I'm a reluctant reader when it comes to nonfiction, but I really did enjoy this.
[image] Felice della Rovere, daughter of Pope Julius II, as painted by I'm a reluctant reader when it comes to nonfiction, but I really did enjoy this.
[image] Felice della Rovere, daughter of Pope Julius II, as painted by Raphael...more
Bert finds Ernie, Bert loses [image] Ernie, and I won't spoil the ending for you except to say THANK you TJ Klune, it's about damn time someone told thiBert finds Ernie, Bert loses [image] Ernie, and I won't spoil the ending for you except to say THANK you TJ Klune, it's about damn time someone told this story of perfectly normal people (view spoiler)[falling in love (hide spoiler)]. With a little of The Lorax and some Roald Dahl-inspired conformity-hungry villains thrown in for good measure.
It's shamelessly sentimental, too, but I liked it. Here's a link to the Spotify playlist created by someone swoonier than I am, in case you now need your fix of the late, great Bobby Darin's epic version of "Beyond the Sea." (The only song they forgot to add? "Linus & Lucy" by Vince Guaraldi.) ...more
[image] This *very* tame coming-of-age-in-the-1940s novel also happens to feature the two dullest ghosAn uncharacteristic misfire from Margot Livesey.
[image] This *very* tame coming-of-age-in-the-1940s novel also happens to feature the two dullest ghosts ever.
(view spoiler)[The ghosts are no one that Eva, the young mc, knew in life or wishes to hear from--not her own dead mother or grandmother, for example.
The ghosts bully Eva by tipping over chairs during the night and materializing occasionally to give her bland advice. These mild tactics and a few well-timed spectral frowns are enough to intimidate Eva into lifelong silence about the hauntings. So, decades of shielding ghosts.
This pact with the ghosts effectively sabotages Eva's own social skills--other people perceive her as distracted, evasive, or downright rude. In an early interference, one ghost throws a rock which splashes a classmate's nice party dress, dooming the girls' friendship.
The ghosts later steer Eva into marriage with "the wrong man" and otherwise act to ensure that she will have a bland, middling, lonely life close to home (and to the ghosts' hometown graves).
At the end, (and yes, I should have seen this coming) Eva dies a lingering death. Her spirit joyfully transcends her body while also forever cherishing the violets her family has left on her grave.
After all the muted disappointment of the woman's life, this ending is jarringly sentimental, even though the author has tried to prepare readers with early references to "The Little Mermaid."
If you, like me, have lost anyone early in your life, you also may feel briefly that you'd like to punch the author in the nose for this one. (hide spoiler)]
Just not quite my kind of book. It feels too slight on too many promising topics, even though there are some lovely, even haunting, images thro[image]
Just not quite my kind of book. It feels too slight on too many promising topics, even though there are some lovely, even haunting, images throughout. Glimpses of ghostly wings? Flickering candles? Wind-up Victrola music? Meaningfully scratched-through entries in antique ledgers? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Also a fair amount of vintage plant lore. But I'd trade the lot for more character development.
lucky little cat
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