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A review by chasegartzke
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey
3.0
I understand and appreciate what seems to be the attempt by Jane Healey to write a queer love story that isn’t fraught with disaster over their queerness and their love. We have many books detailing our suffering as individuals within an historically marginalized and vilified community, and sometimes we want an unproblematic love story. The problem for me was that this may have contributed to a story lacking conflict.
Conflict (a lot of it) is something I would have - and did - expect from a story about closet lesbians taking place during a World War. Yet what little conflict there was barely even existed as a fleeting thought until around chapter 40 (there are 46 chapters).
I was regrettably bored. I think Jane Healey has talent and put down some lovely prose, but I think I would have enjoyed this more as a short novella. Not that I hated it. I certainly did not hate it. It just wasn’t a gripping read.
Actual rating: 3.5 out of 5
Conflict (a lot of it) is something I would have - and did - expect from a story about closet lesbians taking place during a World War. Yet what little conflict there was barely even existed as a fleeting thought until around chapter 40 (there are 46 chapters).
I was regrettably bored. I think Jane Healey has talent and put down some lovely prose, but I think I would have enjoyed this more as a short novella. Not that I hated it. I certainly did not hate it. It just wasn’t a gripping read.
Actual rating: 3.5 out of 5