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Claudette Laurent grew up in her father’s shop in Paris where he made gorgeous dolls for the upper class. Between her life with her parents and her time with Jean-Philippe, her childhood friend with whom she has fallen in love, everything seemed perfect for Claudette. Yes, she has heard people, including Jean-Philippe, speak out against the excesses of the nobility and the monarchy, but she doesn’t take it very seriously. When fire breaks out in her neighborhood, though, Claudette is separated from her family, Jean-Philippe, and everyone and everything she’s ever known and loved.
With no idea what to do in Paris, Claudette boards a ship for London where she befriends another Parisian emigrant and her daughters. They end up as servants in the household of a petty, social climbing woman. Life isn’t good, but it is safe. Also, it is in this household that Claudette meets the English gentleman, William Greycliffe, and eventually gets the idea to begin her own doll making shop in London. As revolution foments back in Paris, Claudette is summoned back to France by Marie Antoinette, a commission that could prove to be very dangerous. Now Claudette must decide whether her life belongs in London or Paris, whether her heart belongs to William, or to Jean-Philippe.
Okay, so this was an enjoyable book. Claudette was fun, strong and feisty. Of course, at times she seemed a bit modern for her time period. The romance between Claudette and Greycliffe was also fairly enjoyable, and I’m very glad that Trent did not feel the need to write any elaborate love scenes, but their love story was a bit hard to believe as well. Here Claudette was, a French servant and Greycliffe, a gentleman, falls in love with her when he attends a party thrown by her mistress. It seemed a bit far-fetched to me. And, once the romance angle was firmly established, quite a bit of the story became somewhat predictable.
Trent is a good writer and has clearly done her homework about the time period. All of her details seemed accurate and she didn’t fall into the classic historical fiction trap of wanting to show off all the awesome research done by the author by finding a way to throw in every single fact discovered in research. That being said, I didn’t really feel like I was pulled into the late 18th century, although I cannot really pinpoint the reason for that, some things just felt a bit too modern.. Perhaps it simply suffered by comparison, because I read it immediately after another historical fiction novel that completely transported me both time and place.
It was an entertaining book, and I loved the details of doll making, but it didn’t have as much historical feel as I would have liked.
This review was done with a book received from the author.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
I assume that by now you’ve heard of That’s How I Blog, a Blog Talk Radio show put on by Nicole of Linus’s Blanket. Every Tuesday evening Nicole interviews a different book blogger about a whole myriad of stuff. At the end of the interview comes the 20 Minute Book Club, where Nicole, the blogger in question, and anyone who is able to call in talk about a pre-selected book
If you haven’t already guessed, I’m telling you all of this because I am going to be a guest on That’s How I Blog! Mark your calendars for next Tuesday, February 16th! The show time is 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific. Actually, if you visit Blog Talk Radio and the page for my show, you can even set a reminder for yourself, so you don’t miss a minute of the show.
We will be discussing “City of Refuge,” which was one of my very favorite books last year. There’s still time to read it and join us if you’re so inclined, it is a fabulous book.
Well, I’m totally behind in posting this, since we’re a full week into February, but I’m assuming you’ll all forgive me.
I read 18 books this month, 15 of which were in print, and 3 of which were audios. This gave me a total of just under 4500 pages read, and almost 2 days worth of audio. Not counted on here is the book I abandoned half way through.
After my list of what I read this month, you’ll find a list of the other reviews I posted this month.
What I Read:
Audiobooks Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (review pending) Homer and Langley by E.E. Doctorow (review pending) The Swan Thievesby Elizabeth Kostova
Young Adult/Middle Grades Fiction Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted Speak by Laurie Halse-Anderson (review pending) When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (review pending)
Historical Fiction Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (review coming February 10th) A Storm in the Blood by Jon Stephen Fink The Boleyn Wife by Brandy Purdy Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (review pending) O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell
Memoir/Essays War Child by Emmanual Jal (review pending)
Nonfiction Food Rules by Michael Pollen (review pending)
“The Book of Fathers” follows the Csillag family through 400 years and 12 generations from first son to first son. Each son inherits not only the Book of Fathers, something similar to a journal that has been added to by each man, but the ability to see into the future and the past at certain junctures in his life. For some, the gift allows them to see the woman they will marry, for others they are able to gain the knowledge of their forefathers without studying, because they can reach into the past for that knowledge.
So the writing and translation were good, but I was really, really bored while reading it, which is a shame, because I was really excited about this book. Bored enough that I soldiered through a little over half of this 500+ page book and then just couldn’t go any further. Two main things contributed to my boredom and inability to finish the book:
First, was the format through which the story was told. Each son was given his own chapter of about 40 pages. Some of the chapters felt interminable – because 40 pages are pretty long chapters, especially in a book that isn’t a very quick read – but at the same time they were far too short. How can you tell a man’s entire life in 40 pages? This resulted in the men’s lives tending to be condensed into him meeting/marrying the mother of his children, something bad happening, and him dying. This is not to say that every chapter was like this, but by virtue of how the story was structured, that was the general format. In addition to this being a bit monotonous, I never really got the chance to attach to any of the members of the family, because just as I was starting to get interested in one of them they would die, or otherwise transfer their story to their son. I should also say, I didn’t think much of the magical realism element of this book, I didn’t really think that much was added to the storyline by the first born sons being able to see into the past and future.
A bigger problem than the format, though, was partly my own deficiency. This was a translation from Hungarian and I can see how it would be a very interesting book for Hungarians or those who have a good deal of familiarity with Hungarian history. There was so much happening in the background that I didn’t fully understand because I don’t have a good grasp of Hungarian history at all. Sure, I could figure out a lot of what was going on, but I think it was meant to be more of a reference to things that happened, looking at the story of a family set against the backdrop of Hungarian history. If you already know Hungarian history, it could be a very instructive look at how people actually lived through these 400 years, but if you don’t know the basics already, it doesn’t really teach you much about Hungarian history and you miss a lot that other people would pick up on while reading this.
If you’re interested in and informed about Hungarian history, I think this could be a very interesting book, but if you don’t know anything about it already, I really cannot recommend this.
This review was done with a book received from Tony at Blue Dot Literary.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been asked to be one of the official book bloggers for the brand-new SheKnows Book Club! I love that SheKnows.com is creating a book club, because I think just about everyone could use some good book discussion. As one of the official bloggers, I’ll be keeping you all updated on what is going on over there, and I will, of course, be reading and discussing the books for the book club.
There will be another book club pick every two months, so that there is plenty of time for everyone to get the book and read it before the discussion starts. In February and March, we will be reading Irene Zutell’s “Pieces of Happily Ever After.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the book (including seeing the book trailer) and the SheKnows book club, you can check out the opening article. There’s also a chance to win a copy of the book, if you’re interested in joining us for the discussion, which will take place on the SheKnows discussion boards.
If you read my review way back in September, it is no secret that I really enjoyed Elizabeth Kostova’s new book, “The Swan Thieves.”
I actually enjoyed it so much, that around Thanksgiving when a bunch of people were reading it, I started to want to do a re-read. I didn’t think I was going to be able to fit the text in again any time soon, so I decided that I was going to have to get a hold of the audiobook and do an audio reread. Anna from Hachette was nice enough to drop a copy in the mail for me when they were released. The timing was perfect, I was just finishing another audiobook and ready for a new one, so I immediately embarked on my voyage back through Marlow and Robert Oliver’s lives. I’m not going to talk about the story again, because you can go back to my review, linked at the top of the page, if you want to know what I thought about that. Instead, I want to talk about my experience with the audio.
Most audios I listen to have only one narrator, and that is usually fine. A good narrator can cover everyone’s voice appropriately anyway. It is, however, a real treat to listen to an audiobook with a great cast of narrators. “The Swan Thieves” is one of those books. I think my favorite of all the narrators was Anne Heche as Kate, but they were all fabulous. For a book like this that is really told from four very distinct perspectives, the use of four separate narrators really added something invaluable to the experience. I did appreciate, though, that each narrator stuck to his or her own chapters, no attempting dialog between two of them. That would have become too awkward with “he said”s and “she exclaimed”s included. There was also some lovely background music that chosen perfectly to complement the book.
All in all, I think the experience of listening to “The Swan Thieves” was equally as enjoyable as reading it.
(Yes, FTC, as I said above, I *did* get this for free)
Kathy
Sandy
Beth F
Lisa
Literate Housewife
The Queen’s Dollmaker by Christine Trent
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