Our group really struggled to come up with a positive slant to our review of this tome: it is a book that is interesting to criticise.
We felt that it was the writer’s primary function to sustain the audience’s attention, but through lack of engagement, some members never continued beyond the second chapter.
The plot was felt to be formulaic and therefore somewhat predictable. This is certainly not the happiest of stories. Events and revelations take place over a weekend, during a family reunion. The secrets uncovered are not that dark and are more of a coincidence than shocking.
From the beginning it was ‘a long slog’ and ultimately very unsatisfying. The dates heading each chapter are misleading, because the time frame changes mid-chapter regardless of its best intentions.
The people in the story are predictable, their personalities unexplored and, therefore, they remain of little interest. There are many token characters (the strange names are an unnecessary distraction) and they are probably, in the main, irrelevant.
The twist in the tale at the end is not enough to save this book. It was agreed that even if the amount of pages had been halved and had the intrigue of the heirloom paintings been prolonged to the end, ultimately it would still have been a disappointing read.