fans of Downton Abbey between seasons of the show. However if one is to compare this book to Downton Abbey (however an unfair comparison it may be) it really does fail to hold a candle, and makes me want to go and read everything Julian Fellowes has ever written.
The story started off quite interestingly enough and the author certainly did quite a lot of research (I would expect nothing less from a History degree from Cambridge) but when it comes to driving the plot I really expect more out of characters. I was poised to throw the book across the room if the leading man again said that Cora, being an American, just didn't understand their English way of doing things and then ran away like a sulky child making absolutely no effort to explain the English way of doing things that he expected her to just magically know about.
*somewhat of a spoiler alert*
The husband is angry and runs away for nearly 7 months (somewhat due to a business trip) mainly because of a tiff with his wife (over a cultural misunderstanding) and when he returns he explains at the climactic moment at the end, that he realized that she couldn't have been culpable for the aforementioned tiff because, well, she didn't understand their English way of doing things.
Ugh.
And even though he used her terribly as a pawn to make his former lover jealous and miserable, he really DID... I mean... DOES love her. Plus he wanted to make his (I swear she's former!) lover miserable and jealous, not because he still loves her, but because he hates her! All the recent flirting was just salt in the wound I swear! So clearly the wife should just forgive everything because he has decided he loves her... for now.
Double Ugh.
Anyway, it wasn't all bad. Although if I can return to the Downton Abbey comparison once more, one of the things really lacking in this book is the attention to the servants. Oh sure, they're mentioned. But many of them aren't given names, merely mentioned by their job position. Cora's maid is given a few paltry chapters, but she is the only major character of non-white descent and it is clear from early chapters that her moral fiber is pretty thin. The man she is interested in is just as much of an idiot as Cora's husband, but it is magically fixed in the last chapter.
I really don't care if adults acting like whiny children is or could be historically accurate, I don't like reading books about adults acting like whiny children.
On the plus side there are lots of sparkly jewels and fluffy dresses.
I was really expecting to like this book. It is hailed as something that would entertain fans of Downton Abbey between seasons of the show. However if one is to compare this book to Downton Abbey (however an unfair comparison it may be) it really does fail to hold a candle, and makes me want to go and read everything Julian Fellowes has ever written.
The story started off quite interestingly enough and the author certainly did quite a lot of research (I would expect nothing less from a History degree from Cambridge) but when it comes to driving the plot I really expect more out of characters. I was poised to throw the book across the room if the leading man again said that Cora, being an American, just didn't understand their English way of doing things and then ran away like a sulky child making absolutely no effort to explain the English way of doing things that he expected her to just magically know about.
*somewhat of a spoiler alert*
The husband is angry and runs away for nearly 7 months (somewhat due to a business trip) mainly because of a tiff with his wife (over a cultural misunderstanding) and when he returns he explains at the climactic moment at the end, that he realized that she couldn't have been culpable for the aforementioned tiff because, well, she didn't understand their English way of doing things.
Ugh.
And even though he used her terribly as a pawn to make his former lover jealous and miserable, he really DID... I mean... DOES love her. Plus he wanted to make his (I swear she's former!) lover miserable and jealous, not because he still loves her, but because he hates her! All the recent flirting was just salt in the wound I swear! So clearly the wife should just forgive everything because he has decided he loves her... for now.
Double Ugh.
Anyway, it wasn't all bad. Although if I can return to the Downton Abbey comparison once more, one of the things really lacking in this book is the attention to the servants. Oh sure, they're mentioned. But many of them aren't given names, merely mentioned by their job position. Cora's maid is given a few paltry chapters, but she is the only major character of non-white descent and it is clear from early chapters that her moral fiber is pretty thin. The man she is interested in is just as much of an idiot as Cora's husband, but it is magically fixed in the last chapter.
I really don't care if adults acting like whiny children is or could be historically accurate, I don't like reading books about adults acting like whiny children.
On the plus side there are lots of sparkly jewels and fluffy dresses.