A review by thisbookishcat
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
I wanted to love this because I've seen how highly its been rated, and this book really should have been up my alley, but oof it was a bit rough.
I didn't find this as captivating as I should have. It's not that the characters were unlikeable, I was ultimately rooting for them afterall, but it's that they fell a bit flat for me. All of these moments that in any other book I would have been balling over just kind of existed in this book and didn't draw me in emotionally.
And don't even get me started on how this book is obviously written by an American. I'm not knocking Americans, but I've talked to enough aged Europeans during various freedom festivals to know their feelings towards Americans, and it's not as daydreamy and bubbly as portrayed in this novel...
Come to think of it, I've never heard anyone French talk dreamily of anything except for holidays in Southern France and their favourite local patisserie...let alone someone from outside France.
Lastly, throwing in all of the French words for different family members at the end was jarring. My brain didn't catch it at first since French is one of my languages, but when I did notice I did a bit of a double take as it was so out of place all of a sudden, especially since throughout the rest of the book everyone is referred to by the English vocabulary.
All in all, not the best, not the worst, but I wouldn't recommend this one.
I didn't find this as captivating as I should have. It's not that the characters were unlikeable, I was ultimately rooting for them afterall, but it's that they fell a bit flat for me. All of these moments that in any other book I would have been balling over just kind of existed in this book and didn't draw me in emotionally.
And don't even get me started on how this book is obviously written by an American. I'm not knocking Americans, but I've talked to enough aged Europeans during various freedom festivals to know their feelings towards Americans, and it's not as daydreamy and bubbly as portrayed in this novel...
Come to think of it, I've never heard anyone French talk dreamily of anything except for holidays in Southern France and their favourite local patisserie...let alone someone from outside France.
Lastly, throwing in all of the French words for different family members at the end was jarring. My brain didn't catch it at first since French is one of my languages, but when I did notice I did a bit of a double take as it was so out of place all of a sudden, especially since throughout the rest of the book everyone is referred to by the English vocabulary.
All in all, not the best, not the worst, but I wouldn't recommend this one.