bujobyfilo's review against another edition
5.0
A fabulous, breathtaking story of profound characters in an oppressive - yet addictive - atmosphere.
Kate Morton's imagination and narrative style are on a par with "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë (to wich the book refers).
Kate Morton's imagination and narrative style are on a par with "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë (to wich the book refers).
elsaaqazi's review against another edition
5.0
OH MY GOD! THIS WAS A FREAKING SUCCESS! AAAAGHHH!!
One thing that Goodreads taught me is that it is never wise to start your reviews with fangirl attacks; but honestly who gives an eff when the book is so freaking great?! NOT ME.
5 stars
Now for the reasons for the generous rating:
Morton is easily the best with plot twists out of the author's I have read in my short life. the people who have read her will probably understand why her plot twists left me gawking, just staring at the page and contemplating about life's unfairness. But no, seriously, this woman is a freaking genius. The plot twists are DRASTIC THINGS THAT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE! And no, I am not joking. I literally lost the ability to read for a full five minutes when I found out that
And the writing, oh the writing! The imagery was on point. I was there with the characters all along and she painted every single scene so well that by the end of the book I felt familiar with the castle and had that vague sense of disappointment that the book was over. The book made me feel the characters emotions so vividly.
Don't you just want to keep going on??
Then this example of how she made me hooked on the imagery:
And don't even get me started on how much I love the characters! Maybe this has nothing to do with how Morton wrote them,right now I don't care. I related to some of the characters aka Juniper and Edith so much, on so many different levels that it made this book something so much more close to heart. Edie, June and I shared the love for reading and literary-everything. Kate Morton described the feeling of utter restlessness you feel when you see a shelf of books so accurately and so elegantly. I could also relate to Edie being anti-social and bad at relationships with practically every human being on the planet.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Yay! One of the most integral part of any sort of novel. This novel shows the characters developing as not only an individual but as a group at certain points as well. I will not say that I was happy per se with some of the developments but that was what made the novel special and unique so I am not going to rant about it. The other kind of development was of the relationships, which was again stark and amazing.
I loved the fact that Edie and her Mom got a healthy and friendly relationship going after 30 years of Edie's life, but I also did not like the fact that Saffy became a tad bit more mild and stopped from going to London because of her sisters (Come to think of it, what Saffy did was necessary but that still does not change my view on the fact that it was unfair on her.)
Another amazing thing about this novel is that there are two to three different stories. There are three to four different years this novel is set in. There are the stories of all the different characters going on at the same time. But neither does it become to hard to keep up with nor does it seem boring. Morton ties up all the threads neatly in the end and does so, so magnificently that I have to stand up and applaud.
Never in a thousand years did I think that I would love novel this thick about family secrets and long lost friends. This book has opened to me a whole different genre of books. AND I AM LIKING IT!
One thing that Goodreads taught me is that it is never wise to start your reviews with fangirl attacks; but honestly who gives an eff when the book is so freaking great?! NOT ME.
5 stars
Now for the reasons for the generous rating:
Morton is easily the best with plot twists out of the author's I have read in my short life. the people who have read her will probably understand why her plot twists left me gawking, just staring at the page and contemplating about life's unfairness. But no, seriously, this woman is a freaking genius. The plot twists are DRASTIC THINGS THAT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE! And no, I am not joking. I literally lost the ability to read for a full five minutes when I found out that
Spoiler
Saffy killed Tom and June helped give birth to a baby!And the writing, oh the writing! The imagery was on point. I was there with the characters all along and she painted every single scene so well that by the end of the book I felt familiar with the castle and had that vague sense of disappointment that the book was over. The book made me feel the characters emotions so vividly.
“My fingers positively itched to drift at length along their spines, to arrive at one whose lure I could not pass, to pluck it down, to inch it open, then to close my eyes and inhale the soul-sparking scent of old and literate dust.”
"Oh-but things were never to be the same afterwards!How could they be? Nothing in the thousand books she'd read, nothing she'd imagined, or dreamed, or written, could have prepared Juniper Blythe for the meeting by the pool with Thomas Cavill. When first she'd come upon him in the clearing, glimpsed him floating on the water's surface, she'd presumed she must have conjured him herself.
Don't you just want to keep going on??
Then this example of how she made me hooked on the imagery:
"The yellow parlor seemed more down at heel than I remembered. On my previous visit I had thought the room a warm place, a patch of light in the middle of a dark, stone body. It was different this time, and perhaps the change of seasons was to blame, the loss of summer's brilliance, the sneaking chill that presaged winter, for it wasn't only the alteration in the room that struck me.
And don't even get me started on how much I love the characters! Maybe this has nothing to do with how Morton wrote them,
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Yay! One of the most integral part of any sort of novel. This novel shows the characters developing as not only an individual but as a group at certain points as well. I will not say that I was happy per se with some of the developments but that was what made the novel special and unique so I am not going to rant about it. The other kind of development was of the relationships, which was again stark and amazing.
I loved the fact that Edie and her Mom got a healthy and friendly relationship going after 30 years of Edie's life, but I also did not like the fact that Saffy became a tad bit more mild and stopped from going to London because of her sisters (Come to think of it, what Saffy did was necessary but that still does not change my view on the fact that it was unfair on her.)
Another amazing thing about this novel is that there are two to three different stories. There are three to four different years this novel is set in. There are the stories of all the different characters going on at the same time. But neither does it become to hard to keep up with nor does it seem boring. Morton ties up all the threads neatly in the end and does so, so magnificently that I have to stand up and applaud.
Never in a thousand years did I think that I would love novel this thick about family secrets and long lost friends. This book has opened to me a whole different genre of books. AND I AM LIKING IT!
mallorykjorgensen's review against another edition
5.0
Though I didn't think this book quite lived up to it's predecessors, I would still give it 5 stars. Of course I would have given the others ten stars...
spiritoflibrarian's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jennyt17's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
nonabgo's review against another edition
3.0
I cannot get enough of Kate Morton's books, apparently. I love her writing style, the combination of gothic mystery, drama, tragic love stories and period settings. It took me less than a week to get through this novel, I was so engrossed in the story that I simply could not put it down.
I find her writing poetic enough to suit my romantic side but not too heavy; it's impossible to be bored. The descriptions of the environment are just perfect to put me directly into the action, I could imagine myself at Milderhurst.
The story unfolds slowly, with the mystery being revealed one step at a time. I enjoyed the switch between current day London and the 1940s as wel as the fact that the events are related from multiple perspectives.
I would have been happy though had the book ended after Part 4. I found Part 5 completly unnecessary and the added tangles to the story annoying and useless. There was too much drama surrounding the Blythe family - was it not enough to make half the family crazy, was it really necessary to add to that drama? I'm also not so happy with some of the characters in terms of their development, my main complaint being that Edie was seriously shallow and not at all believable - thus my 3* rating.
I find her writing poetic enough to suit my romantic side but not too heavy; it's impossible to be bored. The descriptions of the environment are just perfect to put me directly into the action, I could imagine myself at Milderhurst.
The story unfolds slowly, with the mystery being revealed one step at a time. I enjoyed the switch between current day London and the 1940s as wel as the fact that the events are related from multiple perspectives.
I would have been happy though had the book ended after Part 4. I found Part 5 completly unnecessary and the added tangles to the story annoying and useless. There was too much drama surrounding the Blythe family - was it not enough to make half the family crazy, was it really necessary to add to that drama? I'm also not so happy with some of the characters in terms of their development, my main complaint being that Edie was seriously shallow and not at all believable - thus my 3* rating.
chloealice96's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.0