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robinwalter's Reviews (1.87k)
It was REALLY slow to get going, and I felt none of the tension of the others of hers I'd read. The language seemed anachronistic, stilted and far older than its 1938 publication date Worse, though, was the frequent racist/racial commentary. When that reached this point
They were, indeed, almost the only fair-skinned persons in a non-Aryan assembly, and as such stood out.
in a book published in NINETEEN THIRTY-EIGHT, it was time for me to say "tschüss!"
It might also be a negative factor that I had correctly worked out whodunnit by the time I dropped.
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A fast, fun feel-good romance framed by a mystery.
Hero cop saves the day while his out of touch townie wife stews in self-pity and resentment. Yeahnah. There was ZERO 'gve and take' in this prequel starting the Dave Burrows series. The fish-out-of-water wife did all the yielding and compromising to he VERY new husband, he gave nothing. And clearly the story applauded him for it.
I've read later (in story order, not publication order) Dave Burrows story, and liked some of them, but this one was a hard pass, and I'm not going to bother with the rest of what the author has labelled "Young Dave Barrows", because he's selfish obsessed brat "I'm back in the outback where I belong, my wife should suck it up and learn to love it" Not for me.
I've read later (in story order, not publication order) Dave Burrows story, and liked some of them, but this one was a hard pass, and I'm not going to bother with the rest of what the author has labelled "Young Dave Barrows", because he's selfish obsessed brat "I'm back in the outback where I belong, my wife should suck it up and learn to love it" Not for me.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was looking forward to a story centred on two middle-aged characters, but sadly one of them was VERY unlikeable for the first third of the book, and did not evoke any sympathy or interest from me.
Cassie Pengear Mysteries books 1,2,3- Killing at the Carnival, Death at Dinner, Stabbing Set with Sapphires
DID NOT FINISH: 30%
It was just meh, nothing worth finishing
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The parody passages in this were SUBLIME. When Austen was shredding those who diss novels, and when she was mocking the Gothic novel tropes of her day, this book flew. When not, then not.
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
On the plus side, it ain't Emma; on the minus side, it ain't Persuasion.
It really is remarkable that this was her first, and had she not written any other, this one would therefore have suffered less by the inevitable comparisons.
I am glad I read it, even though most of the common criticisms of it seem quite valid. It was a pleasant and unremarkable story, yet still elevated by Austen's trademark skill and wit.
One thing that really did strike me about this was how much her writing obviously influenced Wodehouse. My two favourite Austens BY FAR are (in order) Persuasion and Mansfield Park. In those later works, her wit at its sharpest is savagely caustic. I love that about them, especially as her searing observations are always right on the money. As a result, I often quite literally laughed out loud at the sharpness of bother her observations and her words. But in this one, her wit is gentler and blander, and that allowed me to notice a similarity of style and structure with Wodehouse. He clearly liked her style, but his skewering of absurdities was much less acerbic and hard-edged than Austen's in my favourites. In this debut work, she too was gentler, and so I found myself more often chuckling or smiling softly. A few examples follow
It really is remarkable that this was her first, and had she not written any other, this one would therefore have suffered less by the inevitable comparisons.
I am glad I read it, even though most of the common criticisms of it seem quite valid. It was a pleasant and unremarkable story, yet still elevated by Austen's trademark skill and wit.
One thing that really did strike me about this was how much her writing obviously influenced Wodehouse. My two favourite Austens BY FAR are (in order) Persuasion and Mansfield Park. In those later works, her wit at its sharpest is savagely caustic. I love that about them, especially as her searing observations are always right on the money. As a result, I often quite literally laughed out loud at the sharpness of bother her observations and her words. But in this one, her wit is gentler and blander, and that allowed me to notice a similarity of style and structure with Wodehouse. He clearly liked her style, but his skewering of absurdities was much less acerbic and hard-edged than Austen's in my favourites. In this debut work, she too was gentler, and so I found myself more often chuckling or smiling softly. A few examples follow
As a house, Barton Cottage, though small, was comfortable and compact; but as a cottage it was defective, for the building was regular, the roof was tiled, the window shutters were not painted green, nor were the walls covered with honeysuckles.
A very interesting and satisfactory paragraph, at least to all those intimate connections who knew it before
the gentleman having named the last day on which his existence could be continued without the possession of the toothpick-case
I could easily imagine PGW having written those lines.
While I generally approved of the eponymous morality message of the title, I was bewildered by Elinor's positive reaction to Willoughby's whining mea culpa. To me, it made him seem more contemptible and pathetic, not less, and more deserving of all the miseries he was stuck with. I realised while writing this review that it reminded me very strongly of a similarly self-serving, self-pitying mea culpa - from Joliet Jake:
Honest... I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD
Despite Willoughby admitting it WAS his fault, the whole tenor of his sob story seemed redolent of Jake's attitude. Except of course that it took him a LOT more words to say it due to his being a product of the late 18th/early 19th century as opposed to the mid-late 20th.
So in the end, 4/5 seems fair. Astonishingly well-written debut novel, afflicted with the 'curse' of significantly superior later works showing it up.
An intriguing premise and an interesting story, but by the one-quarter mark, I was all done with as much cowboy talk as I could take
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated this book. It literally took a conscious effort of will to drag myself to the end of it. For me, Austen's description of Emma as being likely to be largely unlikeable was a gross understatement. I loathed her to the end. A brilliantly written work, for sure, Austen succeeded in bringing this vile human to life sublimely well, but, ugh!