riley_ng15's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
mznomer's review against another edition
3.0
This book was very well written, and the characters were mostly complex and interesting. I enjoyed reading it for the most part. My problem was that every chapter or so, Byatt would take a break from the story to give a history lesson. Yes, the characters and narrative were often influenced by the events going on in the world, but not by much. I would have preferred to get the historical context in a way more natural to the story. I usually found myself just skimming through the history lesson pages.
lazygal's review against another edition
5.0
Before I go any further, I should say that I love Byatt's work; when I read about this book, I sent to Canada to get a copy as the US edition hadn't yet been released.
This is a Family Saga, only covering many intertwined families and friends rather than many generations. The detail of British history (the Victorian Era, Fabianism, pottery, children's books, etc.) is Byatt's exacting best, giving the reader places to pause as the plot moves forward. The characters are all complex; some you start out liking and end up realizing that they're not worthy of that, while some are the reverse. Only a few remain steady, and those are generally minor characters. Ending with WWI, many of the boys we first meet die (and almost all the deaths are described) while the girls are changed almost beyond recognition.
As with Babel Tower, there's another story (ok, in this case, several stories) intertwined with the Real Story. Here, these are the children's stories Olive writes, the Children's Books. They seemed nicer than the BT tale, although each had a kernel of nasty inside. I also appreciated that the sex was implied or gently described rather than reaching BT's graphic quality.
I know some people have been scarred by reading Byatt. This is the book for those people to give her another try.
This is a Family Saga, only covering many intertwined families and friends rather than many generations. The detail of British history (the Victorian Era, Fabianism, pottery, children's books, etc.) is Byatt's exacting best, giving the reader places to pause as the plot moves forward. The characters are all complex; some you start out liking and end up realizing that they're not worthy of that, while some are the reverse. Only a few remain steady, and those are generally minor characters. Ending with WWI, many of the boys we first meet die (and almost all the deaths are described) while the girls are changed almost beyond recognition.
As with Babel Tower, there's another story (ok, in this case, several stories) intertwined with the Real Story. Here, these are the children's stories Olive writes, the Children's Books. They seemed nicer than the BT tale, although each had a kernel of nasty inside. I also appreciated that the sex was implied or gently described rather than reaching BT's graphic quality.
I know some people have been scarred by reading Byatt. This is the book for those people to give her another try.
mazza57's review against another edition
2.0
This is a family saga of epic proportions. It is also a social history. It has an unusual cadence and some beautiful writing but as a whole it does not really work or capture the imagination.
stacydodds's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
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
2.0
ladyhighwayman's review
3.0
Note to self: Never expect another Byatt work to be as great as Possession; you will only be disappointed.
That out of the way, this is one of those book that has many different layers, takes place over the year of several decades, incorporates a ton of history and has many, many different characters.
Olive Wellwood is a famous writer, interviewed with her children gathered at her knee. For each, she writes a private book, bound in its own colour and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh the children play in a storybook world — but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and friends, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets.
This summary does not even begin to tell what this book is about. I'm not feeling particularly deep at the moment, but I will be as thorough as I can.
At times I felt as though despite that hoard of characters that showed up in The Children's Book, this was not a character driven book. There were a few chapters that did not even include a single character. These chapters felt like they were take out of a history book. It was great to learn about this era - the end of the Victorian era and Edwardian era - but sometimes I was just not in the mood. It felt like Byatt tried to cram as much history as she could. The characters themselves were used to show how the world was changing during this time. The great thing was that you saw the world through different perspectives: upper and lower class; male and female. The Children's Book mostly followed the children as they grew up, but also showed the lives of the adults, in a way so you could understand why the children ended up the way they did.
I didn't particularly have a favorite character because I felt, in a way, that all the characters were out of reach. We never really got to 'know' any of them. We saw them grow up, make bad decisions, fall victim to the times, and fight against society, but we were never able to get too close to them. Still, as events unfolded, I felt sorry for a number of them, particularly at the end, which takes place during WWI.
The Children's Book didn't strike me as wonderful or horrible; it's one of those books that, for me, hits somewhere in the middle.
That out of the way, this is one of those book that has many different layers, takes place over the year of several decades, incorporates a ton of history and has many, many different characters.
Olive Wellwood is a famous writer, interviewed with her children gathered at her knee. For each, she writes a private book, bound in its own colour and placed on a shelf. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh the children play in a storybook world — but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and friends, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets.
This summary does not even begin to tell what this book is about. I'm not feeling particularly deep at the moment, but I will be as thorough as I can.
At times I felt as though despite that hoard of characters that showed up in The Children's Book, this was not a character driven book. There were a few chapters that did not even include a single character. These chapters felt like they were take out of a history book. It was great to learn about this era - the end of the Victorian era and Edwardian era - but sometimes I was just not in the mood. It felt like Byatt tried to cram as much history as she could. The characters themselves were used to show how the world was changing during this time. The great thing was that you saw the world through different perspectives: upper and lower class; male and female. The Children's Book mostly followed the children as they grew up, but also showed the lives of the adults, in a way so you could understand why the children ended up the way they did.
I didn't particularly have a favorite character because I felt, in a way, that all the characters were out of reach. We never really got to 'know' any of them. We saw them grow up, make bad decisions, fall victim to the times, and fight against society, but we were never able to get too close to them. Still, as events unfolded, I felt sorry for a number of them, particularly at the end, which takes place during WWI.
The Children's Book didn't strike me as wonderful or horrible; it's one of those books that, for me, hits somewhere in the middle.
khyland's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-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? Yes
4.5
kingfan30's review against another edition
2.0
I’ve finally reached the end, boy did this take a while. There are so many characters in this book that I just couldn’t get into my head who was related to who. And the storyline just seems to jump around so much, sometimes after just a paragraph or two. Occasionally is get to a bit that I though I might get my teeth into and enjoy and after a page or two off it would go on another tangent. Not my sort of book I’m afraid.