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Dec 2016
9:11pm, 17 Dec 2016
11,983 posts
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Columba
No.
Didn't like it. It never gripped me, couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or what happened to them.
And I agree with everything McG says in his last-but-one paragraph.
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Dec 2016
10:37pm, 17 Dec 2016
3,859 posts
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The Scribbler
What I enjoyed about The Passion was less about the story and the characters than the framework that they gave to examine bigger themes such as love, passion, obsession.
I was struck by the section in The Zero Winter, talking about soldiers as heartless men. And there were beautiful descriptions of darkness, and a line, which of course, now I can't find, that captured the essence of depressesion, something about being closed in.
In the final chapter, I thought the thoughts on the impossibility of choice when you find passion late in life, were acute and powerful.
I'm really glad I read it and I think it was a good choice of something that I wouldn't necessarily have picked up. It's also been a wonderful contrast to the much more grounded in real life The Outrun, that I'm reading now.
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Dec 2016
8:51am, 22 Dec 2016
13,980 posts
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Dr TinselD
I'd read it before, when I was a lot younger and more tolerant...
I hated the first part: too much description, wandering prose. I liked part two but I am a bit of a sucker for MR and really liked the character. I enjoyed the book then to the end. Like The Scribbler, I liked some of her thoughts on bigger themes. The passages about the nine nights and the feelings when your passion is impossible, I thought, were beautiful and evocative.
Thanks for choosing, Daz.
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Dec 2016
6:44pm, 25 Dec 2016
26,824 posts
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Night-owl
I loved it definitely by the end wouldn't have picked this book myself but glad I did read it
Found it moving and the words flowed. She certainly had a way with words. Felt sad at the end yes I'm a romantic this is different to being into romance. Not every story has a happy ending
Thank you Daz
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Dec 2016
3:44pm, 31 Dec 2016
7,104 posts
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Seven Little Nemos a-swimming
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book as I have read 2 books by the author before. I loved Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit but didn't enjoy Sexing The Cherry much at all. This was a more straightforward read so it was more to my taste. I enjoyed Henri's sections more, I found they had more story to them and I loved the idea of someone employed just to cook Napoleon's chickens! I could feel the cold of the Russian campaign.
The Venetian sections were slightly odder and I found the abrupt change when it got to the second part hard to get used to. They were still good but I wan't quite as interested in that side of the story.
There was a lot of unrealistic things in the book but they didn't jar too much as it was beautifully written in parts.
I gave this book a 7
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Dec 2016
3:56pm, 31 Dec 2016
7,105 posts
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Seven Little Nemos a-swimming
Having read all the comments now it's interesting to see people's views on Magic Realism. It's something I tend to hate (I really struggled with Midnight's Children and I LOATHE The House of Spirits) so I guess the reason I could put up with the hints of it in this book are because it was MR-lite.
I liked the "You Play..." quotes. If you're a gambler this seems an apt summing up of your attitude to life. Like the way Napoleon needed to keep fighting even while he was losing.
And I forgot to say thanks to Daz for choosing it  I may give some more of her books a go.
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Dec 2016
5:21pm, 31 Dec 2016
12,055 posts
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Columba
I must say I liked Midnight's Children, but perhaps only in the way I like Salvador Dali. Captivating, but ultimately sterile.
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Dec 2016
11:07pm, 31 Dec 2016
1,770 posts
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DazTheSlug
I'm glad my choice seemed to go down OK (mostly 7's and 8's in the voting)
I really loved it - it's the sort of book I can imagine I will re-read many times in the future
Nemo - I DNF'd House Of The Spirits - good to hear I'm not on my own with that one
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