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A review by kailey_luminouslibro
The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
2.0
Ruth is desperate to get out of Vienna when the Nazis march into Austria. A friend of her father's offers to use his British passport to get her out of the country, but they have to be married to put her on his passport. Quinton and Ruth agree to a marriage of convenience and plan to get an annulment once they are safely in Britain. However, the legalities take longer than they realized. While waiting for the lawyers to sort things out, they keep their marriage a secret and Ruth makes plans to continue her college education, at the same college where Quinton is a professor of paleontology! Quinton knows that Ruth is planning to marry her beloved childhood friend, a pianist with a brilliant career ahead of him, but still Quinton can't help but be attracted by her vibrant personality and gorgeous flowing hair. And Ruth is faithful to her pianist boyfriend, but her heart is wayward and wild when she gets close to Quinton.
There were things that I liked about this book, and things that I really really hated. I liked the writing style. Eva Ibbotson always has remarkable and insightful writing. This book was especially interesting because the author herself was a refugee to England during WWII, so it's like a little window into history.
I liked Ruth's character and her winsome charm, and I liked Quinton's strong and stubborn personality. They have a few really sweet romantic scenes that stole my heart.
But a lot of the book is centered around sex and the idea of sex and the expectations and difficulties and pathologies of sex. Ruth has read all these books about sex and she worries that she has a pathology or that she is repressed or something, but she wants to live with her pianist boyfriend before they are married. It was just very very weird. And Quinton has had a long string of girlfriends over the years that he brings back to his London apartment, so he's very experienced. That was gross, because he's still with one of the girlfriends while he is technically married to Ruth. If I'm supposed to believe that he's falling in love with Ruth, then why is he sleeping with these other women? Yuck. It's all "closed door" so there are no erotic details, but I still found it really gross. The whole attitude of the book ruined it for me.
To see details about the objectionable content in this book, check out this book on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-morning-gift-691935
The best part of this book is the side characters. Ruth's parents and her refugee neighbors, and Quinton's grumbly aunt, and Ruth's classmates at college, and Quinton's fellow teachers at the college. They are all so varied and life-like. It was really fascinating to see how they are all woven together in this tapestry of human connection.
There were things that I liked about this book, and things that I really really hated. I liked the writing style. Eva Ibbotson always has remarkable and insightful writing. This book was especially interesting because the author herself was a refugee to England during WWII, so it's like a little window into history.
I liked Ruth's character and her winsome charm, and I liked Quinton's strong and stubborn personality. They have a few really sweet romantic scenes that stole my heart.
But a lot of the book is centered around sex and the idea of sex and the expectations and difficulties and pathologies of sex. Ruth has read all these books about sex and she worries that she has a pathology or that she is repressed or something, but she wants to live with her pianist boyfriend before they are married. It was just very very weird. And Quinton has had a long string of girlfriends over the years that he brings back to his London apartment, so he's very experienced. That was gross, because he's still with one of the girlfriends while he is technically married to Ruth. If I'm supposed to believe that he's falling in love with Ruth, then why is he sleeping with these other women? Yuck. It's all "closed door" so there are no erotic details, but I still found it really gross. The whole attitude of the book ruined it for me.
To see details about the objectionable content in this book, check out this book on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-morning-gift-691935
The best part of this book is the side characters. Ruth's parents and her refugee neighbors, and Quinton's grumbly aunt, and Ruth's classmates at college, and Quinton's fellow teachers at the college. They are all so varied and life-like. It was really fascinating to see how they are all woven together in this tapestry of human connection.