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What Members Thought
I did not know what I was getting into with this book and I was unsure about my star rating for this one. It took me a very long time to adjust to the writing style, and while that set the tone for the novel, I think it took away from the book overall for me.
Eleven year old Henrietta is staying with friends of her grandmother's while on her way to stay with her grandmother. At this house is also another child, Leopold. He is there to meet his mother for the first time. The two strike up a conver ...more
Eleven year old Henrietta is staying with friends of her grandmother's while on her way to stay with her grandmother. At this house is also another child, Leopold. He is there to meet his mother for the first time. The two strike up a conver ...more
I don't think I am the target audience for this book. However, I read a little over half in a very short time so I suppose I must finish the thing.
Meh... ...more
Meh... ...more
I gave this book more than a fair shake but I gave up about halfway. The story was uninteresting. The characters, including the children, were some of the most unsympathetic I've ever read. The author tries to be insightful but half the time it's gibberish. Really - I mean, some of the sentences seem to be made up of words randomly culled from a dictionary-flip.
You will only find pretension here - that, and a huge dose of utter Britishness. I'm a Briton by descent, raised in an Anglophile part o ...more
You will only find pretension here - that, and a huge dose of utter Britishness. I'm a Briton by descent, raised in an Anglophile part o ...more
My favorite Elizabeth Bowen so far. Some of her books are so inaccessible, but I felt able to relate to the characters here. She also wrote from a child's perspective quite well (which many authors are unable to do) simply by taking them seriously.
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Mar 23, 2009
Jill McClennen
marked it as to-read
Mar 29, 2009
Kathryn
marked it as to-read
Nov 07, 2009
Tiffany
marked it as to-read
May 23, 2010
Judith
marked it as to-read
Oct 21, 2010
Deedee
marked it as to-read
Aug 28, 2011
Chas
marked it as to-read
May 26, 2012
Cheri
marked it as to-read
Oct 04, 2012
Jocelyn
marked it as to-read
Oct 14, 2013
Maeve
marked it as to-read-1001-book
Sep 23, 2014
Cheryl
marked it as to-read
Nov 25, 2015
Grace
marked it as to-read
Nov 25, 2015
Giovanna
marked it as to-read
Dec 25, 2017
Katherine
marked it as to-read
