X NO NO NO X
Meh! Froth and bubble
Syrup on cardboard cutouts
My goodness! Wish I knew what all the pre release fuss was about ... highest praise for the publishing company ... and a shame that the book did not live up to the hype.
This was a girlie read (and OMG ... that is so derogatory to girls!). OK, it was a simple beach-read aimed mainly at a female audience. Not a literary experience.
The characters were so stereotyped and never jumped off the page. They were over written to give them life (yes, he was in the war, yes, tell me again in case I forgot!). The plot idea was fine but not overly developed, it just rolled along like the author's notes.
The story is set in Western Australia after World War 1. This is the third book of that era that I have read in the last year. Bereft by Chris Wormersley does it with so much more eloquence and vividness of the horrors of WW1and the scars of the returning soldiers. Gilgamesh by Joan London (also set in Western Australia) does the human impact with so much more poignancy and breadth.
First Tuesday Book Club
