Madeline > Recent Status Updates

I don’t like reading about warrior women in brutal situations. So why am I reading this? Because I liked Madeline Miller’s, SONG OF ACHILLES. I seem to have a strong interest in this fictional time period. And I liked, THE SILENCE OF THE WOMEN, or was it, THE SILENT WOMEN? They were normal women who were brave in terrible situations, but not warriors. So we shall see.

This book is annoying because it goes backward in time with each character’s POV, which frankly is not all that interesting. These POV constantly interrupt the more interesting parts of the story. Unfortunately, the most interesting parts are the way each character dies and there is not enough story of interest in between these events.

I'm almost finished with this very bizarre retelling. The subject matter is repulsive. But if you like this kind of story, I can see it is well written.

This book doesn't grab me. Joyce Maynard's style is dull and depressing in this book. Too much talk about nothing interesting. I doubt I will continue. I liked her articles I used to read in the L.A.Times. But reading a whole book about a boring person is not for me.

“Why am I acting this way? This is an interesting concept. I can understand why people were desperate to give away their sorrows, even if it made them into an unfeeling person.
I have read Jane’s three other historical novels and have enjoyed them all. I admit I am struggling with this one though. It is slower than the rest and very repetitious. The same question is asked on every page.

Who will chop the veggies? RIDICULOUS. 😱 Only two workers in this luxury resort!

I am loving this book. Now that I’ve gotten past all the information given about the care of premie babies, it has gotten more and more interesting. There is not any time wasted on characters wondering what will happen, what will someone do or think. The story is not padded with silly, wasted action that makes no sense.

This seems like a dark and disturbing book. There are enough dark things in the world so I usually don’t find weird and psychotic people very entertaining. If it gets gory or uncomfortable, I’ve got plenty of other books waiting which will be more to my liking.

I’m enjoying the story as an audio book..

Gave up. Not for me. There seems to be no plot, just a lot of esoteric talking among the characters.

I’m having trouble following it. My mind wanders while reading this. It’s hard for me to tell who is talking without constantly checking. Often, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe, I need something a bit simpler at this time in my life.

Too slow. Everything is from Edward’s point of view. He is emotionally injured and his progress is maddeningly slow. He does improve by inches as the story drags on. I may skip around to see if there are more interesting parts. He is not interesting enough to spend hours on every night. I feel like I want to avoid him.

Awful. Too dark. Scandinavian writers give me the creeps.

Awful. I can’t read such terrible stuff about gruesome murders. I read partly for escape, not to get into more suffering. I had to stop on page 80. Enough horror.

Didn’t read it.

I don’t really care for the author’s style. The story doesn’t move forward enough for me. There is too much back description of where each character lived, went to school, worked and dated. A little information revealed as the story moves along is fine, but too much in chapter after chapter stops the action and bores me. I’m just reading to see what happens at the end.

Never read it.

Didn't care for it and never finished.

Exasperating at times, a bit too Hollywood in it’s implausibility, but is holding my interest. I can see this as a good movie if well directed. The writer is better than many others I’ve read because he is good at constructing the story.

A male author seldom can do female characters well, and this author is no exception. I have only read about 20% but I can already see that these females are not real. The male characters are more believable.
If it dwells too much on black/white issues I will probably just skip this one. We shall see.

It’s ok. It seems to be stretched out for the amount of plot. I don’t know where this story is going and I suppose there will be some surprises ahead. It is not an exciting book or even a very suspenseful one. But I know that something is going to happen that might surprise me. I certainly hope so.

I liked this book. Something happened to move the story along with this family on each and every page. It's a good in between ”read” of a simple and entertaining saga.

The protagonist is supposed to be a woman but to me she sounds like a man dressed up like a woman. It is somewhat bothering me and I find myself being uncomfortable with the character in an unintended way. The protagonist is an off putting person to me in the first place but to have a sexual identity problem makes her more so. Maybe as I read more, this won’t bother me as much and I can be less sexist about it.

Boring. I know, I know, how can all these heart-stopping adventures be boring? Because they are so phony and repetitious. What about the story? What story? I actually don’t care where we came from or where we are going. There is no choice about either one and there is nothing intriguing about the questions raised for me.

Sometimes this is like a textbook of the architecture of Barcelona, which can be quite scary! Other times it is a textbook of technical stuff about futuristic computers or the Catholic Church. Then it is the usual repetitive adventures of the strong and brilliant hero and his gorgeous and equally talented heroine who manage to escape in the nick of time. I am plowing through it and soon will be thankfully finished.