claire_fuller_writer's reviews
1030 reviews

I raced through this, and loved the dynamics between the characters in the lifeboat - their petty squabbles, the women coming to the fore - but then something happened (or rather didn't happen) in the final third of the book, which is mostly set in a courtroom, and is mostly reported rather than showing the action. It rather trailed away, and all the tension that Rogan had built dissipated when we learned nothing new.
Some people have written about how Grace is an unreliable narrator, but it seemed to me that her account of events pretty much tallied with Mrs Grant's and Hannah's. I wondered if Grace was supposed to have

Spoiler

killed Maryanne, who says that she will tell people that Grace's husband bribed her way onto the lifeboat, and that Grace did kill Mr Hardie

but this is dealt with in such a slight way it barely registers.

This is perhaps a 3.5 star-book for me. And I'm not sure I would call it a novel; rather a set of short stories that are linked together by location, and family. There were some chapters that were truly outstanding, five-start stories: the first - Target Practice, Missing Pieces, Talisman. And others that I found awkward and cliched: the last one - Tears of the Gods, Wake, Many Waters.
I liked the spread of time from 1876 to 2143, but because the people were related and there were a lot of them, the author decided (or agreed) to put in a family tree. I had to refer to this a lot and sometimes it of course acted as a spoiler. There's one chapter where it's not clear at first if she will end up with her husband or leave him for another man. When I looked at the family tree to work out how she fitted in with everyone, it was clear that she ends up with the other man because he father's her children.
Patchy, but I'll definitely look out for whatever Sara Taylor writes next.

Wonderful, wonderful, awful characters, in a hotel setting that is dulled by soporific boredom. The writing is slow, it suits the speed of the story, which seems slight on the surface, but is about a life decision Edith Hope, the central character makes by the end of the book. Subtle but oh, so clever.

I read this some time ago now. I enjoyed its oppressive atmosphere, the landscape, the house, but not everything worked for me.

This book grew on me slowly and then built and built until it became perfect - right up to and including the last line. Can you give a book five stars based on the last line? I think you can.

The first Will Self I've read. Nicely odd, but not quite nice enough that I'll actively search out more short stories by him. But if someone put one in my hands and said 'Here, read this,' I probably would.

Nope. Wordy and boring. The narrator is very dislikeable (womaniser, alcholic, hypochondriac) but that didn't put me off - the nasty people should be the most interesting. It was trying to be a ghost story and none of it was frightening at all. I've been trying to work out why and there were simply no surprises, no changes in pacing, no increase in atmosphere - the narrator ate his dinner and talked with a ghost and chased away a green man in the same style.

Spooky rating - .5 (simply for the fact that there were a few ghosts)

There were many things I loved about this book, but quite a few that frustrated me, but because the story, the characters, the descriptions kept me racing to the end I gave it four stars. I loved the ghostly feel to certain sections, and in fact it's the only book I can remember reading as an adult where I did that get that hairs-standing-up-on-the-back-of-my-neck feeling, which is amazing. I really liked how we jumped several years at the end of the book to catch up with the characters and what they were doing - this was handled really well. The descriptions of the landscape and the house were beautiful - often incredibly atmospheric. For these, and for most of the storyline this book almost got five stars from me. But... there was always going to be a but wasn't there? But... I felt it was sometimes overwritten; sometimes there were two or three metaphors on a page, one after the other; sometimes it just seemed to be trying a little too hard. And... there was always going to be an and wasn't there? And... I felt the ending was too rushed; actually no, not too rushed - too neat. All the loose ends were tied up, and the thing I had the biggest issue with were the letters.

Spoiler

The daughter goes home to clear out the house. Within half an hour (or so it seems) she's found some letters in a box that her mother wrote and never sent. These letters explain everything that's been happening to her and implicate her husband in her murder. It's just too neat. Wouldn't the police have found these? Surely. We never saw the mother writing them when she was alive. Why didn't she send them? It felt like these were inserted into the novel so that the father could be arrested or at least get his comeuppance.

Perhaps with looser ends this would be a five-star book.
Still, highly recommended.

I can't give this book a rating - it doesn't seem fair. Would I be rating it for content? (Brave, moving, honest, open, emotional.) Or for writing style? (I prefer a more crafted style.)
It's enough to say that I couldn't put it down and I was incredibly moved by Rentzenbrink's and Matty's story.

I read this about 25 years ago when I was 14, and on Saturday I was lucky enough to see Edna O'Brien (now aged 85) speak at event near where I live. She was so wonderful - warm and funny - and the book is just the same.
She has a really interesting style of writing - she'll often add a non sequitur onto the end of a paragraph that brings me up short, in a wonderful way. It reminds me a lot of the way Barbara Comyns wrote, and sometimes Shirley Jackson.
Remind me to read this again in another 25 years if I haven't done so.