Rating: 3.5
Holy cow everyone! I'm sorry I was not ON IT today! I've literally screwed up all my days this week either thinking it's a day ahead or a day behind. My apologies.
So I finished the book today and I thought it was very good. Not great, but good. I enjoyed the storyline, but I felt there wasn't enough time with the characters before we were moving on to a new year or decade. (I'm actually lost to how old Amanda and Ruth were several times throughout the book.)
I thought there was good character development, but I personally wanted more. Things just happened to fast and the flashbacks were happening a little too much for me. Again, I think it had to do with so many transitions into the present/future and then here we go again going back in time. I also could never get a good "visual" on many of the characters
Other than those few qualms, I really did enjoy the story. I figured out what really happened with Amanda, Ruth, and Mathilda long before the story was over. It was just finally seeing it in print that gave me closure.
I thought Ruth and Amanda had an interesting mother/daughter/aunt/niece relationship. You become like the people you are surrounded by and poor Ruth really did inherit some of Amanda's least wonderful traits. She tried to fight it and I think she did in a sense. At least I felt she still had a chance with Arthur at the end. Girl seriously needed to get off that island and see the rest of the world or at least someplace other than her neck of town.
I'm still trying to process everything because I read the story really quickly. I will return once I've made sense of a few things, like the timeline.
As far as a future movie...hmmm...I can see it happening and possibly being better than the book because we could get more character development. I can't cast in my head because I'm screwy on the possible ages and timeline...one of my kinks to work out.
LB- Sorry its taken forever to respond to your wonderful observations about this book. I agree with u I think the story would have been more interesting if the characters ventured off the Island a bit more. At times the story felt stagnant. With that said, I did enjoy the story. It seemed to bring up questions about how far will a person go to keep a secret. How does one allow fear, pride and doubt consume their lives. Can u have a full life with these hangups? Do u think Amanda suffered from extreme shyness?
ReplyDeleteLB- U stated: "I figured out what really happened with Amanda, Ruth, and Mathilda long before the story was over. It was just finally seeing it in print that gave me closure."
ReplyDeleteMe: At what point did u figure it out? Also, do u think this story was set up to be a series?
OB,
DeleteI think I just pieced things together...honestly. As for a series, that's a great question! i also wanted to ask you: so Clement and Amanda were in the same town foreeeeever...how come we never heard about them interacting or hear about Amanda's daughter before highschool age?
Hi LB!
ReplyDeleteU said: "how come we never heard about them interacting or hear about Amanda's daughter before highschool age?"
Me: Great Q. To me this part seemed tacked on to give the story more suspense and intrigue that simply wasn't there. Also, it appears Amanda's Daughters character may have been expanded to leave it open for a follow up to the story. What do u think a sequel might consist of? There were so many unanswered questions between Ruth and Amanda's daughter. Don't u think? This book reads like a prequel IMO.