Reviews

Un monde vacillant by Jean-Pierre Carasso, Jacqueline Huet, Cynthia Ozick

emma_sky's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-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

dllh's review against another edition

3.0

Pretty standard fare for Ozick but not among my favorites. It's good but didn't knock my socks off.

hbelle01's review against another edition

emotional 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

2.75

I really loved the beginning of this book. I thought it was great and shaping up to be a five star read. And then it just didn’t. The promising start just didn’t become what I thought it would. The ending was just a bit disappointing, honestly.

snowmaiden's review against another edition

3.0

This book began very promisingly and then just fizzled. Since there wasn't a lot holding my interest, I started paying attention to point of view. The beginning of the story is told in first person by Rose Meadows, then the point of view switches to third person limited omniscient for a while. Finally it switches back to first person, but with a very different-sounding Rose, who recounts things she couldn't possibly know and couldn't even have learned from talking to the other characters. This distracted me a lot, but I really don't think I would have fixated on these problems if the book was interesting. Ozick is a capable writer, and there were many beautiful passages, but not a whole lot happens in the middle section of the book, and the action just sags. The end, when it finally comes, is abrupt and not satisfying at all.

I think there probably was a good story here, but it didn't quite get told. In my opinion, this book could have stood a lot more editing and was released before its time. It's always so disappointing when that happens.

shira243's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

edgeworthstan2000's review against another edition

2.0

The ending is strong but the beginning and middle are meandering and don't feel real. It doesn't feel like a story and it goes in boring circles and the characters and their developments also don't seem real. Did not love.

rebeccabiega's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

bookeared's review against another edition

slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

annie76's review against another edition

3.0

This was a beautifully written WWII-era tale of Jewish refugees in New York. But... I just didn't get emotionally attached to any of the characters. And, I should have. Given the subject matter... the refugee family torn from everything they've ever had, the teenage orphan trying to make her way in the world, the former child celebrity trying to be a functioning adult... I just didn't care all that much. Beautiful but rather dry with no real surprises or resolutions.

nrthstr78's review against another edition

3.0

Bizzare, so random, not coherent, the point was beyond me...