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A review by cherylhill
Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
3.0
When William Bellman was a child he killed a rook with a slingshot. This is supposed to be important later, but the importance of this event is never adequately explained. As an adult William starts working at the mill and proves himself to be such an able and willing worker that he eventually ends up running the mill. He is a fastidious and astute businessman and the mill becomes very successful. William is happily married with several children and his star is really rising in the world. But when an unexplained illness hits the town and his family, he finds himself making a deal (a deal which is never explained to the reader) with the mysterious Mr. Black. And then the book takes a sharp turn in a totally different direction as William leaves the mill and begins a new business venture, which is a shop devoted to death. His one-stop-funeral-shop provides mourning clothes, coffins, and everything a family would need to properly mourn their deceased loved ones. And there are many many chapters devoted to the building and running of this shop.
This book is basically one long description of William's life as a businessman. There is no suspense here and the story moves pretty slowly at times. This book definitely doesn’t follow a traditional story arc since there is never any climax towards the end of the book. It just…ends. And a lot of the elements of the story are never explained. What was important about the killing of the rook when William was a child? Who was Mr. Black? Why did William distance himself from his daughter? I thoroughly enjoyed the author's first book, The Thirteenth Tale. It quickly became obvious that this book wasn't going to be anything remotely similar to that first book, so I tried really hard not to make comparisons. But ultimately this was a disappointing follow-up.
This book is basically one long description of William's life as a businessman. There is no suspense here and the story moves pretty slowly at times. This book definitely doesn’t follow a traditional story arc since there is never any climax towards the end of the book. It just…ends. And a lot of the elements of the story are never explained. What was important about the killing of the rook when William was a child? Who was Mr. Black? Why did William distance himself from his daughter? I thoroughly enjoyed the author's first book, The Thirteenth Tale. It quickly became obvious that this book wasn't going to be anything remotely similar to that first book, so I tried really hard not to make comparisons. But ultimately this was a disappointing follow-up.