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mandrea 's review for:
Home to Big Stone Gap
by Adriana Trigiani
I loved The Shoemaker's Wife so was excited to read this, but it took a VERY long time for it to feel like I was reading the same author. The back half of this book is definitely stronger than the first half, but not strong enough to make up for just how WEIRD the beginning is. Everyone sounds so strange and fake, I cannot follow the main character's decisions and reactions to things - basically, nobody feels real at all. Lots of telling and not showing. If we're only going to follow the thoughts and feelings of one character, it's usually better if that character is someone I can relate to. It was honestly so bad that I thought it might be a stylistic choice, like, the book only gets a) interesting and b) smooth to read as she opens up and becomes less isolated from her neighbors. The romance is also underdeveloped in a frustrating way.
Not my favorite. I might try another of her later books but this one was just not it for me.
ETA: Oh yeah, just remembered the Chinese face reading theory. Why do we have phrenology in this book? Like, what is THAT about?
Not my favorite. I might try another of her later books but this one was just not it for me.
ETA: Oh yeah, just remembered the Chinese face reading theory. Why do we have phrenology in this book? Like, what is THAT about?