Reviews

Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt

bluemoons's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

lydia_hennessy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

meenalgarg's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

vickytx's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

alishabenson's review against another edition

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Far too slow-paced for my personal taste. I felt like nothing at all happened and couldn’t bring myself to continue despite the largely positive reviews. 

elissacsweet's review against another edition

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5.0

Adrienne Celt’s INVITATION TO A BONFIRE tells the story of a great novelist, his wife and his mistress and was partly inspired by the famous Nabokov marriage. The story swept me up and kept me guessing, and I can heartily recommend it to all types of readers, whether you are a fan of Nabokov or his biggest critic. For those who love thrillers, this is a murder mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the last page. For those who love literary fiction, Celt captures Nabokov’s letters and writing in a fascinating way. And for people who just want a good story, the sexy love triangle and compelling characters—especially the women—will keep you reading. If you love MIKHAIL AND MARGARITA or historical fiction in general, you’ll devour this book.

richardpapenapologist's review against another edition

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3.0

I want to give this book a higher rating but it spends WAY too long getting to its climax, and that part is WAY too short. otherwise it was great — I would’ve enjoyed it more if I didn’t spend months getting through it thanks to exams.

also she didn’t even get invited to a bonfire :/

meganpbell's review against another edition

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4.0

This one comes out of nowhere and gets under your skin. Zoya Andropova comes over from Russia as a young orphan, dropped into an all-girls boarding school in 1920s New Jersey. Zoya is alienated and alone when her favorite Russian novelist arrives with his beautiful, aristocratic, calculating wife. What results is a quiet, burning meditation on deception, identity, class distinction, nationality, loyalty, & art, that rages into a holy conflagration and will leave you with a kind of delicious smoke in your eyes.

ewynn610's review against another edition

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1

outtoexist's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0