I read ROSES with a few buddies in my online book club, The Reading Cove and it came highly recommended.
While this multi-generational, sweeping epic family saga had great emotional depth, the writing was repetitiveand at times even cheesymuch like the Harlequin novels I read as a teen. And the other thing that kept this ambitious story from being as well written as it could've been, was the way it was told...
The book opens when Mary Toliver and Percy Warwick are elderly and the reader learns a lot about how things turned out before the narrative takes you back 60+ years into the past to show exactly how things got that way. Since there is so much information given in the beginning, this technique basically neutralized ANY tension or mystery about the characters and the plotthe very elements that could've made for some dynamite, page-turning reading! But when you go into the story knowing whom ends up with whom, etc. it gives a reader very little reason to be interested in a rather lengthy stroll down memory lane. Wouldn't you agree?
However, on the bright side, I must say that the most powerful relationship in the entire book was between Percy Warwick and his son Wyatt. The author did SUCH a wonderful job of illustrating emotional truth in this very heartbreaking father-son relationship. It actually brought tears to my eyes. Likewise, Percy's wife demonstrates her love for him in a very profound and memorable scene that I'll never forget. In these instances, the author's writing shines and hints at marvelous potential for future stories.
Now the last third really tests the reader's stamina! By the time I got to Rachel Toliver's story I was thoroughly bored and not really interested in the events concerning the Somerset plantation at. all. For me, the subject had been wrung completely dry and the story ended up feeling a good 100 pages too long.
But overall, I enjoyed ROSES, although not enough to invest time in reading the prequel, SOMERSET; but I am open to reading more from Leila Meacham in the future. B-
★
(¯`·.·´¯) (¯`·.·´¯)
`·.¸(¯`·.·´¯)¸ .·
×°× ` ·.¸.·´ ×°×
While this multi-generational, sweeping epic family saga had great emotional depth, the writing was repetitiveand at times even cheesymuch like the Harlequin novels I read as a teen. And the other thing that kept this ambitious story from being as well written as it could've been, was the way it was told...
The book opens when Mary Toliver and Percy Warwick are elderly and the reader learns a lot about how things turned out before the narrative takes you back 60+ years into the past to show exactly how things got that way. Since there is so much information given in the beginning, this technique basically neutralized ANY tension or mystery about the characters and the plotthe very elements that could've made for some dynamite, page-turning reading! But when you go into the story knowing whom ends up with whom, etc. it gives a reader very little reason to be interested in a rather lengthy stroll down memory lane. Wouldn't you agree?
However, on the bright side, I must say that the most powerful relationship in the entire book was between Percy Warwick and his son Wyatt. The author did SUCH a wonderful job of illustrating emotional truth in this very heartbreaking father-son relationship. It actually brought tears to my eyes. Likewise, Percy's wife demonstrates her love for him in a very profound and memorable scene that I'll never forget. In these instances, the author's writing shines and hints at marvelous potential for future stories.
Now the last third really tests the reader's stamina! By the time I got to Rachel Toliver's story I was thoroughly bored and not really interested in the events concerning the Somerset plantation at. all. For me, the subject had been wrung completely dry and the story ended up feeling a good 100 pages too long.
But overall, I enjoyed ROSES, although not enough to invest time in reading the prequel, SOMERSET; but I am open to reading more from Leila Meacham in the future. B-
★
(¯`·.·´¯) (¯`·.·´¯)
`·.¸(¯`·.·´¯)¸ .·
×°× ` ·.¸.·´ ×°×
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