Scan barcode
A review by zibby
Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss
3.0
A tricky one to review (really it's a 3.5)
I admired greatly the subject matter and the complexity of the characters relationships to the gender, identity, family relationship, reason and morality. And the structure of having a painting described at the opening of each chapter and the eventual reveal of the circumstances of its creation was a neat one which created a thread throughout the narrative time jumps. However the passivity of the main character was for me midly irratating (although part of her character) she chooses very little in the process of the novel, perhaps a comment on the real women's lives in the Victoria times, but in a novel it makes for a difficult read to sustain. There was something too in the writing that I struggled with, that prevented me from connected as strongly to the characters I wanted too.
I'd still reccomend this, as a book which features a majority of complicated, nuanced women grappling with their gender roles in a constraining society it makes for an interesting read.
I admired greatly the subject matter and the complexity of the characters relationships to the gender, identity, family relationship, reason and morality. And the structure of having a painting described at the opening of each chapter and the eventual reveal of the circumstances of its creation was a neat one which created a thread throughout the narrative time jumps. However the passivity of the main character was for me midly irratating (although part of her character) she chooses very little in the process of the novel, perhaps a comment on the real women's lives in the Victoria times, but in a novel it makes for a difficult read to sustain. There was something too in the writing that I struggled with, that prevented me from connected as strongly to the characters I wanted too.
I'd still reccomend this, as a book which features a majority of complicated, nuanced women grappling with their gender roles in a constraining society it makes for an interesting read.