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julenka_reads 's review for:
Blue
by Danielle Steel
I picked up this book about 2 years ago when it just recently came out in paperback edition. The high ratings on goodreads made me think, I can't really go wrong with that one.
I expected a cosy story with some nice philosophical moments, that hopefully makes me emotional and is just a quick, easy read.
Well... I don't hate the book, that's not what the 1 star rating means. It just didn't bring me anything... I don't feel like I gained anything at all due to reading these 350+ pages (and I have to admit that after page 150 I started skipping parts and just scanned the book for the rest of it).
Everything - the characters and their past, their motifs, their opinions and the plot in general were far too cliché for my taste. The plot was also way too predictable - after the first 20 pages I knew how it's gonna end, I could even predict the twists and when these would happen.
The writing was too simple as well and confused me several times, as POVs changed throw the course of one page several times between Ginny and Blue.
What annoyed me most is the fact, that the reader can't find anything out by himself, as everything is told to him by the characters themeselves.
One example: Ginny's son and husband die in an accident. After this she quits her job and goes onto dangerous missions for a humanitarian organisation. Why? Of course, because she wants to flee, forget herself, not think, maybe find a new purpose for her life and well maybe if she will die, that's fine too, because then she doesn't have to endure her pain anymore. It's very simple to understand. In case you didn't though, don't worry, as the narrator, the character herself and other characters like her sister or co-workers or other random people will tell you multiple times throughout the book.
Another point is that her working as a humanitarian in countries like Syria, Angola aso. could have given some interesting insights into the lives of people there. But there wasn't much more than a couple of lines that indicated well...yeah...people are in terrible conditions, people need help, Ginny helps and then gets home again. Even though in an argument with her sister she says that the travelling helps her see that there's more to this world than your own life... we don't see any of this different life in the book. But I guess that wasn't the purpose of the story, her work was just used as an excuse to leave Blue for himself for couple of weeks to return afterwards and see what happened.
As I said, I didn't hate it, I just really don't care much about this novel and probably won't remember ever reading it in a couple of months. I just regret spending my money and about 3 hours of my time on this book.
I expected a cosy story with some nice philosophical moments, that hopefully makes me emotional and is just a quick, easy read.
Well... I don't hate the book, that's not what the 1 star rating means. It just didn't bring me anything... I don't feel like I gained anything at all due to reading these 350+ pages (and I have to admit that after page 150 I started skipping parts and just scanned the book for the rest of it).
Everything - the characters and their past, their motifs, their opinions and the plot in general were far too cliché for my taste. The plot was also way too predictable - after the first 20 pages I knew how it's gonna end, I could even predict the twists and when these would happen.
The writing was too simple as well and confused me several times, as POVs changed throw the course of one page several times between Ginny and Blue.
What annoyed me most is the fact, that the reader can't find anything out by himself, as everything is told to him by the characters themeselves.
One example: Ginny's son and husband die in an accident. After this she quits her job and goes onto dangerous missions for a humanitarian organisation. Why? Of course, because she wants to flee, forget herself, not think, maybe find a new purpose for her life and well maybe if she will die, that's fine too, because then she doesn't have to endure her pain anymore. It's very simple to understand. In case you didn't though, don't worry, as the narrator, the character herself and other characters like her sister or co-workers or other random people will tell you multiple times throughout the book.
Another point is that her working as a humanitarian in countries like Syria, Angola aso. could have given some interesting insights into the lives of people there. But there wasn't much more than a couple of lines that indicated well...yeah...people are in terrible conditions, people need help, Ginny helps and then gets home again. Even though in an argument with her sister she says that the travelling helps her see that there's more to this world than your own life... we don't see any of this different life in the book. But I guess that wasn't the purpose of the story, her work was just used as an excuse to leave Blue for himself for couple of weeks to return afterwards and see what happened.
As I said, I didn't hate it, I just really don't care much about this novel and probably won't remember ever reading it in a couple of months. I just regret spending my money and about 3 hours of my time on this book.