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A review by heatherhira
The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies
2.0
From the description I was expecting something along the lines of [a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1321738793p2/123715.jpg]'s [b:Endless Night|16366|Endless Night|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1329520805s/16366.jpg|1331617], and that level of intrigue was occasionally implied. However, I found the overall tone of the book distractedly inconsistent, especially when trying to balance the reality television level drama with passive character development. It felt as though the story could not decide if it were a class drama, a historical thriller, or an exotic epic.
Mind you, I read it rather quickly and it did not occur to me to give up partway. In that sense, I found the book engaging and the pacing was rather good.
The contrast of the outward conflicts (economic straights, social-political unrest) with the inward struggles (mainly guilt and depression) played well with the setting. While these conflicts--in addition to a central theme of racism--feature heavily in the plot, the handling of said topics when interspersed with the family drama often seemed overly trite, especially considering that every non-white character is portrayed as a saint and remains a flat character for the duration of the novel.
Mind you, I read it rather quickly and it did not occur to me to give up partway. In that sense, I found the book engaging and the pacing was rather good.
The contrast of the outward conflicts (economic straights, social-political unrest) with the inward struggles (mainly guilt and depression) played well with the setting. While these conflicts--in addition to a central theme of racism--feature heavily in the plot, the handling of said topics when interspersed with the family drama often seemed overly trite, especially considering that every non-white character is portrayed as a saint and remains a flat character for the duration of the novel.