GONE
GIRL
By Gillian Flynn
I saw a quote from the book advertised on the London
Underground and that made me want to read it.
I like the technique the author uses to make both narrators seem
believable. Each had their own unique
voice. I started off feeling sympathetic
towards one character only to find that this completely changed and left me
questioning my own judgement - very clever.
I don't want to say too much about the story as I don't want to ruin it for
anyone who hasn't read it. A real page turner. I hate the
title though!
THE HELP
By Kathryn Stockett
When I read the first few pages I wasn't sure if I was going
to enjoy this book because of the style of dialogue. In the end I found the
dialogue really helped to define the characters and it was a real feat by the
author to keep the "voices" of the characters consistent and real
throughout. The story is narrated from the points of view of three very
different main characters. I enjoyed this style. I also liked the way that as
one chapter ended the next chapter sometimes started off from the same point,
but from another narrative point of view so you got to see the same situation
from two different perspectives. The characters were believable and I
especially liked the character of Minny. My only niggle is I would have liked
to have heard more about Celia towards the end. After the first chapter, I
couldn't put it down and didn't want the book to end. It gave me an insight
into life in 1960s Mississippi. I will be looking out for more from this
author.
THE RETURN
By Victoria Hislop
An enjoyable read, although I found her style sometimes annoyed me as there seemed to be a lot of ‘overwriting’.
I found the characters a bit flat, but I thought the sense of place was
well drawn. I enjoyed the second section of the book more than the first and
thought that the horrors of civil war were well depicted, although I found the
odd switch back to present day clumsy. I
guessed at the ending long before it came.
I think the ending was far-fetched, but that’s the beauty of
fiction. I enjoyed it more than The
Island, but I'm not sure I'll be reading any more books by Victoria Hislop.
