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A review by melbsreads
Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell
4.0
3.5 stars.
Definitely not Gaskell's best work, but still a pretty compelling story. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, this is a book that basically revolves around a love triangle that gets extra complicated when one corner of the love triangle gets pressganged. His romantic rival witnesses this and doesn't say anything to their mutual love interest.
Here's the thing though: This entire story revolves around Charley NOT ONCE sending word. Like, 18 months pass between Charley being pressganged and Sylvia marrying Philip. And then another 18 months pass between their wedding and Charley miraculously returning from the "dead". THREE STINKING YEARS.
Admittedly, he's meant to have been in a French prison for part of that. But DUDE. WRITE A FUCKING LETTER. Don't just reappear after three years away and expect a sixteen year old girl to have waited THREE FREAKING YEARS for you without having heard a single word. I mean, clearly the whole point is to set Philip up as the villain. But it's hard to see Charley as the romantic hero of the piece when he's so clearly a bit of a dick.
Essentially, I could turn this into a stereotypical YA book in which a teenage girl falls for a mysterious bad boy while ignoring the sweet, adorable boy next door. She and the sweet, adorable boy next door end up together, but she never stops pining for the mysterious bad boy.
Look, despite all of that, I actually did enjoy this one. The language took me a little while to get my head around - lots of Northern style speech, but also a lot of "thou"s and "thine"s because some of the characters are Quakers. There was a lot less in it about whaling than I anticipated, which was a pleasant surprise, and though the ending was abrupt, it did actually manage to give me feels. So. There's that.
Essentially, I love Gaskell's storytelling a lot, particularly her ability to tell working class stories within a larger historical narrative. Not her best, but still pretty good.
Definitely not Gaskell's best work, but still a pretty compelling story. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, this is a book that basically revolves around a love triangle that gets extra complicated when one corner of the love triangle gets pressganged. His romantic rival witnesses this and doesn't say anything to their mutual love interest.
Here's the thing though: This entire story revolves around Charley NOT ONCE sending word. Like, 18 months pass between Charley being pressganged and Sylvia marrying Philip. And then another 18 months pass between their wedding and Charley miraculously returning from the "dead". THREE STINKING YEARS.
Admittedly, he's meant to have been in a French prison for part of that. But DUDE. WRITE A FUCKING LETTER. Don't just reappear after three years away and expect a sixteen year old girl to have waited THREE FREAKING YEARS for you without having heard a single word. I mean, clearly the whole point is to set Philip up as the villain. But it's hard to see Charley as the romantic hero of the piece when he's so clearly a bit of a dick.
Essentially, I could turn this into a stereotypical YA book in which a teenage girl falls for a mysterious bad boy while ignoring the sweet, adorable boy next door. She and the sweet, adorable boy next door end up together, but she never stops pining for the mysterious bad boy.
Look, despite all of that, I actually did enjoy this one. The language took me a little while to get my head around - lots of Northern style speech, but also a lot of "thou"s and "thine"s because some of the characters are Quakers. There was a lot less in it about whaling than I anticipated, which was a pleasant surprise, and though the ending was abrupt, it did actually manage to give me feels. So. There's that.
Essentially, I love Gaskell's storytelling a lot, particularly her ability to tell working class stories within a larger historical narrative. Not her best, but still pretty good.