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A review by chrispy294
The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton
3.0
This was a good thriller! Not as strong as Lupton’s previous work, but if you think the idea of a mother and her daughter racing to save a loved one in the harsh winter of the Alaskan North is interesting, I would definitely check it out.
It’s not without its problems however. While Lupton’s flowery prose is usually a positive for me in her books, it didn’t work quite so smoothly here. Particularly in switching between Ruby’s first person narration and the third person omniscient voice used throughout the rest of the book, there were some particularly jarring transitions. The use of flashbacks also came a cross as a bit clunky, sometimes peeking in at inopportune moments and killing the pacing.
It doesn’t help either that the way the conflict is initially set up, it kind of sucks the tension out of the story for the first bits. It seems like the conclusion is foregone and makes for a rather toothless affair until the first big twist in the journey happens. Luckily, once the danger inherent in Yasmin and Ruby’s journey takes hold, it becomes a lot more enjoyable to read. Never perfect but the tension shows up and there are some great twists that play off your expectations. Some of these twists seemed a bit farfetched from a plausibility standpoint, but it was never silly enough to truly distract from the story.
Really, the good parts of this book do shine through despite the obstacles in their way. It’s overall a beautiful story about a mother and daughter truly connecting for the first time through their harrowing journey, especially given the daughter, Ruby’s, deafness. The portrayal of said deafness was thoughtful and very positive which was a great take for something that doesn’t normally get that kind of representation in books like this. It’s also about Yasmin coming to terms with where her marriage has ended up, the importance of environmental safety and health in contrast to more greedy ambition, and plenty of questions of morality aimed both at our protagonists and eventually revealed antagonists.
Overall, I’m glad I gave this book a chance despite the lower ratings than usual for a Lupton novel. It’s definitely her weakest work I’ve read, but despite the flaws, a lot of her strengths as a writer still shine through.
It’s not without its problems however. While Lupton’s flowery prose is usually a positive for me in her books, it didn’t work quite so smoothly here. Particularly in switching between Ruby’s first person narration and the third person omniscient voice used throughout the rest of the book, there were some particularly jarring transitions. The use of flashbacks also came a cross as a bit clunky, sometimes peeking in at inopportune moments and killing the pacing.
It doesn’t help either that the way the conflict is initially set up, it kind of sucks the tension out of the story for the first bits. It seems like the conclusion is foregone and makes for a rather toothless affair until the first big twist in the journey happens. Luckily, once the danger inherent in Yasmin and Ruby’s journey takes hold, it becomes a lot more enjoyable to read. Never perfect but the tension shows up and there are some great twists that play off your expectations. Some of these twists seemed a bit farfetched from a plausibility standpoint, but it was never silly enough to truly distract from the story.
Really, the good parts of this book do shine through despite the obstacles in their way. It’s overall a beautiful story about a mother and daughter truly connecting for the first time through their harrowing journey, especially given the daughter, Ruby’s, deafness. The portrayal of said deafness was thoughtful and very positive which was a great take for something that doesn’t normally get that kind of representation in books like this. It’s also about Yasmin coming to terms with where her marriage has ended up, the importance of environmental safety and health in contrast to more greedy ambition, and plenty of questions of morality aimed both at our protagonists and eventually revealed antagonists.
Overall, I’m glad I gave this book a chance despite the lower ratings than usual for a Lupton novel. It’s definitely her weakest work I’ve read, but despite the flaws, a lot of her strengths as a writer still shine through.