agingerg's review
2.0
Another quick Dodie Smith read. Entertaining. I wasn't as emotional about the book as many of the reviewers but I do hear all their points.
stagasaurus's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this. Surprised me to read lots of reviews of people who hated it. I liked all the characters and romped my way happily though it. Not perhaps as incredible as I Capture the Castle, but I got a lot of pleasure from reading it still.
pipfromspace's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jovvijo's review
3.0
I rather liked this book for all it was not what I was expecting!
It helps that I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting...
The Good:
It is an unusual setting, with a popular actor and his wife who work in the theater and what happens when she meets a dashing gent who discovers her "dark" secret.
What will happen? Will Jill stay in her happy marriage, or will she leave because of...something missing!
Dum dum DUM!!!!
The Bad:
Didn't much like the characters, except maybe for Miles, who, poor bugger, really does get the rough end of the stick, but otherwise the kids were pushy, the dad had the personality of a lively lump of lead, and Jill well, she just wasn't that nice, was she?
And crumbs,but the revelations were easy to guess! And things then happened far too conveniently to move the story along! Just the sort of things that make this book feel a little like a woolly jersey that keeps you warm, but itches too much.
The Ugly:
The cover of the book I read, it had three creepy female silhouettes on it and made you feel like it was going to be a book about insanity or something dark and crawling! *shivers*
So read it if you're a fan of Dodie and feel she can write no wrong, otherwise go for '101 dalmatians' if you like dogs, or 'I capture the castle' for the story we all deserve!
It helps that I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting...
The Good:
It is an unusual setting, with a popular actor and his wife who work in the theater and what happens when she meets a dashing gent who discovers her "dark" secret.
What will happen? Will Jill stay in her happy marriage, or will she leave because of...something missing!
Dum dum DUM!!!!
The Bad:
Didn't much like the characters, except maybe for Miles, who, poor bugger, really does get the rough end of the stick, but otherwise the kids were pushy, the dad had the personality of a lively lump of lead, and Jill well, she just wasn't that nice, was she?
And crumbs,but the revelations were easy to guess! And things then happened far too conveniently to move the story along! Just the sort of things that make this book feel a little like a woolly jersey that keeps you warm, but itches too much.
The Ugly:
The cover of the book I read, it had three creepy female silhouettes on it and made you feel like it was going to be a book about insanity or something dark and crawling! *shivers*
So read it if you're a fan of Dodie and feel she can write no wrong, otherwise go for '101 dalmatians' if you like dogs, or 'I capture the castle' for the story we all deserve!
yeahdeadslow's review
4.0
I'd say this is the Dodie Smith book I've enjoyed most since I Capture the Castle. (Though I'm set to read The Town in Bloom soon and that one seems to get the most positivity [again, not counting I Capture the Castle].)
This is hardly a fantastic book, I can't shake the feeling it could have been a lot better. I enjoyed it for the most part, though. A few things did bother me, mostly the fact I never liked Geoffrey Thornton; I wish Jill had stayed with Miles. Their relationship, though abnormal, was sweet and seemed to work well for them. She just kind of... abandoned him. Still, it was enjoyable, overall. The trick to reading Dodie Smith's other books is to conveniently forget that she's the author of that delicious quintessence of a novel, I Capture the Castle. You can hardly tell they're one and the same by the writing, it's quite easy to pretend they're not the same person at all. (Is that horrible of me to say? Oh well.)
This is hardly a fantastic book, I can't shake the feeling it could have been a lot better. I enjoyed it for the most part, though. A few things did bother me, mostly the fact I never liked Geoffrey Thornton; I wish Jill had stayed with Miles. Their relationship, though abnormal, was sweet and seemed to work well for them. She just kind of... abandoned him. Still, it was enjoyable, overall. The trick to reading Dodie Smith's other books is to conveniently forget that she's the author of that delicious quintessence of a novel, I Capture the Castle. You can hardly tell they're one and the same by the writing, it's quite easy to pretend they're not the same person at all. (Is that horrible of me to say? Oh well.)
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
Review written in 2012.
The author of It Ends With Revelations is most widely recognised for her coming-of-age novel I Capture the Castle and The 101 Dalmatians, which was adapted into a Disney film in both 1961 and 1996. Dodie Smith, however, has written many more books which deserve wider recognition. Corsair’s wonderful reprints of three of her novels – It Ends With Revelations, The New Moon With the Old and The Town in Bloom – have recently been published with beautiful cover designs.
It Ends With Revelations was first published in 1967. The novel takes its fitting title from a line in Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance. It opens with the character of Jill, a former assistant stage manager and wife of renowned actor Miles Quentin. Jill and Miles are London residents who find themselves in Spa Town for a summer festival in which Miles is participating. The festival has been organised in order to celebrate the opening of the town’s rejuvenated theatre.
Whilst Miles is rehearsing, Jill soon meets Geoffrey Thornton, a local Member of Parliament. Geoffrey, a widower, and his daughters, ‘very determined helpers’ Robin and Kit, become an intrinsic part of the story as soon as they are introduced. All of these characters bring a dimension of vivacity to the novel. Kit is an intelligent, spirited girl, ‘a prodigy of general intelligence’, and it is clear that Robin is overshadowed by her younger sister throughout.
The plot of the novel revolves around the theatre in many ways. A lot of the characters introduced are involved in the stage production which Miles is acting in, or are viewing its opening night. After the play’s run has finished, the story moves back to London where all of the characters reside. The families continue to see one another and relationships grow accordingly. The Thorntons take Jill under their wing and become set on showing her things which she has been missing out on in life. Undercurrents of what might happen are formed in the reader’s mind.
Characters seem alive from the moment Smith focuses her attention upon them, and her descriptions of them are superb. Jill describes herself as ‘so excessively plain as a girl that I’ve never got used to being just a little less plain. I seemed to improve when my hair turned grey.’ Miles is ‘wonderfully tall and wide’, Geoffrey ‘quite good looking but in a most unspectacular way’, fifteen-year-old Kit ‘something of a laggard’ and seventeen-year-old Robin, whose ‘white boots give her such confidence’. Although all of these characters feature heavily throughout the novel, the emphasis is still placed upon Jill. Smith focuses upon her reactions to certain situations, and her thoughts and feelings take prominence all the way through.
The third person narrative perspective works very well with the story. The majority of the dialogue is amusing. Smith makes every situation, even those in which one or more of her characters are uncertain, have rather a comic edge, merely by relaying what is said by other characters around them. The descriptions are wonderful throughout and appear to be rather original in places. Characters ‘eeled’ their way out of the theatre, the play was built upon ‘old bones’, and the trees compared to shaving brushes.
It Ends With Revelations is vivid from the outset with a wonderfully intriguing opening line: ‘After she had unpacked in the old hotel bedroom, Jill leaned out of one of its two tall windows and came face to face with a lion’. Each chapter in the novel has been given a wonderful title, some amusing – ‘A Double Row of Shaving Brushes’ and ‘A Teddy Bear and the Kama Sutra’, some romantic – ‘A House Stained by Sunset’ and ‘Snow on a Warm August Afternoon’, and some whimsical – ‘Birth of a Teeterer’ and ‘Three Children on a Doorstep’.
Elements of romance are included in the novel, but is untrue to say that It Ends With Revelations is merely a romance novel. It is far more than that. It contains many twists and turns, none of which are expected, and the narrative works so well that the reader is genuinely surprised at what happens next. We find out surprising elements about each of the characters as the novel progresses.
It Ends With Revelations is a novel of growth and sexuality, of discovery and friendship, of scandals and kindnesses galore. It feels more grown up than I Capture the Castle. It is an incredibly enjoyable story which certainly deserves to be back in print.
The author of It Ends With Revelations is most widely recognised for her coming-of-age novel I Capture the Castle and The 101 Dalmatians, which was adapted into a Disney film in both 1961 and 1996. Dodie Smith, however, has written many more books which deserve wider recognition. Corsair’s wonderful reprints of three of her novels – It Ends With Revelations, The New Moon With the Old and The Town in Bloom – have recently been published with beautiful cover designs.
It Ends With Revelations was first published in 1967. The novel takes its fitting title from a line in Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance. It opens with the character of Jill, a former assistant stage manager and wife of renowned actor Miles Quentin. Jill and Miles are London residents who find themselves in Spa Town for a summer festival in which Miles is participating. The festival has been organised in order to celebrate the opening of the town’s rejuvenated theatre.
Whilst Miles is rehearsing, Jill soon meets Geoffrey Thornton, a local Member of Parliament. Geoffrey, a widower, and his daughters, ‘very determined helpers’ Robin and Kit, become an intrinsic part of the story as soon as they are introduced. All of these characters bring a dimension of vivacity to the novel. Kit is an intelligent, spirited girl, ‘a prodigy of general intelligence’, and it is clear that Robin is overshadowed by her younger sister throughout.
The plot of the novel revolves around the theatre in many ways. A lot of the characters introduced are involved in the stage production which Miles is acting in, or are viewing its opening night. After the play’s run has finished, the story moves back to London where all of the characters reside. The families continue to see one another and relationships grow accordingly. The Thorntons take Jill under their wing and become set on showing her things which she has been missing out on in life. Undercurrents of what might happen are formed in the reader’s mind.
Characters seem alive from the moment Smith focuses her attention upon them, and her descriptions of them are superb. Jill describes herself as ‘so excessively plain as a girl that I’ve never got used to being just a little less plain. I seemed to improve when my hair turned grey.’ Miles is ‘wonderfully tall and wide’, Geoffrey ‘quite good looking but in a most unspectacular way’, fifteen-year-old Kit ‘something of a laggard’ and seventeen-year-old Robin, whose ‘white boots give her such confidence’. Although all of these characters feature heavily throughout the novel, the emphasis is still placed upon Jill. Smith focuses upon her reactions to certain situations, and her thoughts and feelings take prominence all the way through.
The third person narrative perspective works very well with the story. The majority of the dialogue is amusing. Smith makes every situation, even those in which one or more of her characters are uncertain, have rather a comic edge, merely by relaying what is said by other characters around them. The descriptions are wonderful throughout and appear to be rather original in places. Characters ‘eeled’ their way out of the theatre, the play was built upon ‘old bones’, and the trees compared to shaving brushes.
It Ends With Revelations is vivid from the outset with a wonderfully intriguing opening line: ‘After she had unpacked in the old hotel bedroom, Jill leaned out of one of its two tall windows and came face to face with a lion’. Each chapter in the novel has been given a wonderful title, some amusing – ‘A Double Row of Shaving Brushes’ and ‘A Teddy Bear and the Kama Sutra’, some romantic – ‘A House Stained by Sunset’ and ‘Snow on a Warm August Afternoon’, and some whimsical – ‘Birth of a Teeterer’ and ‘Three Children on a Doorstep’.
Elements of romance are included in the novel, but is untrue to say that It Ends With Revelations is merely a romance novel. It is far more than that. It contains many twists and turns, none of which are expected, and the narrative works so well that the reader is genuinely surprised at what happens next. We find out surprising elements about each of the characters as the novel progresses.
It Ends With Revelations is a novel of growth and sexuality, of discovery and friendship, of scandals and kindnesses galore. It feels more grown up than I Capture the Castle. It is an incredibly enjoyable story which certainly deserves to be back in print.
angharadop's review
3.0
This was just okay really. I never felt super connected to the characters, I only ever really felt a slight attachment towards the main character Jill. I do enjoy Dodie Smith's writing however, but for me it was nowhere near as enjoyable as I Capture the Castle.
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