br00k3a133n's review against another edition
Honestly this is just so much of nothing. I was kind of interested in how the story was structured, but everything is so flat, no one talks to one another, and I feel (and based on some other reviews) that I won't care for the actual directions this goes.
I'm not going to waste any more time on this one.
I'm not going to waste any more time on this one.
stylialou's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
elenajohansen's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @ page 82, after the end of the "The First Years" section.
I was bored out of my mind.
Eighty pages of older men falling in love with younger women (but it's okay because it's not really pedophilia if you wait a few years for them to turn eighteen,) and endless tired metaphors about rivers, and high-strung daughters getting married or running away. And it's all just set-up for the individual sections about the daughters, apparently! I felt like I was speed-running the mother's entire life, and WWII with its Nazi occupation was just a bump in the road.
I will admit there's a possibility the book gets better when it decides to focus on one daughter at a time instead of trying to tackle them all at once, but the writing style is so bland that I don't care enough to find out, and I don't like any of the characters, because (as much as they have personalities at all) they're all basically the same--shouting, moody, dramatic women of various ages, with the mother being the worst, lamenting constantly about how it's so horrible that all her daughters want to leave home and have their own lives and woe is me, I'll be all alone in my old age.
I simply don't have the patience for it. Moving on.
I was bored out of my mind.
Eighty pages of older men falling in love with younger women (but it's okay because it's not really pedophilia if you wait a few years for them to turn eighteen,) and endless tired metaphors about rivers, and high-strung daughters getting married or running away. And it's all just set-up for the individual sections about the daughters, apparently! I felt like I was speed-running the mother's entire life, and WWII with its Nazi occupation was just a bump in the road.
I will admit there's a possibility the book gets better when it decides to focus on one daughter at a time instead of trying to tackle them all at once, but the writing style is so bland that I don't care enough to find out, and I don't like any of the characters, because (as much as they have personalities at all) they're all basically the same--shouting, moody, dramatic women of various ages, with the mother being the worst, lamenting constantly about how it's so horrible that all her daughters want to leave home and have their own lives and woe is me, I'll be all alone in my old age.
I simply don't have the patience for it. Moving on.
sueann's review against another edition
4.0
I guess it’s a fine line between soap opera and the human condition, but this book held my interest and I cared about the characters with all their flaws.
ekirs's review against another edition
3.0
This was an enjoyable, calm read. The fates of each daughter were interesting enough that I wanted to know what would happen to them, even if the ending was easily predictable. I feel like some of the language must have been lost in translation because there were some cliches and a few cringeworthy metaphors and sentences, but overall this was a nice, smooth read. I would recommend this for someone looking for light reading.
princessamy73's review against another edition
4.0
Sweet Mother Daughter Story
Really thorough beautiful stories about a mother and her daughters and their lives. And all roads always lead home, it’s true!
Really thorough beautiful stories about a mother and her daughters and their lives. And all roads always lead home, it’s true!
rachelrie's review against another edition
3.0
Sweet story about 5 sisters from a tiny village in Greece after World War II who leave their mother to find their destinies. Eventually, the house by the River brings them back home.
marylou1993's review against another edition
1.0
Έχω την εντυπώση πως αυτό είναι ένα από τα χερότερα βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει ποτέ!Έχουμε πέντε αδερφές η μια χειρότερη από την άλλη όλες συμπτωματικά καταφέρνουν να ζήσουν μέσα στα πλούτη και τη χλιδή να βρουν εκατό άνδρες που να πέφτουν στα πόδια τους και όλες μα όλες να χάσουν παιδιά συζύγους κτλ.Περίμενα ότι κάθε ιστορία θα είχε κάτι ξεχωριστό, ότι κάθε αδερφή θα είχε να μας πει κάτι διαφορετικό αλλά όλες είχαν τόσο τρομακτικά ίδια σενάρια,με μόνη διαφορά λίγο την τέταρτη, που ειλικρινά βαρέθηκα τη ζωή μου.Ακόμη και η μικρότερη που πήγε στην Αμερική και ήλπιζα ότι μπορεί να ασχοληθεί με σπουδές γιατί αγαπούσε το διάβασμα κατέληξε σε παντρολογήματα και έρωτες.Οφείλω να του το αναγνωρίσω πως κυλάει πολύ γρήγορα αλλά νομίζω πως αυτό συμβαίνει επειδή είναι τόσο κακογραμμένο και βιαστικό που δεν σου αφήνει απολύτως τίποτα.Δεν νομίζω πως η κυρία Μαντά έκανε έρευνα ούτε για την εποχή που τοποθετεί ην ιστορία ούτε για τα μέρη στα οποία αναφέρεται αφού το μόνο που κάνει είναι να περιγράφει ερωτικές σκηνές και ακριβά σπίτια και δεν καταφέρε με κανέναν απολύτως τρόπο να με ταξιδέψει κάπου.Δεν θα καταλάβω ποτέ γιατί το ελληνικό αναγνωστικό κοινό έκανε αυτό το βιβλίο μπεστ σελλερ και αν αυτό ειλικρινά θωρείται το καλύτερο της κυρίας Μαντάς φαντάζομαι πως θα είναι τα υπόλοιπα!
siria's review against another edition
1.0
Greece's hottest village is the homeplace of the characters in The House by the River! This book has everything: aliens wearing meat suits and pretending they really can act like humans, racism, the dialogue that reads like it had been copied and pasted from one of those 1970s' BBC daytime soaps where the sets were so cheap they wobbled every time an actor opened a door, the Mafia, misogyny, eroticised marital rape, Nazis, gaslighting, dead babies, so many dead babies, supposedly smart women acting like insipid idiots, A CHARACTER KILLED BY A POISONED BLOW DART.
If you read the preceding paragraph in a voice like Stefon from an SNL sketch, congratulations: you now already are aware of the level of sheer lunacy and incompetence with which this book was written. The difference between this book and a Stefon sketch though (apart from the fact that this has a lot more heterosexuality going on) is that a Stefon sketch is actually enjoyable.
The more I read this book, the angrier and more incredulous that I got. This is the dreck that Amazon chose to promote World Book Day as an example of great world literature?
Unreadable.
If you read the preceding paragraph in a voice like Stefon from an SNL sketch, congratulations: you now already are aware of the level of sheer lunacy and incompetence with which this book was written. The difference between this book and a Stefon sketch though (apart from the fact that this has a lot more heterosexuality going on) is that a Stefon sketch is actually enjoyable.
The more I read this book, the angrier and more incredulous that I got. This is the dreck that Amazon chose to promote World Book Day as an example of great world literature?
Unreadable.
scrapnstitch's review against another edition
4.0
Hard to read at times because of the choices the characters make. But very good book. Well written.