Nicholette Anand
I really enjoyed the last 150 pages of this book. But prior to that I couldn't see that there was much mystery, and it just seemed to ramble on a bit. I did still enjoy it as a novel with a very interesting historical and social context. I felt that I could definitely tell it was Kate Marton's first book because her other mysteries get going much more quickly. In the end I would still recommend it. I do wish I had read her acknowledgements and commentary at the back of the book before reading the actual novel, so that I could better appreciate what she was trying to do.
Before starting this book, I didn't research the author at all, and when I eventually did realize he passed away many years ago, I was very disappointed. He seems like such a lovely person and offers up so many insightful and thoughtful observations about learning to play the cello. His book is as relevant today as it was when it was first published.
There are so many passages in the second half that I read and reread. He is able to put into words things that I have experienced during practice and orchestra rehearsals, that I was never able to fully express. His documentation of his growth as a musician really reflects my experiences and is inspiring to anyone feeling frustrated or discouraged.
Near the end of the book there is an amazing paragraph where he writes about stage fright and how, to overcome it, one has to achieve complete musical focus and “musical immersion.” I read this on the day where I had finally achieved that in a performance, and it was so validating and interesting to read this perfect description of my experience.
There are many quotes and paragraphs I would love to copy out of this book and stick on my fridge. And in fact, I probably will do just that! I highly recommended this book not just to anybody learning the cello, but to anyone attempting to learn any musical instrument.
The only thing that prevented me from getting this book 5 stars is that it required a good editor. There are quite a few pages in the first half that I skipped over because they were just about his general experiences with music or with elementary school teaching, and I wasn't very interested. I suppose they provided some kind of context for his musical journey, but I don't think it was relevant enough to actually include in the book.
Really enjoyed this book. It certainly gives a nitty gritty authentic portrayal of servants' lives at that time in history. Makes me very happy to live my privileged modern life. But back to the book... really well written, interesting story, and you will enjoy it even if you haven't read Pride and Prejucide. If you have read P&P (and you should!), then you will enjoy it all the more.
Really enjoyed this book after having taken a break from the 44 Scotland Street series for a while. I had forgotten the brilliance of McCall Smith's insights into human nature and the significance of all our daily interactions. Wonderfully rich, complicated characters and very well written. I don't know how he writes so many books a year without sacrificing quality.
Of course, as a former Waldorf school student with a psychologist parent, I particularly love Bertie. His adventures with psychotherapy and school, his tolerance of his so-called friends Tofu and Olive, as well as his mother - it all just kills me. Some of the dialogue in this book was so clever and so funny I kept having to read it out loud to my husband. Excellent bedtime reading and a great antidote to all the post-apocalyptic stuff I seem to have read and watched lately... Looking forward to “Bertie Plays the Blues”, the next book in the series, which is on my desk.
I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as the first in the series, The Passage. It dragged on and seemed to need a good editor. I kept reading just to learn the resolution of the plot but was relieved when I had finished. The characters weren't nearly as well developed here and they had few meaningful interactions.
A real page-turner. Sanj nagged me to read this and I was somewhat reluctant because of the “vampire-ish” apocalypse theme, not usually my cup of tea. But this book is quite unique and very engaging. It is well written (by an English prof!) and the characters are welll-developed so I became interested in their outcome and relationships. Now I'm starting the sequel, The Twelve...
Peter Robinson at his best. He's always excellent, blurring the lines between novel and mystery.
Although this book was well-written, received a lot of critical acclaim, and somehow compelled me to finish it, I can't say it really made an impression on me. It didn't particularly interest me, and didn't really care about the characters. Very forgettable.
