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A review by walskishere
The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
sad
fast-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? Yes
1.0
Oh, my god, this book was SO bad.
This book didn't know what it wanted to be. There were elements of Romance, Thriller, Historical, Literary, and probably more that I'm missing. This isn't to say that books can only be one genre; obviously that's not true. But there's a way to do it, and this book seemed to flip to a new genre every couple of chapters. It seemed like once the book got settled into once genre, it was ripped away from relevant themes, and thrust onto a new genre.
The character relationships were so unbelievable. Insta-love is an understatement for what Tom and Hannah were. I'm pretty sure the book says, almost verbatim, Tom looked at Hannah and was in love. There was no allusion to tension, no build up of tension. Why am I, as the reader, supposed to believe these two are supposed to be together if there's no time spent developing the relationship. This goes for pretty much all of the relationships in the book, though the parent-child relationships were done a bit better.
The writing depending on whose head we were in was definitely distinct enough, however, looking back, it's very hard to discern which chapters were whose, and if there were even switches within chapters. This book could've benefitted from a better depiction of whose POV we're reading when.
I do wish there was more on the Holocaust portion of the book with Hannah, and even more time spent developing her background with Leon and Michael.
There are also many, many references that I don't think people outside of Australia would understand, making the book not easily accessible to a wide reader-base. There were colloquial terms used, but no effort to provide context for readers who won't know what a particular phrase/slang word means. The geography of the world was too hard to understand, and the technical description of the homesteads didn't help, since many of the reference points were farm buildings/equipment; if you don't have an appropriate background knowledge, be it agricultural or Australian, be prepared to not understand the surroundings. I also felt a lack of elaboration on some of the war-time descriptions, specifically the geography.
This book didn't know what it wanted to be. There were elements of Romance, Thriller, Historical, Literary, and probably more that I'm missing. This isn't to say that books can only be one genre; obviously that's not true. But there's a way to do it, and this book seemed to flip to a new genre every couple of chapters. It seemed like once the book got settled into once genre, it was ripped away from relevant themes, and thrust onto a new genre.
The character relationships were so unbelievable. Insta-love is an understatement for what Tom and Hannah were. I'm pretty sure the book says, almost verbatim, Tom looked at Hannah and was in love. There was no allusion to tension, no build up of tension. Why am I, as the reader, supposed to believe these two are supposed to be together if there's no time spent developing the relationship. This goes for pretty much all of the relationships in the book, though the parent-child relationships were done a bit better.
The writing depending on whose head we were in was definitely distinct enough, however, looking back, it's very hard to discern which chapters were whose, and if there were even switches within chapters. This book could've benefitted from a better depiction of whose POV we're reading when.
I do wish there was more on the Holocaust portion of the book with Hannah, and even more time spent developing her background with Leon and Michael.
There are also many, many references that I don't think people outside of Australia would understand, making the book not easily accessible to a wide reader-base. There were colloquial terms used, but no effort to provide context for readers who won't know what a particular phrase/slang word means. The geography of the world was too hard to understand, and the technical description of the homesteads didn't help, since many of the reference points were farm buildings/equipment; if you don't have an appropriate background knowledge, be it agricultural or Australian, be prepared to not understand the surroundings. I also felt a lack of elaboration on some of the war-time descriptions, specifically the geography.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and War
Moderate: Antisemitism and Murder
Minor: Racism