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kettlehewer 's review for:
The Good People
by Hannah Kent
I feel weird giving this book a bad review, but I have to. I feel weird because there's a lot of things that I normally love: incredibly in-depth research, great atmosphere, a sense of place, insight into another worldview without judgment...but in this book, they're wasted, and I think it's because the book has little to no sense of purpose.
I didn't find the characters convincing, or rather, I found it very hard to feel what they were feeling. Nóra's anger and loss should have felt visceral. Mary's confusion and fear should have elicited sympathy. Nance's isolation and ostracisation were the only things I found even a little accessible, but it wasn't used to great effect. Overall, there were next to no character arcs, and it was disappointing.
This is probably because the book is based off of a historical event, one which we have very little context for or information about. In Burial Rites, Hannah Kent really got into the characters' heads, and really took the question of 'who was this woman?' to its full extent, but in The Good People, I felt like - and as a history person, I hate to say this - Kent didn't use her artistic license enough to make a more exciting story. I feel bad, I really do.
Two stars instead of three because I felt distinctly disappointed reading this book.
I didn't find the characters convincing, or rather, I found it very hard to feel what they were feeling. Nóra's anger and loss should have felt visceral. Mary's confusion and fear should have elicited sympathy. Nance's isolation and ostracisation were the only things I found even a little accessible, but it wasn't used to great effect. Overall, there were next to no character arcs, and it was disappointing.
This is probably because the book is based off of a historical event, one which we have very little context for or information about. In Burial Rites, Hannah Kent really got into the characters' heads, and really took the question of 'who was this woman?' to its full extent, but in The Good People, I felt like - and as a history person, I hate to say this - Kent didn't use her artistic license enough to make a more exciting story. I feel bad, I really do.
Two stars instead of three because I felt distinctly disappointed reading this book.