A review by desirosie
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally
3.0
This book really grew on me the further I got into it. I wasn't sure about it during the first...100....pages. Keneally's style is a little different, in terms of how he handles dialogue and that took some getting used to, and I was uncertain about the authenticity of the two main characters internal voices and perspective. I got used to both, however, and even though I had ongoing moments of low-level skepticism about this-or-that "thought-bubble," it was a compelling story and the setting and narrative arc were well done. I haven't read a lot of fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) based on the first World War, but its such an interesting topic.
The story really drove hard to the end and I stayed up waaaay too late on Saturday night trying to finish it and I accidentally woke up Frank when I uttered "Oh shit, the flu" too loudly, because, well, you can't forget the 1918 pandemic will have its say!
As to the ending, I can't really say much without spoiling it, but I don't necessarily like what he did there, but I also understand it. The one thing that bugged me about it is that it seemed to suddenly make the story about a person who was not one of the two sisters in a too significant way, and that annoyed me.
The story really drove hard to the end and I stayed up waaaay too late on Saturday night trying to finish it and I accidentally woke up Frank when I uttered "Oh shit, the flu" too loudly, because, well, you can't forget the 1918 pandemic will have its say!
As to the ending, I can't really say much without spoiling it, but I don't necessarily like what he did there, but I also understand it. The one thing that bugged me about it is that it seemed to suddenly make the story about a person who was not one of the two sisters in a too significant way, and that annoyed me.