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| Name : | Suzanne M. |
My Reviews
A well written retelling of a Russian fairy tale set in the 1920's. The ending leaves room for interpretation as to what really happened. That makes for good discussion for the book club.
This rather depressing story makes for good discussion on morals and ethics. One club member commented, " The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Good people trying to do the right thing, but everything goes awry. We learned much about the feelings of the citizens of the USA during WWI and about the flu epidemic of 1918. We were able to tie this book to others about other books about quarantines, such as The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman.
This book made you laugh out loud, yet was also very poignant . You could visualize scenes that created very funny pictures in your head. I think it would make a wonderful comedy for the movies, despite the fact that it also deals with someone going through chemo, someone whose husband was cheating on her, and someone who had lost her only child and husband.
Geraldine Brooks chose to write this novel in language of the 17th century and from the point of view of a young girl of the times. The language challenges the reader, slowing the reading down so that ideas can be savored. The point of view broadens the scope of the novel to introduce more themes to interest the modern reader. She has again done a superb job in presenting an informative, insightful novel that thoroughly entertains.
I did not think this book presented much new material to me. I did learn from the study on babies and how deeplyis in some people.
I thought this was a great book. It kept you guessing the whole way. The characters were well developed.
I very much enjoyed this book, but many in my book club did not. Paulette Jiles wrote the book without using quotation marks, which made it challenging for some to read . Also she includes excerpts for Civil War diaries and papers at the beginning of each chapter. Some liked this bit of history, but others did not. I thought the lyrical language and the characterization were exceptionally well done. Ms Jiles came to our meeting which was a real plus. I loved getting to ask questions directly to the author.
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