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floralfox 's review for:
Broken Country
by Clare Leslie Hall
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a hard book to rate.
On one hand, I wanted to keep reading and the past/present structure really worked for it. I kept turning the page, and I was left with a lot of meaningful questions. It's a thought-provoking book with complex characters, just like I love.
On the other hand, I felt it was really undercut by weaker character writing. The author relies on tells over shows to capture the characters' feelings and motivations, and the main character often treats her interpretations of another character's thoughts as fact, and i suspect the author wants the reader to trust it as such. Something else that keeps me from a four-star rating is a repeated portrayal of the major women as either selfish and duplicitous (Beth, Tessa, and Louisa) or largely underdeveloped (Helen, Eleanor, Beth's mother) while the key men are largely portrayed as overwhelmingly good and/or tortured by their noble hearts and the women in their lives (Frank, Gabriel, and to some extent, Jimmy). It's not quite so cut and dry as that and I appreciate the complex portrayal of Beth and somewhat of Jimmy (Jimmy was probably most significantly impacted by a reliance of tells over shows) so these criticisms are more detractors from a great novel than something that makes it a weak novel, at least for me. As an added note, I thought it was weird that David featured heavily in the "before" and was completely absent from the 1968 timeline. Its clear that he passed away, but it was a really odd choice that it got no mention in the aftermath of Bobby's death when 1) it would've made a large impact on the farm workload and 2) it would've been yet another emotional toll on the family.
On one hand, I wanted to keep reading and the past/present structure really worked for it. I kept turning the page, and I was left with a lot of meaningful questions. It's a thought-provoking book with complex characters, just like I love.
On the other hand, I felt it was really undercut by weaker character writing. The author relies on tells over shows to capture the characters' feelings and motivations, and the main character often treats her interpretations of another character's thoughts as fact, and i suspect the author wants the reader to trust it as such. Something else that keeps me from a four-star rating is a repeated portrayal of the major women as either selfish and duplicitous (Beth, Tessa, and Louisa) or largely underdeveloped (Helen, Eleanor, Beth's mother) while the key men are largely portrayed as overwhelmingly good and/or tortured by their noble hearts and the women in their lives (Frank, Gabriel, and to some extent, Jimmy). It's not quite so cut and dry as that and I appreciate the complex portrayal of Beth and somewhat of Jimmy (Jimmy was probably most significantly impacted by a reliance of tells over shows) so these criticisms are more detractors from a great novel than something that makes it a weak novel, at least for me. As an added note, I thought it was weird that David featured heavily in the "before" and was completely absent from the 1968 timeline. Its clear that he passed away, but it was a really odd choice that it got no mention in the aftermath of Bobby's death when 1) it would've made a large impact on the farm workload and 2) it would've been yet another emotional toll on the family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity