I understand that the author of this book – Suzy Krause – got the idea from a run-down old house which had three individual mailboxes and looked spooky. When our children were little, we often used to see such houses on our many journeys and would describe them as ‘Scooby Doo Houses’ so I could immediately picture such a place in my mind’s eye. The setting of three completely different kinds of women - Mackenzie, Sunna, and Maude – moving into such a converted rental house was entirely believable and we immediately both understand that they would have been very unlikely to have met each otherwise and look forward to the good and bad behaviour that might ensue. The device of an almost indecipherable letter being posted in a mailbox, with just enough detail to make it intriguing, but not enough that characters or readers can guess the actual person or reasoning behind it works well and compels us all to find out. Eventually, the various strands of the story do come together in a satisfactory ending, but there were long passages in the book when I did wonder about stepping off from the journey. I didn’t really sympathise with either of the principal women or their back stories, and behaviour patterns are fascinating until they become repetitive and predictable, which I felt the interactions between the three did. I did find the whole connection between ‘ghosting’ in the present tense and ‘ghosts’ in the past quite tenuous, but I was happy to go along for a ride (though the denouement of the story concerning the latter was, for me, less believable than the possible existence of ghosts). Men do not fair well in this book, and yet I did feel some empathy with Larry – the put-upon landlord – whose struggle to find his real self was quite poignant in places. I rooted for him not to be involved in the book’s secondary plot and was quite relieved at how that was resolved. Some of the writing in this book was quite beautiful and certain turns of phrase were, for me, perfect in the context in which they were used – as opposed to easy cliches used lazily. I also laughed out loud on more than one occasion. I suppose the book fits into the ‘chick lit’ genre, which I read less often; however, there was just enough to keep me reading, although I did find it all a bit flimsy – just like ghostly elements I suppose.
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Following a lot of hype, I was excited to read this debut novel by Delia Owens, set on America’s North Carolina coast, from the 1940s through an incident in 1969 and just beyond. A novel full of descriptive text about the natural environment in which the protagonists live and grow up, the prose is often beautiful, if not more than a little repetitive. After a while I did feel that I was being beaten about the head by tree branches and found myself wanting to hide and read something else. The main character – Kya Clark, or the ‘marsh girl’ as she came to be known – begins her life in this beautiful wasteland and, from appalling origins, becomes an accomplished academic. From one who cannot read or write, we are expected to believe that she reaches a level of understanding and articulation that most of us never do. I did find this far-fetched and implausible. Kya forms a triangle of relationships with Chase (handsome, rich and therefore ‘bad’) and Tate (hard-working and at one with nature and therefore ‘good’). As a coming-of-age story it started out quite well but quickly fell into cliché and really quite awkward sentences that were nothing to do with the awkwardness of discovering the opposite sex. The story back tracks from a murder incident and suddenly becomes a poor man’s (or woman’s) To Kill a Mockingbird. Court scenes which follow are excruciating and unbelievable, but, of course, our heroine comes out of it all with the dignity and vindication of some kind of natural goddess. In the end, I’m afraid I rather hated her. Some have described this book as a classic. I wouldn’t. |
AuthorI am a fiction writer, currently living in Worcestershire, enjoying mystery dramas, thrillers, poetry, comedy and history. I read a wide range of fiction, also writing book reviews here and sharing on amazon, goodreads and Waterstones sites. Archives
October 2024
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