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A review by allarminda
The Practice House by Laura McNeal
2.0
My second star is for the narrator, who did a great job with her accents.
Why did I even finish this book? is the question I keep asking myself. I kept waiting for something to happen to grab me, like character development, plot development, explanation for the completely inexplicable title, connection to ANY of the characters. None of these things happened ever.
I felt misguided from the onset because the book overview discusses two Mormon missionaries in Scotland in the late 20s converting one of two sisters and the two girls moving to America. I was very intrigued by this and it turned out to completely drop the storyline of the converted sister, leaving us with the second sister.
Okay, I made myself okay with that, following our now obvious main character Aldine's rocky road to living her own life, wanting to figure things out for herself. But Aldine's move to Kansas during the dustbowl of the 1930s and moving in with a family barely feeding themselves, AND with a teenage son, when there was a wealthy widow woman in a large house known to take in boarders seemed so unlikely to me, given the propriety of the time.
I'm not sure what happened with Ms. McNeal's writing of this story to warrant halfway through the book to switch to multiple first-person narrations?! So distracting and confusing and unnecessary. And shame on the editor for allowing it.
But I was letting that be okay, too, allowing for more perspectives in a story I thought was about our main character. What completely baffled me was the announcement 2/3 of the way through the (now very long) book that Aldine is pregnant. WHAT? With all the points of view and narrations happening, you'd think someone would have mentioned something beyond having seen Aldine and Ansel kissing in the barn before we cut to the next scene in which the entire family moves to California leaving Aldine as a waitress in a diner.
Even if I don't like a character I don't give low ratings, as long as there's a character for me not to like!
"The Practice House," as it turns out (not revealed until only three hours remained of a 14 hour and 20 minute narration) was a school in California for young women learning to be good homemakers. This school and its purpose in the storyline were nonexistent other than the fact that one of the characters became employed there. It had ZERO to do with Aldine's storyline.
To quote the book cover: "Laura McNeal's novel is a sweeping and timeless love story about leaving -- and finding -- home." REALLY? Because it isn't and doesn't.
Very disappointing read. I'm so glad I had access to it for free through my Amazon Prime membership.
Why did I even finish this book? is the question I keep asking myself. I kept waiting for something to happen to grab me, like character development, plot development, explanation for the completely inexplicable title, connection to ANY of the characters. None of these things happened ever.
I felt misguided from the onset because the book overview discusses two Mormon missionaries in Scotland in the late 20s converting one of two sisters and the two girls moving to America. I was very intrigued by this and it turned out to completely drop the storyline of the converted sister, leaving us with the second sister.
Okay, I made myself okay with that, following our now obvious main character Aldine's rocky road to living her own life, wanting to figure things out for herself. But Aldine's move to Kansas during the dustbowl of the 1930s and moving in with a family barely feeding themselves, AND with a teenage son, when there was a wealthy widow woman in a large house known to take in boarders seemed so unlikely to me, given the propriety of the time.
I'm not sure what happened with Ms. McNeal's writing of this story to warrant halfway through the book to switch to multiple first-person narrations?! So distracting and confusing and unnecessary. And shame on the editor for allowing it.
But I was letting that be okay, too, allowing for more perspectives in a story I thought was about our main character. What completely baffled me was the announcement 2/3 of the way through the (now very long) book that Aldine is pregnant. WHAT? With all the points of view and narrations happening, you'd think someone would have mentioned something beyond having seen Aldine and Ansel kissing in the barn before we cut to the next scene in which the entire family moves to California leaving Aldine as a waitress in a diner.
Even if I don't like a character I don't give low ratings, as long as there's a character for me not to like!
"The Practice House," as it turns out (not revealed until only three hours remained of a 14 hour and 20 minute narration) was a school in California for young women learning to be good homemakers. This school and its purpose in the storyline were nonexistent other than the fact that one of the characters became employed there. It had ZERO to do with Aldine's storyline.
To quote the book cover: "Laura McNeal's novel is a sweeping and timeless love story about leaving -- and finding -- home." REALLY? Because it isn't and doesn't.
Very disappointing read. I'm so glad I had access to it for free through my Amazon Prime membership.