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A review by libkatem
Still Life by A.S. Byatt
3.0
For the record, I love A.S. Byatt. And I'm a firm believer of reading several books by the same author to get a feel for their style.
I was hoping that if I read this book soon after "The Virgin in the Garden" it would go better. But it didn't. While I felt slightly more invested in the characters, there was nothing that made me need to turn the page. I don't really like Frederica. She's just... I don't know what it is, but I can't bring myself to like her.
And this needs to be said. I hate it in books when the author makes direct observations to the reader. It's a habit of Victorian authors and Byatt makes use of it here. I prefer to suspend reality and pretend that these characters are real. When the author makes the observation (rule 1 - show, don't tell!) it knocks me out of the story.
It's part two of a quartet, and maybe I'll read the others someday, but I think I'll be reading other Byatt books.
I was hoping that if I read this book soon after "The Virgin in the Garden" it would go better. But it didn't. While I felt slightly more invested in the characters, there was nothing that made me need to turn the page. I don't really like Frederica. She's just... I don't know what it is, but I can't bring myself to like her.
And this needs to be said. I hate it in books when the author makes direct observations to the reader. It's a habit of Victorian authors and Byatt makes use of it here. I prefer to suspend reality and pretend that these characters are real. When the author makes the observation (rule 1 - show, don't tell!) it knocks me out of the story.
It's part two of a quartet, and maybe I'll read the others someday, but I think I'll be reading other Byatt books.