Zach
This book was an excellent, yet often critical, snapshot of Brazil's history. It was a delight to read the history of a place written in the book's narrative style.
I feel like I was duped by the title. Was she at all different in the end than how she was at the beginning of the book? I wish the book went in the direction of success and happiness not being what it seems but instead had Millie in a bad luck situation with Karen tbh since Millie did her job well enough and that somehow had a profound effect? Idk the second half just kind of fell off the tracks.
If you are going to have a book set in the 1950s, it should reflect the time period. Evelyn's storyline could take place today and very little would need to be changed. Evelyn's “true love” relationship was unbearable and again, unrealistic for the time period. Or at least Celia's approach to it was.
Evelyn's character started out strong in the beginning, but after 1/3 of the way through she lost any semblance of what made her character stand out as all the voices started to blend together. All the characters became boring and repetitive, and I lost all interest in what might happen to them. Nothing shocking really happens. And I understand the message and important themes of the book, but they were basically all laid out on the table in the first portion of this predictable book and then shoved down your throat later on. I was just so looking forward to reading this book after all the recommendations, but was mostly disappointed in the lack of effort to make this story reflect the time period it takes place in.
