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tlbob53's review against another edition
3.0
The story was okay. The writing was decent, however, I was reading the Kindle version on iPad, and saw many typos...and I was not reading carefully, so odds are there were probably more. Not sure if this is a Kindle thing or from editing. I gave it a 3 star rating because I enjoyed the academic setting in which the story takes place. Otherwise, I would have given it a 2.
cmnchls1's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this book, but there were characters in it who could have added more to the book if they had been more visible. Even the dog seemed to disappear for stretches. But the book grew on me the more I read as Flora seemed to develop more as the book went on. There were some great insights toward the end of the book.
askylark's review against another edition
3.0
I don't even know where I found this book. It suddenly appeared on my ipad. I must have ordered it, but from where and on whose recommendation, I cannot remember.
I like books about nothing. I really do. But this book, this book is TRULY about nothing. I read it out, only because I kept thinking that something must happen, surely. Debut authors do not get published these days with books like this. But really, nothing happens. A young woman moves into her father's home after his death to grieve. She is given, as executor of his will, rights over his poetry. Will she publish it or not? She is an unknowable, unlikable person. The writing is good, intimate, conversational. But being as she is a young woman, she is not very insightful. So bizarre. How did this get published?
I like books about nothing. I really do. But this book, this book is TRULY about nothing. I read it out, only because I kept thinking that something must happen, surely. Debut authors do not get published these days with books like this. But really, nothing happens. A young woman moves into her father's home after his death to grieve. She is given, as executor of his will, rights over his poetry. Will she publish it or not? She is an unknowable, unlikable person. The writing is good, intimate, conversational. But being as she is a young woman, she is not very insightful. So bizarre. How did this get published?
cathy1969's review against another edition
2.0
I think the main problem with this book is just how unlikeable the main character, Flora, is. Throughout the book, there are virtually no redeeming qualities in her and her constant whining about her childhood and the town and college of Darwin is, at times, hard to read. Flora has returned to Darwin to take care of her father's estate after his sudden death. She discovers that he had a life she really knew nothing about which was primarily a happy one so she probably couldn't comprehend it. Read as a book group choice and would not recommend.
ahsimlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I did enjoy reading this book even though its main character is rather sullen. It does fit into the drawn-out narratives about introverts with failing relationships category but is redeemed by its sharp insights and writing.
Flora returns to Darwin, the New England town where he father taught after his death, where she has been made her father's literary executor. She takes on the role reluctantly and over the course of the book you realize why. On factor being the poems he wrote about a lover she didn't knew he had.
Flora returns to Darwin, the New England town where he father taught after his death, where she has been made her father's literary executor. She takes on the role reluctantly and over the course of the book you realize why. On factor being the poems he wrote about a lover she didn't knew he had.
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