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Post by geminii on Oct 29, 2021 22:23:12 GMT
Looking forward to seeing your comments ..
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Post by pennylane on Oct 30, 2021 16:04:35 GMT
When are we buddy reading this??
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Post by adelynechan on Nov 18, 2021 10:39:58 GMT
I finished this last night, enjoyed it a lot - such an easy read. It is beautifully written, and I loved how things came together: Slow-burn (so the storyline never felt quick at any point) but not in a frustrating way. One of my pet peeves with books is when the blurb is not representative of the book, and I thought this was one of the best blurbs I've seen in awhile. The version on the back of mine ends with asking 3 questions: Is it a miracle? Is it magic? And who does the little girl belong to? was the PERFECT entry point into the book itself, and I loved how she got right into it in this respect.
What worked really well for me was the bringing together of the magical realism and the logical / scientific world, with it being up there for much of the book the reason for the opening scene of the girl coming back to life in the pub. I loved Rita's dogged determination to find an answer - I liked the fact that there was a character who actually wanted to explore non-magical possibilities for what had happened, complete with actual experiments (and lovely Daunt going along with it all  ). Even if the outcome had been that these were unfruitful and it was magic / unexplainable, I would have been okay with it in truly a demonstration of "it's the thought that counts", or in a book sense, I appreciated that the possibility was considered instead of magic being the default and accepted-all-around solution.
My favourite character by far was Armstrong, I loved how gentle he was with his family and farm animals in general, and a bit part of that is down to how descriptive the author was (not just for this storyline, this is just the one that I found resonated the most with me). I really liked his interaction with Ben when he went looking for Alice, and I was prepared for that storyline to have just fizzled out, so I was so pleasantly surprised when he turned up again at the end! On that note, the sucker-for-happy-endings me loved how things came together in the end, complete with a chapter titled as such. That being said, I liked how the ending was phrased as being very positive and happy despite not all things having gone "to plan" per se - for instance I wanted Robin to come back - but rather as an acceptance that that's the way life is and everyone moves on as best they can.
Definitely a 4.5* for me, though I rounded down as I thought it lacked that little spark that I give my 5* books. It also took me awhile to get to grips with who's who as there are many characters, families and settings, and there was a period of time (maybe the first 50-70 pages) where I kept reading purely because of how beautifully written it was, I wasn't really taking into the storyline. After this though, it flowed so well that it felt nowhere close to the 500 pages that it was, and I loved the journey to the end.
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Post by sarita on Nov 20, 2021 19:17:17 GMT
I found the book painfully slow and thought it could have been 50 pages shorter. Beautiful prose, very atmospheric but not for me this one, although I chose it too as I'd loved The Thirteenth Tale. 3*.
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Post by celia48 on Nov 29, 2021 10:33:40 GMT
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved the style of writing but found some of the characters just a bit too good to be true. Normally, I like a bit of magic or mystery but this just didn't work for me.
I didn't warm to the little girl who died and came back to life but I did think she was Robin's so that twist was good. I also liked the end when Ben turned up with Armstrong's granddaughter. However, although I liked him at first, I couldn't quite believe in Armstrong and thought his relationship with his pig very odd!
I liked most of the characters and my favourites were Rita, Daunt and little Jonathan. I also loved the customers/storytellers in the Swan and I thought the fable of Quietly was lovely.
So, although the storylines didn't grab me, I did for the most part enjoy reading this book due to author's style and most of the characters.
Thank you for choosing it.
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 6, 2021 23:10:42 GMT
Adelyne has very kindly sent me her copy, and I've just started!  |
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Post by rosemary3 on Dec 8, 2021 23:19:48 GMT
And finished in 4 days. I really enjoyed this!
I kind of agree with all of the comments. I thought it drooped after the "big bang" of the start with the accident on the river, and it took me a while to get into it properly. Some of the characters were too good to be true (quite a few actually!) - but for me there was an "epic" feel to the story where that kind of thing is forgiven, it's all part of the story-telling tradition, which was a theme in itself.
Like Adelyne, I was glad that there was a down-to-earth explanation for all the various girls and their fates. I liked the idea of Quietly the riverman, like a kind of Charon ferrying souls across the Styx (but sending some back to live a bit longer), but I was glad this wasn't the "solution".
In the end I liked the fact that the mysterious girl was not the real mystery, even though the explanation for her was rather prosaic - the main questions were what had happened to Amelia, and Alice, and Ann.
Many thanks again to Adelyne for sending me her copy! Now I'm looking forward to reading The Thirteenth Tale, which I have on TBR.
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Post by pennylane on Dec 12, 2021 11:52:27 GMT
Just realised I hadn't posted my thoughts.
Goodreads review: I gave this 4.5* it was a wonderful story, a beautifully written and rambling tale of a girl and the village in which she was found apparently dead in the river. This meandered along but the characters made it and all the interconnecting stories that came together in the end, mixed with folklore, history and new discoveries. Brilliant if a little long.
I really enjoyed this story with all the historical details and how the girl brought all the individual stories together, I loved Rita and her drive for knowledge and thought the story of Ben at the end was well done. I am not normally a fan of happy endings and having everything neatly wrapped up but this worked and I am also glad there was no magical solution.
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Post by adelynechan on Dec 12, 2021 12:13:27 GMT
And finished in 4 days. I really enjoyed this! ... Many thanks again to Adelyne for sending me her copy! Now I'm looking forward to reading The Thirteenth Tale, which I have on TBR. Very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it! |
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Post by windysisters on Mar 10, 2022 8:35:28 GMT
I'm a bit late to the party and here's my thoughts.
Like so many of you, I enjoyed the start - a sort of latter day Canterbury Tales and I also thought it flagged in the middle and was perhaps a bit longer than it needed to be.
And also like so many of you, I thought the characters were well drawn - even with the "drowned" girl, her silence and lack of "visibility" gave her the ghost-like quality which was needed if we were to believe her ending in the story.
I enjoyed the slow-burn of romance between Rita and Daunt.
I liked that the ending explained all of the individual stories.
I gave it 8/10 for being a bit over-long and dull in the middle.
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). Even if the outcome had been that these were unfruitful and it was magic / unexplainable, I would have been okay with it in truly a demonstration of "it's the thought that counts", or in a book sense, I appreciated that the possibility was considered instead of magic being the default and accepted-all-around solution. 
