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kristireads 's review for:
The Improbability of Love
by Hannah Rothschild
This is one of those books that I feel "I survived" and "thank goodness it's over" when I finally read the last page. I had to really push myself to make it through the first 200 pages - and to not give up on the book completely. The plot showed promise, but the story was told from too many different perspectives, and in those first 200 pages I had a hard time keeping up with some of the characters who weren't mentioned very often.
Part of the story is told from the perspective of the painting - which I absolutely hated. I set the book down every single time the painting served as the narrator - it just took me out of the story and diminished my already low interest in the book. I give this part of the book one sad star.
About 200 pages in, the book finally caught my interest and became more suspenseful. That said, I still put the book down every time the painting took it's turn as narrator, and became terribly bored with the excruciating detail with which the art history and culinary preparation/history parts of the story were told. This part of the book earns three stars.
Finally...my perseverance in reading this book paid off in the last 100 pages, and concluded with a satisfying ending. I give the last 100 pages of the book five stars.
Even though the book ended strong, I have to stick with a two-star rating for the book as a whole, since most of the book was such a chore to read. If the book had just received a thorough editing - trimming at least 100 pages, but maybe even 200 - it would've been a much more enjoyable read.
Part of the story is told from the perspective of the painting - which I absolutely hated. I set the book down every single time the painting served as the narrator - it just took me out of the story and diminished my already low interest in the book. I give this part of the book one sad star.
About 200 pages in, the book finally caught my interest and became more suspenseful. That said, I still put the book down every time the painting took it's turn as narrator, and became terribly bored with the excruciating detail with which the art history and culinary preparation/history parts of the story were told. This part of the book earns three stars.
Finally...my perseverance in reading this book paid off in the last 100 pages, and concluded with a satisfying ending. I give the last 100 pages of the book five stars.
Even though the book ended strong, I have to stick with a two-star rating for the book as a whole, since most of the book was such a chore to read. If the book had just received a thorough editing - trimming at least 100 pages, but maybe even 200 - it would've been a much more enjoyable read.