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liz_ross's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
The pace is great. And that is pretty much the best thing I can say about this book. Damn it, Follett. Showing the powerful people don't always win is obviously a great thing too. So is showing how things worked in 1996, when it comes to rape crimes (which makes me glad things are far better, even if still far from perfect). But obviously the powerful couldn't win when they are the bad guys. And the second one would only have worked if Lisa hadn't ended up forgotten and only brought up again when it was convinient for the plot.
The fact that every single reaction feels artificial doesn't help either. The problem wasn't the reaction itself. Everyone is allowed to react differently and I no one can judge that. But I sure as hell can judge the wya it is written and that made me want hit my head against a wall because there was nothing human about Follett's description. He seemed ditached from what was being written. And it was like that for the entire book, except in this one scene with Jeannie and Steve, which I will talk about later.
Knowing exactly what was going to happen didn't help either. What was Follett thinking when he named this book The Third Twin?? I just ended up frustrated it was taking the characters so long to figure things out even if I knew it wasn't really their fault. Only one plot twist surprised me. And it was quite well-done, I do have to give Follett that much.
But definitely this is far from one of Follett's best books.
Full review coming soon!
The fact that every single reaction feels artificial doesn't help either. The problem wasn't the reaction itself. Everyone is allowed to react differently and I no one can judge that. But I sure as hell can judge the wya it is written and that made me want hit my head against a wall because there was nothing human about Follett's description. He seemed ditached from what was being written. And it was like that for the entire book, except in this one scene with Jeannie and Steve, which I will talk about later.
Knowing exactly what was going to happen didn't help either. What was Follett thinking when he named this book The Third Twin?? I just ended up frustrated it was taking the characters so long to figure things out even if I knew it wasn't really their fault. Only one plot twist surprised me. And it was quite well-done, I do have to give Follett that much.
But definitely this is far from one of Follett's best books.
Full review coming soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape and Police brutality
Minor: Infidelity and Dementia
kaadie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? No
2.0
I did not really enjoy this book. The first and most pertinent reason was that the big plot twist was easily deduced very early on in the book. This just made the rest of the book tedious and annoying as we painstakingly watched the characters try to puzzle out a seemingly obvious solution. The obviousness of the main plot twist (the origins of the twins) is probably due to the fact that the twist is due to, what was at that time, a relatively new an unknown medical procedure. Unfortunately in this day and age in vitro fertilization is not a bizarre and new scientific discovery but rather an established and reasonably accepted procedure. This in turn renders most of the mystery and tension around the twins' origins moot.
Ken Follet is not terrible at writing a female character but there are still some inconsistencies that lend a superficity to the characters. Additionally there was a lot of strange and focused attention on woman and their bodies in this book, with overt and weird sexual overtures concerning both. Which seemingly clashed with the conversations and subsequent condemnation of sexual assault and rape in the book.
I also felt that the books final opinions on the issues that it brought up were somewhat ambiguous. The book did valiantly address some big issues like rape culture, eugenics and sexism however the resolution of the plot left me personally, unsatisfied.The old boys club, consisting of Berrington and his friends, wreaked absolute havoc on people's lives, including impregnating eight unsuspecting women and being freaking nazis and yet faced no consequences other than social disgrace and the loss of potential wealth and power . Additionally Harvey Jones , who brutally rapes a woman faces only 5 years in prison. While these are perhaps realistic endings it certainly left me wanting. These were bad people who committed terrible crimes that our protagonists had to risk life and limb to unearth and their punishment simply feels insufficient.
Despite all of these complaints I will acknowledge that considering the time in which the book was written and the fact that it was written by a man, the novel is surprisingly adept at addressing rape culture. While the conversation is in no way subtle or nuanced it is definitely there and that still deserves congratulations. (Such are the low standards set by every other novel that likes to parade toxic masculinity as the unquestionable norm).
I did feel like the ending was unnecessarily dragged out, particularlySteve's deception of Berrington, contacting the clones and the press conference. We know the story is going to end and we know the protagonists are going to emerge victorious so all of the little twists and sudden discoveries of Jeannie's plan were annoying and just served to stall the inevitable ending and offer cheap tension.
Overall my opinion of the book was that it was boring but a relatively engaging read for say the first 200 pages, however after that it plateaus. I definitely think depending on when you read the book and how much you know aboutin vitro fertilization will definitely impact your enjoyment of the book.
Ken Follet is not terrible at writing a female character but there are still some inconsistencies that lend a superficity to the characters. Additionally there was a lot of strange and focused attention on woman and their bodies in this book, with overt and weird sexual overtures concerning both. Which seemingly clashed with the conversations and subsequent condemnation of sexual assault and rape in the book.
I also felt that the books final opinions on the issues that it brought up were somewhat ambiguous. The book did valiantly address some big issues like rape culture, eugenics and sexism however the resolution of the plot left me personally, unsatisfied.
Despite all of these complaints I will acknowledge that considering the time in which the book was written and the fact that it was written by a man, the novel is surprisingly adept at addressing rape culture. While the conversation is in no way subtle or nuanced it is definitely there and that still deserves congratulations. (Such are the low standards set by every other novel that likes to parade toxic masculinity as the unquestionable norm).
I did feel like the ending was unnecessarily dragged out, particularly
Overall my opinion of the book was that it was boring but a relatively engaging read for say the first 200 pages, however after that it plateaus. I definitely think depending on when you read the book and how much you know about
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault