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A review by doughastings
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
2.0
Well, at least it was short? The writing style was fine. It’s just hard to get worked up about the unhappiness of a former vicereine of India. Like, seriously. Just imagine how many people in India didn’t get to realize their dreams either? Or her own maid? Or 80% (95%??) of the world? Most people don’t get to follow their dreams, because they have to pay the rent. So, if you want me to care about a woman who led a life of great privilege, that wasn’t quite the one she wanted to lead, I need a more engaging character than old Deborah.
I did like the fact that it talked about how much women had to give up to just because they are women, something that still resonates today.
But, I kept thinking ‘don’t tell, show.’ She actually writes quite good dialogue, I would’ve liked more conversations that revealed what people were thinking. Instead there is paragraph after paragraph of commentary that lays everything out to the nth detail. We know *exactly* what Lady Slane thought, regretted, liked, disliked, etc., it was all spelled out, no uncertainty, nothing to interpret or mull over.
And many of the characters were a bit flat, or silly. Not many rang true.
Scoped this book out for book club, that’s a hard pass.
I did like the fact that it talked about how much women had to give up to just because they are women, something that still resonates today.
But, I kept thinking ‘don’t tell, show.’ She actually writes quite good dialogue, I would’ve liked more conversations that revealed what people were thinking. Instead there is paragraph after paragraph of commentary that lays everything out to the nth detail. We know *exactly* what Lady Slane thought, regretted, liked, disliked, etc., it was all spelled out, no uncertainty, nothing to interpret or mull over.
And many of the characters were a bit flat, or silly. Not many rang true.
Scoped this book out for book club, that’s a hard pass.