The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
juliecheek5's review against another edition
2.0
Felt rather disappointing. I found the narrator wholly unreliable and dull. Overall a missed opportunity for an exciting and insightful story.
categal's review against another edition
4.0
I both read and listened to this one. I really like the world Atkinson created -- I really got a sense of London during WWII leading up to the Blitz. I also loved the main character Juliet. I was reading along and realized that I really liked hanging out in her head, seeing how she reacted to the world.
What was interesting and has stuck with me is the idea of transcription. Juliet was the transcriptionist for a spy operation in Dolphin Square during the war, and the narrator is the transcriptionist for the novel. What is transcribed and what was left out still has me thinking.
What was interesting and has stuck with me is the idea of transcription. Juliet was the transcriptionist for a spy operation in Dolphin Square during the war, and the narrator is the transcriptionist for the novel. What is transcribed and what was left out still has me thinking.
lejlab's review against another edition
3.0
Slow start but a great ending. Atkinson is a amazing writer but this one didnât grab me up front like her others have.
knitwgrace's review against another edition
3.0
Good writing but didnât feel a good grasp of main characterâs personality. Storyline a tiny bit confusing or maybe I just didnât fully âgetâ this book
85tarheel's review against another edition
5.0
"But then, what constituted real? Wasn't everything, even this life itself, just a game of deception?" This line from TRANSCRIPTION is a very good overview of much of Kate Atkinson's writing. She plays around with time and reality to explore the human condition and so far she has me completely hooked. In TRANSCRIPTION she also manages to work in a spy thriller with twists, turns, and betrayals that would make LeCarre proud. Her writing is always fluid and descriptive but it is alive and vibrant. I also think she gets at a lie that is so often employed in the world of literature and criticism, she writes books that could be labeled as "genre fiction," in this case a spy thriller or with the Jackson Brodie books mysteries, or with books like LIFE AFTER LIFE science fiction, but in the end they are all just great books. I think that we often use labels as a wall to either include or exclude as fits our personal desires. I think almost everyone considers Atkinson to be a literate writer and I would extend that definition to many others such as Stephen King. I will read anything Ms. Atkinson writes in the future. As for this book specifically, it felt very timely despite mostly taking place in the 1940s and 1950s. As she writes, "It must be awfully handy to have a scapegoat for the world's ills. (Women and the Jews tend to be first in line, unfortunately.)" Paging Mr. Soros.
kelbi's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this complex book though when I reached the end I felt I needed to go back and re-read it to try to understand it better. The sense of period is great, the story winds and rewinds all over the place. But always engrossing
lisa_berrones's review against another edition
3.0
A strong start, a slog of a middle, and a hurried end. Not my favorite Kate Atkinson, but not a bad experience.
d_sebek's review against another edition
3.0
A potentially exciting premise about a female spy using World War 2 that fell flat. A little less exposition and more spy intrigue would have made this a great story rather than an okay story with a great premise.
newishpuritan's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic first-person narration, very engaging and funny. The historical milieu is fascinating. A third-act twist feels very unmotivated, and rather spoils things.
The MI5 operation against Nazi sympathisers is given a comic treatment here--they're all rather pathetic and trivial, and the transcripts of their conversations are all deliberately bathetic. This contrasts with Anthony Quinn's Our Friends in Berlin. But this book is much livelier than his.
The MI5 operation against Nazi sympathisers is given a comic treatment here--they're all rather pathetic and trivial, and the transcripts of their conversations are all deliberately bathetic. This contrasts with Anthony Quinn's Our Friends in Berlin. But this book is much livelier than his.
afox98's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the authorâs book Life After Life so was pretty excited about this one. Unfortunately, in comparison, it fell flat. Juliet Armstrong is recruited by MI5 during WW II to transcribe interviews with fascists, and is eventually drawn into spying as well. The pace is not too fast and there are some beautiful turns of phrase. A surprise ending also. Overall I was just underwhelmed.