3.5 Stars
I did enjoy this book, I did. However I am not really sure where it is going and it seems to be a bit of a mish mash of ideas and genres. It does deal with everything well and reads almost like you are a fly on the wall of the families concerned (the mysterious Hawthorne family and the far more regular Mitchell family). This does mean that there is a lot of the minutiae of life to wade through - actually this was no bad thing as it helps you submerge yourself in the fictional world that the author has created and it makes the characters feel very real. The down side to this is that I never really understood where the author was intending to take the tale and, indeed, nothing is ever really resolved and there is no natural segue in to a second book to explore the paranormal theme that is touted as the genre the book is lodged in. In actual fact, I found that the paranormal aspect was maybe a tenth of the tale and got lost amongst the themes of dealing with the death of a parent, moving to new town, being a new kid at school and just trying to get through being a teenager.
The main thing that annoyed me was the Hawthorne family's speech. We get it, they are from Maine and have a specific accent. However, I found it entirely unnecessary to litter the text with "ah's" to show their speech patterns. In fact, each time I picked the book up it grated afresh to see "heah" or "fathah". A few pages in each reading session and I did find I could overlook it as I was enjoying the rather work-a-day storylines but it was a constant annoyance and I felt it was completely unnecessary and was a distraction from the story being told.
I also had issues with the paranormal element of the story. Supposedly the Hawthornes are descended from Ancient Britons, specifically Druids, and worship an obscure Goddess (Modrun) who has imbued them with powers via artifacts gifted to their ancestors and subsequently passed down through innumerable generations. The whole clutching your amulet or wand and praying in pidgeon Latin to the Goddess to get what you want made me feel ever so slightly uncomfortable. I get that it is a fairly unique take on where Power comes from but I think I would have preferred it if they just had Power and used the artifacts to concentrate their mind to achieve their aims instead of some hokey pseudo-religious aspect to it all.
The characters themselves are pretty good and do come alive on the page. You expect Gerallt, Gareth and Gwyneth to be fairly naive and almost other-worldly after being raised in almost total isolation at Deer Isle within a like-minded community. What you don't expect is for Matt Mitchell to be as naive as they are, for a 21st Century 15 year old he does seem particularly "young" with an outlook that felt more like a 10 year old than his purported age. We don't learn much about his fraternal twin Tina but she does seem to be more akin to a modern teenager.
On the whole this is a gentle tale, told at a lilting pace that deceptively sucks you in to the lives of these two transplanted families. There is a lot to enjoy here and enjoy it I did; despite the issues raised above.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK KINDLY SUPPLIED BY THE AUTHOR.
Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
Oh dear, where to start with this one. I have so many issues with the way this story is told that I am really at a loss as to where I start reviewing it.
First off the nice bit, (yes, there is one of those) the basic premise behind the story is a good one. It sets out to tell the story of 4 women in a major corporation (the fictional Truviv) and how their experiences at work differ from that of their male colleagues. From pay inequality through the gamut to out and out sexual harassment. Grace, Ardie and Sloane may seem to have it all with motherhood and a career but they are all deeply unhappy. Contrast this with Rosalita who seems to have nothing (motherhood and a menial job) but who seems to have happiness but underneath there is a dark secret.
There is a good story struggling to dig itself out from the morass; unfortunately what you actually get is a misogynistic diatribe that does nothing proactive for women in the workplace at all. The first thing I took away from it is that these are very privileged women with the resources to get an excellent education which then leads to a good job. These are also women who are looking to blame everyone else for any perceived shortcomings. They have no work/life balance because they don't actually want one; they moan that they do (oh, boy can these women moan) but underneath it all they all seem to have a martyr complex. Everything that goes wrong in their lives is not their fault but it is the fault of men - not society note, but MEN.
Yes, there are attitudes that need fixing on both sides. However, this book does nothing more than perpetrate the persecution complex that "modern feminists" seem to propogandise. From #MeToo onwards it seems to have become popular to paint all women as victims and that anything they have achieved is not because they are genuinely good in their chosen field but because they played the simpering woman game and had to suffer all sorts of abuse from the men who hold the power to get ahead. I find this toxic and a gross oversimplification, whilst it is undoubtedly true for some it is not true for all and I am guessing far more advance on merit than the narrative would have us believe - but that doesn't generate clicks, sell papers or move novels.
As characters Grace and Sloane display the worst characteristics of the working wife, mother and woman. To some extent I sympathised with Grace as it is clear that she has never really recovered from the birth of her daughter a few months prior to the start of the tale. Sloane however, just strikes me as plain nasty. Everything really is someone else's fault and she never takes responsibility for her own actions or considers others feelings - particularly that of her husband; if she were a male character then we would be screaming narcissist but because this is a woman we are supposed to be sympathetic and root for her to overcome (puhlease!).
At least Ardie and Rosalita provide some relief from the constant carping. Both of them just get on with whatever life throws at them and try to make the best of things. Ardie may have the good job but she is divorced with a son and has definitely opted out of the game at work. She dresses how she wants, refuses to adhere to standards of feminine beauty and even (shock, horror) dares to be overweight. Somehow the author manages to make this seem somehow shameful and the reason that her career is not advancing. As the cleaner at Truviv Rosalita is perhaps the only one who does not feel like a caricature and is certainly the only who seems to have her life together.
Full of distasteful stereotypes and with a very slow, plodding storyline that relies on constant repetition of scenarios. It just isn't written that well. It is sailing on the back of #MeToo but just serves to highlight the very worst of the bandwagon jumpers. I am sure some of the set piece scenarios are familiar to anyone who has ever had the delight of working for a medium to large company - whether male or female - but the conclusions drawn and expressed by our 3 main protagonists (Rosalita is a bit of an after thought in all this) are extremely flawed.
In all honesty I actively disliked this book and found it very difficult to finish. Reading became a chore instead of a pleasure and I actually cheered when I finished this one. That is NOT how you should feel when finishing a book. I do feel that 2 Stars is actually a generous score for this book but it got them purely because of the idea behind the book and because of Ardie and Rosalita. Maybe you need to be a staunch feminist to enjoy this tract; personally I would rather see us all as just people trying to do our best but hey, if feminism is your thing then good for you (you might even enjoy this book).
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
First off the nice bit, (yes, there is one of those) the basic premise behind the story is a good one. It sets out to tell the story of 4 women in a major corporation (the fictional Truviv) and how their experiences at work differ from that of their male colleagues. From pay inequality through the gamut to out and out sexual harassment. Grace, Ardie and Sloane may seem to have it all with motherhood and a career but they are all deeply unhappy. Contrast this with Rosalita who seems to have nothing (motherhood and a menial job) but who seems to have happiness but underneath there is a dark secret.
There is a good story struggling to dig itself out from the morass; unfortunately what you actually get is a misogynistic diatribe that does nothing proactive for women in the workplace at all. The first thing I took away from it is that these are very privileged women with the resources to get an excellent education which then leads to a good job. These are also women who are looking to blame everyone else for any perceived shortcomings. They have no work/life balance because they don't actually want one; they moan that they do (oh, boy can these women moan) but underneath it all they all seem to have a martyr complex. Everything that goes wrong in their lives is not their fault but it is the fault of men - not society note, but MEN.
Yes, there are attitudes that need fixing on both sides. However, this book does nothing more than perpetrate the persecution complex that "modern feminists" seem to propogandise. From #MeToo onwards it seems to have become popular to paint all women as victims and that anything they have achieved is not because they are genuinely good in their chosen field but because they played the simpering woman game and had to suffer all sorts of abuse from the men who hold the power to get ahead. I find this toxic and a gross oversimplification, whilst it is undoubtedly true for some it is not true for all and I am guessing far more advance on merit than the narrative would have us believe - but that doesn't generate clicks, sell papers or move novels.
As characters Grace and Sloane display the worst characteristics of the working wife, mother and woman. To some extent I sympathised with Grace as it is clear that she has never really recovered from the birth of her daughter a few months prior to the start of the tale. Sloane however, just strikes me as plain nasty. Everything really is someone else's fault and she never takes responsibility for her own actions or considers others feelings - particularly that of her husband; if she were a male character then we would be screaming narcissist but because this is a woman we are supposed to be sympathetic and root for her to overcome (puhlease!).
At least Ardie and Rosalita provide some relief from the constant carping. Both of them just get on with whatever life throws at them and try to make the best of things. Ardie may have the good job but she is divorced with a son and has definitely opted out of the game at work. She dresses how she wants, refuses to adhere to standards of feminine beauty and even (shock, horror) dares to be overweight. Somehow the author manages to make this seem somehow shameful and the reason that her career is not advancing. As the cleaner at Truviv Rosalita is perhaps the only one who does not feel like a caricature and is certainly the only who seems to have her life together.
Full of distasteful stereotypes and with a very slow, plodding storyline that relies on constant repetition of scenarios. It just isn't written that well. It is sailing on the back of #MeToo but just serves to highlight the very worst of the bandwagon jumpers. I am sure some of the set piece scenarios are familiar to anyone who has ever had the delight of working for a medium to large company - whether male or female - but the conclusions drawn and expressed by our 3 main protagonists (Rosalita is a bit of an after thought in all this) are extremely flawed.
In all honesty I actively disliked this book and found it very difficult to finish. Reading became a chore instead of a pleasure and I actually cheered when I finished this one. That is NOT how you should feel when finishing a book. I do feel that 2 Stars is actually a generous score for this book but it got them purely because of the idea behind the book and because of Ardie and Rosalita. Maybe you need to be a staunch feminist to enjoy this tract; personally I would rather see us all as just people trying to do our best but hey, if feminism is your thing then good for you (you might even enjoy this book).
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Tuesday, 23 July 2019
What You Did by Claire McGowan
I suppose this is a book about the lies we tell to others and, more importantly ourselves. How we manipulate our perceptions to make ourselves feel better about our lives or to give an outward impression to others that we really do have it all. I suppose this is a book about friendship, jealousy, love, obsession and regret. I say suppose because it is so bleak and dreary that it is really hard to tell exactly what it is about. I really, really did not enjoy this one at all - in fact I did think long and hard about whether to give this one or two stars; in the end I plumped for two simply because it is a very tough subject to broach.
Ali and Mike seem to have the perfect post-Oxford life. 2 Children, a beautiful country home. Mike is a successful Lawyer and Ali doesn't need to work but she has a chairpersonship for a Woman's refuge and does a little bit of journalism via thinkpieces. They congratulate themselves on having it together, even better they are still close friends with their group from University days and now, 20-some years later, they are all gathering together for a celebration. Everything seems to go swimmingly, if a little drunkenly, until Karen staggers in to the kitchen in the small hours of the morning screaming after being assaulted in the garden - an assault that left her neck braceleted with bruises, blood trickling down her thigh and her personality in tatters.
Up until this point I was with the book all the way. Yes, Ali came across as a little sanctimonious and smug, particularly with her "charity work" and her reactions during the meeting regarding a woman assaulted at the safe house by her husband. The party was pretty much how you would expect it to go - too much booze, simmering resentments that had festered since student days held barely in check. So far so good, if a little harrowing in places. The problems really start in the aftermath of Karen's assault. Not just problems with the characters but problems for this reader.
I really, really got sick of the flashbacks to 1996. I understand the purpose of them, thematically, but what grated was each flashback starts at more or less the same point and recounts what happened on their Leaver's Ball to Martha Rasby. It just felt like each time we returned to it we started in the same place and so got to read through a load of information we already knew to be drip fed one tiny little piece of information that may or may not be important. I did read each and every one, despite being sorely tempted to skip through but I became more and more frustrated with them.
None of the characters are particularly likeable and I felt it difficult to dredge up and empathy for any of them. Somehow I found myself almost disliking each and everyone of them, but particularly Ali (unfortunately she is our main narrator so this was a big problem). She spends so long whining to herself and refusing to face up to reality I just wanted to shake her. Yes, I get it that her whole world has been shaken up and the rug pulled from beneath her very vocal beliefs and made her look long and hard at herself but I really could not dredge up any sympathy for her.
I appreciate that this is a difficult subject to tackle and the author did so fairly well. Where I feel the story fails is the lack of a firm editorial hand. There is a lot of repetition of events (past and present), an awful lot of rehashing of emotions and it just felt like so much wordy padding. This could have been a much tauter story and would likely have been more impactful for it.
Bleak subject, populated by horrible characters with some very dubious "twists" thrown in to the mix. Not a book I could recommend.
Ali and Mike seem to have the perfect post-Oxford life. 2 Children, a beautiful country home. Mike is a successful Lawyer and Ali doesn't need to work but she has a chairpersonship for a Woman's refuge and does a little bit of journalism via thinkpieces. They congratulate themselves on having it together, even better they are still close friends with their group from University days and now, 20-some years later, they are all gathering together for a celebration. Everything seems to go swimmingly, if a little drunkenly, until Karen staggers in to the kitchen in the small hours of the morning screaming after being assaulted in the garden - an assault that left her neck braceleted with bruises, blood trickling down her thigh and her personality in tatters.
Up until this point I was with the book all the way. Yes, Ali came across as a little sanctimonious and smug, particularly with her "charity work" and her reactions during the meeting regarding a woman assaulted at the safe house by her husband. The party was pretty much how you would expect it to go - too much booze, simmering resentments that had festered since student days held barely in check. So far so good, if a little harrowing in places. The problems really start in the aftermath of Karen's assault. Not just problems with the characters but problems for this reader.
I really, really got sick of the flashbacks to 1996. I understand the purpose of them, thematically, but what grated was each flashback starts at more or less the same point and recounts what happened on their Leaver's Ball to Martha Rasby. It just felt like each time we returned to it we started in the same place and so got to read through a load of information we already knew to be drip fed one tiny little piece of information that may or may not be important. I did read each and every one, despite being sorely tempted to skip through but I became more and more frustrated with them.
None of the characters are particularly likeable and I felt it difficult to dredge up and empathy for any of them. Somehow I found myself almost disliking each and everyone of them, but particularly Ali (unfortunately she is our main narrator so this was a big problem). She spends so long whining to herself and refusing to face up to reality I just wanted to shake her. Yes, I get it that her whole world has been shaken up and the rug pulled from beneath her very vocal beliefs and made her look long and hard at herself but I really could not dredge up any sympathy for her.
I appreciate that this is a difficult subject to tackle and the author did so fairly well. Where I feel the story fails is the lack of a firm editorial hand. There is a lot of repetition of events (past and present), an awful lot of rehashing of emotions and it just felt like so much wordy padding. This could have been a much tauter story and would likely have been more impactful for it.
Bleak subject, populated by horrible characters with some very dubious "twists" thrown in to the mix. Not a book I could recommend.
Switching Hour by Robyn Peterman
First off if "language" in a book offends then move on right by this one. Our heroine, Zelda, has what might be termed a potty mouth and unleashes it frequently. So, if this is a problem for you then steer clear. Personally, it really doesn't bother me (I could go in to a long diatribe about it all but I promise to refrain) and, in actual fact, the author does manage to squeeze some rather creative sweariness in there - just needed a couple of portmanteaued cusses and it would have reached the zenith of foul mouthed fun.
There's the thing it is FUN, from start to finish there is a lot of humour in this short tale. Yes a lot of it is a little broad and has a tendency to club your over the head rather than tap you on the shoulder but it's all good. Subtle this book isn't but then, Zelda isn't exactly a proponent of subtle herself. The thing that did annoy me was the constant and ever changing nicknames Zelda gave to Baba Yaga, the first couple of times it was blah by the end of the book I was ready to either strangle the character or punch her full in the face every time it happened.
There are also a surprising number of, ahem, erotic encounters, in the book. Now, these are what usually puts me off a book - constant cursing no problemo, getting down and dirty makes me cringe. Fortunately for this reader although there is a fair bit of horizontal action it is not graphic details more of an overview of the shared character experience and it did seem to actually make sense within the context of the story and not just pushed in to titillate.
The plot whizzes by, barely giving the reader time to draw breath. In summary - Zelda is released from magical pokey after running over her familiar, the Witches Council (headed by Baba Yaga) give until Halloween to complete their challenge or she will lose her powers. Finding out she had an Aunt Hildy who died, violently, and left Zelda her house she sets off to claim her inheritance and hopefully keep her powers. Things start to really get strange when she arrives at an almost ghost town with rotting vegetables in the local grocery and strange cages in her Aunt Hildy's basement. Throw in a reanimated familiar (still has 6 lives left) with a nice line in credit card fraud, some decidedly un-Snow White wild animals who camp out on Zelda's porch and mix with a healthy dose of pop culture and you more or less have Switching Hour.
Rude, obnoxious, self-absorbed and very funny; this book is the personality of it's heroine through and through. Almost despite myself I found myself really enjoying the read and I am now toying with getting the next in the series.
There's the thing it is FUN, from start to finish there is a lot of humour in this short tale. Yes a lot of it is a little broad and has a tendency to club your over the head rather than tap you on the shoulder but it's all good. Subtle this book isn't but then, Zelda isn't exactly a proponent of subtle herself. The thing that did annoy me was the constant and ever changing nicknames Zelda gave to Baba Yaga, the first couple of times it was blah by the end of the book I was ready to either strangle the character or punch her full in the face every time it happened.
There are also a surprising number of, ahem, erotic encounters, in the book. Now, these are what usually puts me off a book - constant cursing no problemo, getting down and dirty makes me cringe. Fortunately for this reader although there is a fair bit of horizontal action it is not graphic details more of an overview of the shared character experience and it did seem to actually make sense within the context of the story and not just pushed in to titillate.
The plot whizzes by, barely giving the reader time to draw breath. In summary - Zelda is released from magical pokey after running over her familiar, the Witches Council (headed by Baba Yaga) give until Halloween to complete their challenge or she will lose her powers. Finding out she had an Aunt Hildy who died, violently, and left Zelda her house she sets off to claim her inheritance and hopefully keep her powers. Things start to really get strange when she arrives at an almost ghost town with rotting vegetables in the local grocery and strange cages in her Aunt Hildy's basement. Throw in a reanimated familiar (still has 6 lives left) with a nice line in credit card fraud, some decidedly un-Snow White wild animals who camp out on Zelda's porch and mix with a healthy dose of pop culture and you more or less have Switching Hour.
Rude, obnoxious, self-absorbed and very funny; this book is the personality of it's heroine through and through. Almost despite myself I found myself really enjoying the read and I am now toying with getting the next in the series.
Poppy's Recipe For Life by Heidi Swain
I really enjoyed this second visit to Nightingale Square, which was somewhat of a relief after having been very disappointed with my last couple of Heidi Swain books. Fortunately the author seems to have got her mojo back and this has resulted in a warm book that constantly begs you to just read one more chapter.
Poppy was all set to move in to Kate's little house on Nightingale Square when her car crash of a mother scuppered her plans so she is still stuck in her tiny flat above the Greengrocers where she works. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but Poppy really, really wanted to get stuck in with the gardening at the community garden - especially as it would mean goodies for her pickling obsession. Still, all comes to she who waits and now the tenants have done a moonlight flit she is all set to move and she can't wait. There are only two clouds on her horizon - a very grumpy, reclusive next door neighbour and the fact that her brother seems to be avoiding her.
Told with warmth and wit there is actually quite a lot going on in this book. The main story centres around Poppy, her brother Ryan and the wonderfully named Jacob Grizzle (the grumpy neighbour). We do get to catch up with Kate and Luke, from the first installment of the Nightingale Square tales but only very briefly. There are also brief mentions of other characters we met way back then too as the action moves to centre around the Community Garden. Back up in this book comes from the bookshop owning Colin and gift emporium entrepeneur Lou.
The characters are all multi-faceted and more or less believable. Poppy can be a little bit too good to be true at times but she does have a tendency to jump to conclusions and put her foot right in it which helps negate some of the self-sacrificing behaviour. The real problem is with the character of Jacob, he is almost Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for much of the book and it does become a little overdone at times - yes, we get it he's a decent bloke who has had something horrible happen so he's retreated in to his shell to protect himself.
There are also some plot problems. Nothing major but some sections feel very clumsy and almost like afterthoughts to spice up the story. Yes, the reader is in no doubt how things are going to work out for Poppy - to be honest, her relationship arc more or less mirrors that of Kate in the first book. The thing it doesn't matter that you know how things are all going to go, the fun is in the getting there and it is a very enjoyable journey.
Poppy was all set to move in to Kate's little house on Nightingale Square when her car crash of a mother scuppered her plans so she is still stuck in her tiny flat above the Greengrocers where she works. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but Poppy really, really wanted to get stuck in with the gardening at the community garden - especially as it would mean goodies for her pickling obsession. Still, all comes to she who waits and now the tenants have done a moonlight flit she is all set to move and she can't wait. There are only two clouds on her horizon - a very grumpy, reclusive next door neighbour and the fact that her brother seems to be avoiding her.
Told with warmth and wit there is actually quite a lot going on in this book. The main story centres around Poppy, her brother Ryan and the wonderfully named Jacob Grizzle (the grumpy neighbour). We do get to catch up with Kate and Luke, from the first installment of the Nightingale Square tales but only very briefly. There are also brief mentions of other characters we met way back then too as the action moves to centre around the Community Garden. Back up in this book comes from the bookshop owning Colin and gift emporium entrepeneur Lou.
The characters are all multi-faceted and more or less believable. Poppy can be a little bit too good to be true at times but she does have a tendency to jump to conclusions and put her foot right in it which helps negate some of the self-sacrificing behaviour. The real problem is with the character of Jacob, he is almost Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for much of the book and it does become a little overdone at times - yes, we get it he's a decent bloke who has had something horrible happen so he's retreated in to his shell to protect himself.
There are also some plot problems. Nothing major but some sections feel very clumsy and almost like afterthoughts to spice up the story. Yes, the reader is in no doubt how things are going to work out for Poppy - to be honest, her relationship arc more or less mirrors that of Kate in the first book. The thing it doesn't matter that you know how things are all going to go, the fun is in the getting there and it is a very enjoyable journey.
Monday, 22 July 2019
Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn
Very much a story of two halves this one. One half was engrossing and atmospheric and the other was disjointed and felt very thrown together and almost bolted on to the tale.
First off, the good bit. Julia's life has been rather charmed, admittedly she has lost both her father and her mother but she has enough wealth to live her own life and is even dabbling in her own printing imprint - Capriole is very much a dabble at this point in time, no matter what Julia seems to think. As her 25th Birthday approaches she has to return to the States as her half-brother is disputing that she is entitled to the money left her under her father's will and she desperately needs to salvage her route to independence. Julia is fiercely independant but doesn't really see herself as that, she just sees herself as a modern woman living life on her terms. This is related so matter of factly that it does feel natural and sets the character well on the page.
The backdrop for the story is Prohibition New York, but it is in the world of privilege so there is plenty of alcohol flowing. Again, this is seen as being part of the natural order of things - if you have wealth you can have whatever you want and the law can be safely ignored. Private clubs and homes serve liquor with impunity and nary a whiff of the police raiding them. It is also very noticeable that the lives of wealthy women seem to just centre around which party or club they can visit that night and days are spent more or less idle. The descriptions of the locales and the clothing are brief but really place the reader in the setting.
Julia herself is feisty and sarcastic. She is clearly an intelligent woman and this does come across well on the page and her aversion to be shackled to a man (as she sees marriage) seems perfectly natural. I liked that although she sees the need for Equality For Women she is not politically active or motivated to be so, makes a nice change for female protagonists in books set in this era. As she spends more time with the Rankins and the Winterjays she does become more politically aware but still seems pretty laissez faire about it all, preferring to concentrate on saving her fortune by any means necessary.
The rest of the cast, and this is a large cast, are okay. Most of them are pretty much two dimensional shades of a particular type. Glennis is the flighty, society girl; happy enough to shock but all she wants is a husband. Phillip is a playboy type, only really interested in accumulating and creating art with a nice line in dissolution on the side. We never really get to know too much about the others, even Jack, Alice and the ill-fated Naomi.
The "bad" bit is really the mystery of Naomi's death. It just feels uncomfortable on the page and by Glennis convincing Julia that something is wrong with the circumstances the resulting investigation and suppositions really don't fit with the rest of the fictional world. It honestly felt bolted in to the story to add a bit of excitement, when there were so many ways this could have been added (should the author desire) without making the story feel like two separate stories. Honestly, for me it was clunky and just didn't work.
First off, the good bit. Julia's life has been rather charmed, admittedly she has lost both her father and her mother but she has enough wealth to live her own life and is even dabbling in her own printing imprint - Capriole is very much a dabble at this point in time, no matter what Julia seems to think. As her 25th Birthday approaches she has to return to the States as her half-brother is disputing that she is entitled to the money left her under her father's will and she desperately needs to salvage her route to independence. Julia is fiercely independant but doesn't really see herself as that, she just sees herself as a modern woman living life on her terms. This is related so matter of factly that it does feel natural and sets the character well on the page.
The backdrop for the story is Prohibition New York, but it is in the world of privilege so there is plenty of alcohol flowing. Again, this is seen as being part of the natural order of things - if you have wealth you can have whatever you want and the law can be safely ignored. Private clubs and homes serve liquor with impunity and nary a whiff of the police raiding them. It is also very noticeable that the lives of wealthy women seem to just centre around which party or club they can visit that night and days are spent more or less idle. The descriptions of the locales and the clothing are brief but really place the reader in the setting.
Julia herself is feisty and sarcastic. She is clearly an intelligent woman and this does come across well on the page and her aversion to be shackled to a man (as she sees marriage) seems perfectly natural. I liked that although she sees the need for Equality For Women she is not politically active or motivated to be so, makes a nice change for female protagonists in books set in this era. As she spends more time with the Rankins and the Winterjays she does become more politically aware but still seems pretty laissez faire about it all, preferring to concentrate on saving her fortune by any means necessary.
The rest of the cast, and this is a large cast, are okay. Most of them are pretty much two dimensional shades of a particular type. Glennis is the flighty, society girl; happy enough to shock but all she wants is a husband. Phillip is a playboy type, only really interested in accumulating and creating art with a nice line in dissolution on the side. We never really get to know too much about the others, even Jack, Alice and the ill-fated Naomi.
The "bad" bit is really the mystery of Naomi's death. It just feels uncomfortable on the page and by Glennis convincing Julia that something is wrong with the circumstances the resulting investigation and suppositions really don't fit with the rest of the fictional world. It honestly felt bolted in to the story to add a bit of excitement, when there were so many ways this could have been added (should the author desire) without making the story feel like two separate stories. Honestly, for me it was clunky and just didn't work.
Sunday, 21 July 2019
A Bad, Bad Thing by V.J. Chambers
2.5 Stars
Danae and Athena may be sisters but they could not be more different. Whilst both are hard workers that is about the only thing that connects, indeed since their mother died they rarely see or talk to each other and they are happy with that. When tragedy strikes Athena she calls on Danae to help, literally, hide the body. Cue a series of rather peculiar occurences and flashbacks to their childhoods, strange encounters with a mysterious man who beguiles both sisters and a suspicious detective.
The thing that I really, really struggled with was how much the plot relied on nobody really giving two hoots about Athena's missing husband. Barely a ripple is made in the supposed search for him when he goes "missing". Then you have Danae, our main narrator, who seems to be able to fob the detective off sufficiently to keep herself from being arrested whilst clearly having some sort of breakdown through the stress and horror of it all. honestly, nothing adds up at all about either the characters or the plot.
The best things I can say about this are that the main character, Danae, has a great voice on the page. Her mental dissolution is well wrought and the way she hops from thought to thought is very realistic. I also liked how things would pop in to her mind that seemed both random and innocuous at the time but would then prove to be rather important in another 30 pages. Very strong characterisation ruined by a flimsy plot with more holes than emmental.
The author also does a great job in exposing the inner workings of a family and I did find myself wishing that there had been far more of that than the tale I did get. Although brought up in the same home with the same parents the experience for Danae and Athena could not have been more different. It is clear that their mother had "issues" to say the least but it was interesting to see how Danae found that her mother's behaviour clouded her perceptions of Athena.
I think that is what annoyed me so much about this book, there are some really interesting themes here that are only partially explored and done so well that they could have a carried a book on their own without all the ridiculousness. The thriller aspects of the murder/accident, the missing body and the beguiling man (I genuinely can't remember his name - I want to say Darren but who knows?) are thin and, for this reader, did not hold water at all.
Danae and Athena may be sisters but they could not be more different. Whilst both are hard workers that is about the only thing that connects, indeed since their mother died they rarely see or talk to each other and they are happy with that. When tragedy strikes Athena she calls on Danae to help, literally, hide the body. Cue a series of rather peculiar occurences and flashbacks to their childhoods, strange encounters with a mysterious man who beguiles both sisters and a suspicious detective.
The thing that I really, really struggled with was how much the plot relied on nobody really giving two hoots about Athena's missing husband. Barely a ripple is made in the supposed search for him when he goes "missing". Then you have Danae, our main narrator, who seems to be able to fob the detective off sufficiently to keep herself from being arrested whilst clearly having some sort of breakdown through the stress and horror of it all. honestly, nothing adds up at all about either the characters or the plot.
The best things I can say about this are that the main character, Danae, has a great voice on the page. Her mental dissolution is well wrought and the way she hops from thought to thought is very realistic. I also liked how things would pop in to her mind that seemed both random and innocuous at the time but would then prove to be rather important in another 30 pages. Very strong characterisation ruined by a flimsy plot with more holes than emmental.
The author also does a great job in exposing the inner workings of a family and I did find myself wishing that there had been far more of that than the tale I did get. Although brought up in the same home with the same parents the experience for Danae and Athena could not have been more different. It is clear that their mother had "issues" to say the least but it was interesting to see how Danae found that her mother's behaviour clouded her perceptions of Athena.
I think that is what annoyed me so much about this book, there are some really interesting themes here that are only partially explored and done so well that they could have a carried a book on their own without all the ridiculousness. The thriller aspects of the murder/accident, the missing body and the beguiling man (I genuinely can't remember his name - I want to say Darren but who knows?) are thin and, for this reader, did not hold water at all.
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