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A review by ruthlessly
The House At Riverton by Kate Morton
3.75
I enjoyed this, but I will say it is very Typical of the Genre! The Genre being: old lady looking back on her life where there has been some Big Events that are Shrouded in Secrecy and Slowly Revealing the Mystery (in an English country house). NOW! I really enjoy that very specific niche genre a lot, but if it's not your thing then you might not like this.
But I did! There's a couple of mysteries/secrets at the centre of this book and I will say that I absolutely guessed them ages in advance. I don't necessarily think some of them are meant to be Big Surprises for the reader, even though they are for Grace, our narrator, so at least there's that. I liked how this was written, too. It's a longer, slower-paced kind of historical fiction: it asks you to give it time and trust it. I think that this is Kate Morton's debut maybe and I know she's written a bunch of books since -- I suspect she's probably got even better. But I did find this enjoyable and I did like the writing. Her knowledge of the time period and the research she'd done was here, but I also think it was fun, in that way it often is when we get to peek at a time gone by through the eyes of someone Discovering the World and Themselves.
The cast of characters in here were interesting and varied. Within it, there's a movie being made of the past (although this isn't overly lingered on, so don't worry too much if that's not your thing bc it's also not mine) and I can totally see why someone would want to. This has a broad, dramatic scope and it definitely has the ring of one of those BBC/ITV adaptations to it. But you know what? I fucking eat that shit up like it's manna.
There were some cliches and some of this felt a bit too drawn-out, a bit too predictable. I can't say I loved this, but I really enjoyed my time with it and I thought that it was entertaining af. I've kind of put off reading some of Kate Morton's stuff because her books are SO LONG? I lifted her newest one a few months back in the supermarket and was like damn you could knock someone out with this (it was hardback). However, this was long but I felt like it flew by! I'm excited to try more from her! I don't want to go into what this book is really about because I'll just probably spoil it but it was a good enough time.
But I did! There's a couple of mysteries/secrets at the centre of this book and I will say that I absolutely guessed them ages in advance. I don't necessarily think some of them are meant to be Big Surprises for the reader, even though they are for Grace, our narrator, so at least there's that. I liked how this was written, too. It's a longer, slower-paced kind of historical fiction: it asks you to give it time and trust it. I think that this is Kate Morton's debut maybe and I know she's written a bunch of books since -- I suspect she's probably got even better. But I did find this enjoyable and I did like the writing. Her knowledge of the time period and the research she'd done was here, but I also think it was fun, in that way it often is when we get to peek at a time gone by through the eyes of someone Discovering the World and Themselves.
The cast of characters in here were interesting and varied. Within it, there's a movie being made of the past (although this isn't overly lingered on, so don't worry too much if that's not your thing bc it's also not mine) and I can totally see why someone would want to. This has a broad, dramatic scope and it definitely has the ring of one of those BBC/ITV adaptations to it. But you know what? I fucking eat that shit up like it's manna.
There were some cliches and some of this felt a bit too drawn-out, a bit too predictable. I can't say I loved this, but I really enjoyed my time with it and I thought that it was entertaining af. I've kind of put off reading some of Kate Morton's stuff because her books are SO LONG? I lifted her newest one a few months back in the supermarket and was like damn you could knock someone out with this (it was hardback). However, this was long but I felt like it flew by! I'm excited to try more from her! I don't want to go into what this book is really about because I'll just probably spoil it but it was a good enough time.