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A review by ponderingwalden
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
3.0
**2.5, leaning towards a 3**
I wanted to love this book but just couldn't get there. I'm not really sure I can describe what it was all about. There are themes aplenty—time, love, art, nature, poverty, music, etc., etc.—but they don't come together in a satisfactory way. Not that I need neat ends or thematic tidiness to enjoy a read, but I guess there's a "je ne sais quoi" that it's lacking.
The book leans heavily on gothic tradition, but man... pageturner-ness is something I very much associate with gothic reads, and I found this too easy to set aside. The pacing is all off. As I reached the end, where many big questions are answered, I was only mildly motivated to keep reading, whereas with most other gothics I'll forgo sleep, meals, work, and any/all social obligations until I reach the end where all is revealed.
The layering of different stories, same place, different time periods bored me a bit. I don't know why I find that style of storytelling so offputting... but really, would it kill writers to tell *one* tale, without having to weave together so many gosh-darned layers? To me, it's like the difference between a simple meal made with the best ingredients vs. a fancy one with tons of components, but without the care for the quality of each ingredient. The fancy dish distracts you from its lesser quality precisely by being so complicated. In the simple one, the superiority shines through by nature of its simplicity. I'm craving more or this simple excellence. I'm craving storytelling and writing so masterful that it shines on its own merit, without needing to resort to complex devices and timelines.
A bright spot: I do love when buildings or structures are written as characters. Birchwood Manor is a magical place, described in stunning detail. I felt like a child reading the story of the Fairy Queen and the forest and the night of the following. Kate Morton is a skilled writer who knits together lovely sentences, so while as a whole it didn't quite come together for me, it wasn't exactly a chore to read. Certainly pleasant enough.
That said, I'm not sure I can recommend this book. Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Frankenstein, The Haunting of Hill House, The Moonstone... all so infinitely superior. This is a fine read, I suppose, but at 482 pages it is, in my opinion, simply too big an investment of time (oh the irony!) for its actual worth.
I wanted to love this book but just couldn't get there. I'm not really sure I can describe what it was all about. There are themes aplenty—time, love, art, nature, poverty, music, etc., etc.—but they don't come together in a satisfactory way. Not that I need neat ends or thematic tidiness to enjoy a read, but I guess there's a "je ne sais quoi" that it's lacking.
The book leans heavily on gothic tradition, but man... pageturner-ness is something I very much associate with gothic reads, and I found this too easy to set aside. The pacing is all off. As I reached the end, where many big questions are answered, I was only mildly motivated to keep reading, whereas with most other gothics I'll forgo sleep, meals, work, and any/all social obligations until I reach the end where all is revealed.
The layering of different stories, same place, different time periods bored me a bit. I don't know why I find that style of storytelling so offputting... but really, would it kill writers to tell *one* tale, without having to weave together so many gosh-darned layers? To me, it's like the difference between a simple meal made with the best ingredients vs. a fancy one with tons of components, but without the care for the quality of each ingredient. The fancy dish distracts you from its lesser quality precisely by being so complicated. In the simple one, the superiority shines through by nature of its simplicity. I'm craving more or this simple excellence. I'm craving storytelling and writing so masterful that it shines on its own merit, without needing to resort to complex devices and timelines.
A bright spot: I do love when buildings or structures are written as characters. Birchwood Manor is a magical place, described in stunning detail. I felt like a child reading the story of the Fairy Queen and the forest and the night of the following. Kate Morton is a skilled writer who knits together lovely sentences, so while as a whole it didn't quite come together for me, it wasn't exactly a chore to read. Certainly pleasant enough.
That said, I'm not sure I can recommend this book. Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Frankenstein, The Haunting of Hill House, The Moonstone... all so infinitely superior. This is a fine read, I suppose, but at 482 pages it is, in my opinion, simply too big an investment of time (oh the irony!) for its actual worth.