North Greenbush Public Library discussion

I wanted to love The Lost Letter of William Woolf. The plot sounded unique and intriguing, readers here on Goodreads gave it a solid 3.5 star average rating, and the book jacket lured me in with romantic promises. It was not meant to be for me though.

I forced myself to muddle through the 334 pages, assuming the story was just slow to start and it would pick up once the plot thickened ... but page after page it was just more of the same. In fact as the story proceeded, I actually grew to like the main characters less and less. The plot is based around a failing marriage (which is not the romantic story I was expecting), but both the husband be the wife seem so helpless, so whiny, so needy. I didn’t know if I should be rooting for the marriage to be saved, or for some other great love to come in and carry them both away saving them from themselves.

The whole story was laid out peculiarly. There were bits and pieces of backstory and subplot that were mentioned only to never resurface again. There were bizarre supporting characters that appeared for only a few pages, but were meant to be key players in the lives of the couple and the decisions they made. And then, after 330 long and meandering pages of build up, the story suddenly cuts out and comes to an end in a “1 year later” conclusion. It was disappointing all around for me.

I don’t like to write “bad” reviews. Just because I didn’t love a book, doesn’t mean someone else won’t enjoy the it. I just hate when a book seems like it SHOULD be good, and then I’m not a fan at all. It leaves me feeling like I must have missed some great ah-ha moment when it all solidified and became brilliant. Has anyone else read this one? Did I miss something?