A review by mirabecker
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Louise Penny lovesss to write about art/painting as if it's the most magical, breathtaking, transformative thing in the world, so I can imagine she had a blast with this book. Unfortunately, it got old for me. Her effusiveness just felt fake, after a while - it felt like she was writing this way about art because she likes hearing herself talk about it, not because it services the story this much. I'm usually fine with how she scatters it into other books, but it just felt really over-the-top and took me out of the book too much to ignore. How many times can a character look at a painting or at a beautiful landscape and say something dramatic and vague like "was he of the sea or the stone? Was she?" before it gets old? Especially when these musings don't even contribute or relate to the plot.

That being said, it was still a fun book, as all her books are. It was fun to watch these characters we've known so long go on a little adventure together. I also liked that Gamache was wrong sometimes - I feel like, lately, I've been reading too many mysteries where the characters are too smart to be real, so this was refreshing.

I hope the next book is better, though. I fear I'm becoming skeptical of Penny's books, and I don't want to lose them, because they've been such a staple in my reading.