Reviews

August by Gerard Woodward

sandeestarlite's review against another edition

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4.0

What a nice story. No sudden family tragedy, no one gets eaten, no one is turned into a zombie. This is a story of the Jones family, who spend every August camping on the same farm in Wales. We see glimpses of their lives during these summers and how things can change from year to year.

If you like this, read the series in this order though they were not published in this order: August/I’ll go to bed at noon/Curious Earth

kirstyreadsandcreates's review against another edition

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3.0

It took me a day or so to think about this book before writing my review. It's different to most books I've read in that it doesn't really go anywhere. I believe that it's part of a series, however, and so this could be the reason why.

The book follows the Jones family as they go on holiday to the same place in Wales over a number of years. As the years pass by we see the children grow up and we see how the relationships become more and more complex and dysfunctional, from the glue-sniffing mother to the passive-aggressive elder son.

The book was written by a poet and this shows in the writing. There is no doubt that the prose is well written. The description is slightly too much at times, but overall works well. The plot, however, moved a little too slowly for me and, as I mentioned, it didn't really go anywhere.

The story was ok and I will probably read the sequel at some point, but it was nothing to rave about.

sarahkomas's review

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2.0

A bit frustrating ; felt unfinished

anndouglas's review

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3.0

This book made for really hard slogging. I ended up finishing it, but only after setting it aside repeatedly. It has literary merit, it has interesting characters, it has an intriguing structure, but ultimately it fell a little flat.
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