Heidi
Good, but I didn't feel the connection between Darcy and Trevor like the other 2 stories. I also didn't like Trevor a whole lot until the end of the book. The ending did help to make up for the rest of it, though it still would have got 3 stars without the ending.
Her writing is at times charming and others extremely dry and sort of pompous. The story is one of her life growing up in Africa and eventually taking on livelihoods like horse training and flight-related jobs, which is interesting, but she is kind of personally unremarkable, and also, clearly has an English colonist mindset, which is, you know, sorta icky, to say the least.
A passage I liked: “Menegai Crater overlooks the township and the lake. In the time of man it has breathed no brimstone, and barely a wisp of smoke. But in the annals of the Rift Valley which contains all this as a sea contains a coral atoll or a desert a dune, the time of man is too brief a period to deserve more than incidental recording. Tomorrow, next day, or next year, Menegai may become again the brazier over which some passing deity will, for a casual aeon or so, warm his omnipotent hands. But until then, one can stand safely on its edge, watching the lake of pink and scarlet wings, so far below– the lake that seems to have stolen, for the moment, at least, all the mountain's fire.”
A passage that shows how mundane her mindset is, to have grown up in Africa, around African people, and still somehow find herself superior: “I couldn't help wondering what Africa would have been like if such physique as these Kavirondo had were coupled with equal intelligence – or perhaps I should say with cunning equal to that of their white brethren.” This leads into her speculating on how “progress” hasn't hit Africa yet, but someday it will be filled with “pleasure resorts” and competitive railways advertising themselves as the names of the tribes whose land they would have colonized, and how this is a desirable thing that will take the place from “wasteland” to “paradise”. Ew.
Ending was a bit rushed in the final scene, but overall a very enjoyable read. Can't wait to get the next one.
I liked The Crevasse, The Way Station, and The Good Husband, but the others didn't really do much for me.
I am going to be processing this one for a while.
Merged review:
I am going to be processing this one for a while.
Merged review:
I am going to be processing this one for a while.
I really like his writing style, and I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Sometimes I got a bit lost, and I can't help but wonder if that is related to translation, even though that was done very well from what I can tell. I may need to read this book again before I can truly know how I feel about it, it gets a bit heady sometimes but it's so good.
3.5 stars. Interesting story and characters, good plot, but the style is a little too formal and could have benefitted from slowing down a bit and delving into details some more.
Ryder's dialoge at times was a little fake seeming, but overall the story was good and the fakeness was subtle.
Because I enjoyed this book, more than the other two, I gave it three stars. I found the story to be enjoyable and better put together than the others. However the writing is not very good, clearly amateur in a way that is not so charming. it was overly cheesey at times and Ana kind of annoyed me with her willingness to be trampled by Christian's controlling behavior for the first half of the book. All in all, an enjoyable read, just don't take it too seriously.
So many things wrong with this book. The plot was silly, the characters: Anna is a naiive girl who has no self preservation. Grey is a creepy guy that any normal girl should have run away from–a contract to have sex with him? seriously? Because I don't want to spoil it for any who may want to read it, I have to warn virgins who will read this book that it does NOT accurately depict a first time for a girl who has never masturbated and is having sex with a man of “considerable length”. The only pro about this book is that the author is able to create detailed imagery when it comes to her sex scenes, but that's the only place. Not mommy porn, either, just messed up.
The story is well put together and very well written, but a bit brutal for my taste. Not what I was expecting.