A review by ciska
The Wednesday Daughters by Meg Waite Clayton
2.0
*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review*
Author
Meg Waite Clayton is the bestselling author of The Wednesday Sisters, The Four Ms. Bradwells and The Language of Light. Her books have been published in six language and her essays and stories have aired on public radio and appeared in national news publications. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Clayton lives with her family in Palo Alto.
Review
When I first saw this book it caught my attention due to to fact it was a book holding a story on a long gone author. I love books on books or old authors and especially when they take situations from the old books and translate how relevant these still are in the 21th century. That was well done in this book and I liked reading the quotes from Beatrix Potter's various stories as well as her diaries.
There was one big problem though I encountered with reading this book which more or less ruined the whole book for me and that was the point of view. There where two parts. The diary/notebook entries from Ally where she discusses her discoveries concerning the search for her mothers family as well as the investigation for the Beatrix Potter book. These where okay to read though the dialog she had with Beatrix Potter did disturb me a bit but this could be the result of the most frustrating thing of this book. The point of view in the NOW chapters. In the NOW chapters we are supposed to live inside Hope's head but Hope obviously has some psychic abilities because she writes whole parts from the insides of Julie and Anne Pages heads. Things both Julie and Anne Page think or do while Hope is not even near without any indication that Hope wrote down the story afterwards after receiving all the information from the other woman. This makes it difficult to connect to the people because I was never sure who's head I was in.
The story itself was the ideal story for me, family secrets, secrets between friends uncovered because the situation is just asking for it but the whole struggle with the point of view made it difficult for me to really get engaged. I know there are people out there who will not be bothered with it as much as me. If you are not sure be sure to pick up the book in a bookstore and check the third chapter because IF you can deal with the point of view thing I am sure this book is a great read!
--update--
an anonymous commenter on my blog pointed out to me that it does mention indication that it was told afterwards
"- e.g., p. 11 "As with much of this story, what I know of the rest of that evening ... I know from the REHASHING AFTERWARDS. We Wednesday Daughters, like our mothers, love to tell stories on ourselves."
With this knowledge I read to the first part which I remember being annoyed with which is the chapter where Anna Page wakes Julie and she is thinking about the conversation she had with Jamie and I still cannot see this told from Hopes perspective. For me this feels as if it is told from Julies perspective and as Hope is not involved there at all it does not click in my head that she is telling the story now making it difficult for me to really connect there.
Author
Meg Waite Clayton is the bestselling author of The Wednesday Sisters, The Four Ms. Bradwells and The Language of Light. Her books have been published in six language and her essays and stories have aired on public radio and appeared in national news publications. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Clayton lives with her family in Palo Alto.
Review
When I first saw this book it caught my attention due to to fact it was a book holding a story on a long gone author. I love books on books or old authors and especially when they take situations from the old books and translate how relevant these still are in the 21th century. That was well done in this book and I liked reading the quotes from Beatrix Potter's various stories as well as her diaries.
There was one big problem though I encountered with reading this book which more or less ruined the whole book for me and that was the point of view. There where two parts. The diary/notebook entries from Ally where she discusses her discoveries concerning the search for her mothers family as well as the investigation for the Beatrix Potter book. These where okay to read though the dialog she had with Beatrix Potter did disturb me a bit but this could be the result of the most frustrating thing of this book. The point of view in the NOW chapters. In the NOW chapters we are supposed to live inside Hope's head but Hope obviously has some psychic abilities because she writes whole parts from the insides of Julie and Anne Pages heads. Things both Julie and Anne Page think or do while Hope is not even near without any indication that Hope wrote down the story afterwards after receiving all the information from the other woman. This makes it difficult to connect to the people because I was never sure who's head I was in.
The story itself was the ideal story for me, family secrets, secrets between friends uncovered because the situation is just asking for it but the whole struggle with the point of view made it difficult for me to really get engaged. I know there are people out there who will not be bothered with it as much as me. If you are not sure be sure to pick up the book in a bookstore and check the third chapter because IF you can deal with the point of view thing I am sure this book is a great read!
--update--
an anonymous commenter on my blog pointed out to me that it does mention indication that it was told afterwards
"- e.g., p. 11 "As with much of this story, what I know of the rest of that evening ... I know from the REHASHING AFTERWARDS. We Wednesday Daughters, like our mothers, love to tell stories on ourselves."
With this knowledge I read to the first part which I remember being annoyed with which is the chapter where Anna Page wakes Julie and she is thinking about the conversation she had with Jamie and I still cannot see this told from Hopes perspective. For me this feels as if it is told from Julies perspective and as Hope is not involved there at all it does not click in my head that she is telling the story now making it difficult for me to really connect there.