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rcsreads's reviews
747 reviews
Woman in Blue by
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I was gifted a review copy by the publisher.
This was a lovely little book to kick off the year with. I haven't read any Douglas Bruton before but I will be looking for his other books now. The writing style is really gorgeous.
This was a lovely little book to kick off the year with. I haven't read any Douglas Bruton before but I will be looking for his other books now. The writing style is really gorgeous.
The story is set in both present day Amsterdam and in Delft in 1663 when Vermeer is painting Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. The modern part follows a man who visits the painting every day. The woman in blue, Angelieke, exists within the story as both the painting and as a living person in the past. I really enjoyed how her narrative tied both times, and the gazes of both men, together.
The story is all about looking at both art and the different loves of our lives and how we may see something different from the artist in their painting.
There's a little twist in the end that I won't spoil but I appreciated it and it stopped the book from being too male gaze focused. There were little points in the female characterisation earlier in the book where I felt she was most definitely written by a man!
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really hated the use of footnotes, I gave up reading them because they were so boring and took you out of the actual story. The book is incredibly long and nothing really happens for the first 800 pages. None of the female characters have any agency or personality. The only interesting people where the gentleman with the thistledown hair, Childermass and Stephen Black and none of them get enough page time.
I did enjoy the Napoleonic was section but this was mainly because Strange was with the 95th Rifles and I'd seen enough Sharpe for this to allow me to write fan fiction in my mind!
I did enjoy the Napoleonic was section but this was mainly because Strange was with the 95th Rifles and I'd seen enough Sharpe for this to allow me to write fan fiction in my mind!