Simone

I think I need a break from police-murder-investigation-dramas; they just don’t hold my interest anymore. I suppose therefore it’s unfair for me to give it “just 2 stars” but alternatively, if it didn’t grab me and hold my interest how can I rate it any higher?

I thought I would give it a try because Swedish Authors are said to be the best in this genre… but since I did not “die” over the Millennium Trilogy (Stieg Larsson), I think I should have known better.

I’ve always been curious about this book. So many of the terms and concepts have worked their way into our everyday vernacular - most notably “Big Brother” and “Orwellian” that I wanted to go to the source to learn more.

Wow, that was bad!!! So how come I rated it 2 stars instead of 1? Or why didn’t I just give up? It was the author’s disclaimer that saved it for me. He starts the book off with a warning: “Okay, if this is the first book of mine you're going to try, stop now. Return it. Grab another. It's okay, I'll wait." This is a bit of clever marketing if you ask me, because now you’re EXTRA curious! How bad exactly is this thing??? HA! Pretty darn bad!

I feel like criticizing the [very very very] bad writing it not fair because even if the author himself knows it’s crap who I am to judge? I’m not a literary critic, I couldn’t do it better myself…. I just know what I like!

But here I go anyway.

It was cliché, corny, amateurish, melodramatic… I rolled my eyes so many times I’m surprised they didn’t get stuck up there! It was all too much – like he had the kernel for 17 stories and crammed them all into one book. Plus, it’s PACKED with ridiculous lines like (I’m paraphrasing):

•She needed to find answers, and she needed to find them now! (insert dramatic music)
•She did not want to be exposed to the dangerous weapon of love (barf)
•You wont let me love you because even though you are a top model, inside you still feel like that fat little girl nobody loved (oh please!)
•I’m so afraid of my feelings (gimme a break)
•He loved her so much it hurt (yeah yeah whatever)
•Her looks were not only dangerous, they were lethal (what does that even mean! Come on!)

But having said all that, I agree with other reviews that it still shows promise. He obviously has a great imagination and his current success proves it.

He’s forgiven for writing a little train-wreck. It entertained me.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a “Great Migration” where black people streamed out of the South to make better lives for themselves in the Northern States. I of course have heard of The Underground Railroad, but never this “overground” version of events which took place from about 1915 to 1970; I definitely learned a lot.

I constantly have my nose in a book (actually I should say my ears since most of them are audio!) and I always look forward to reading/listening every chance I get; except for this case. I never felt like getting back to it, it felt a burden every time. Yet when I would pick it up again, I was quickly recaptivated and always surprised that it had felt like a chore to get going once more. You’d think I’d be anxious to continue because it’s a very very interesting topic.

I suppose it’s because the subject matter is so amazingly depressing. Hearing about how people were treated so abominably is not easy to absorb, I think perhaps deep down I did not want to know more about it. It’s all so sad and distressing and depraved – but in the end I am glad I finished it. Sadness aside, I feel a little better educated.

I like trivia so I thought I’d love this book so much that I bought two books in one shot “Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise” and “When Do Fish Sleep”. I HATED the delivery. That’s 10 bucks burnt away.

A fact is presented, and then 3 people propose a possible answer. (3 actors named A, B and C). The listener has 10 seconds to decide which answer is the correct one.

Didn’t like this set-up, I wanted a fun litany of interesting facts - not a game show!!!

Plus (especially in “When Do Fish Sleep”) in a lame and unsuccessful attempt at humour, A B and C would bicker and quarrel and dispute the over answers. This was an incredibly annoying and unnecessary waste of time.

I like trivia so I thought I’d love this book so much that I bought two books in one shot “Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise” and “When Do Fish Sleep”. I HATED the delivery. That’s 10 bucks burnt away.

A fact is presented, and then 3 people propose a possible answer. (3 actors named A, B and C). The listener has 10 seconds to decide which answer is the correct one.

Didn’t like this set-up, I wanted a litany of interesting facts - not a game show!!!

Plus (especially in “When Do Fish Sleep”) in a lame and unsuccessful attempt at humour, A B and C would bicker and quarrel and dispute the over answers. This was an incredibly annoying and unnecessary waste of time.

Not too much to say - I find Time Travel stories pretty interesting and thought-provoking in general, and this one was no exception. I’d recommend it if you like the genre.

What a lovely story! I just love Kate Morton, she is a true story-teller; actually come to think of it, I think her style is more like “weaving tales” as opposed to just “telling stories”.

I found that this book was very very very comparable in style to “The Distant Hours”- one can pick out about a billion similarities, but I wasn’t turned off by that because it was just different enough to be interesting on its own.

The plot was unrushed yet sufficiently suspenseful to keep me going. Just when you think you’ve foreseen the result of one event, she twists it around and surprises you with a different outcome. I liked that because it kept me guessing and left me unsure about my future plot predictions.

I have to admit that I did get confused at times about who was narrating because the stories overlap so intricately. I’d sometimes have to stop and start a chapter over to confirm who’s story we were following now? Was it Eliza in the 1900s or was it Nell in 1975 or was it Cassandra in 2005?

In the end, it was a great time spent listening – I really enjoyed it. I’m definitely a fan.

I would have enjoyed this book so much more if there was less action – it was like Dan Brown on steroids.

The idea buried deep down in there (under all the pyrotechnics) was a good one but overall it seemed like just one over-the-top action scene after another. Beat-em-up, shoot-em-up, chase everyone around... good on the Big-Screen, not so good in a novel; was he hoping to get this made into a movie?

In my opinion, the story would have been just as good if not better if at least half the action scenes were cut out.

LOVED LOVED LOVED it! I was hooked right from the start and I hated to put it down. It was interesting the entire way through.

If you liked 11/22/63; you’ll like this one too. A lot of similarities, but different enough so you don’t feel like it’s a copy of the same story.

In a nutshell this is the story of Marshall, a retired pilot in 1980, who goes back to France to try and find the people who sheltered him during World War 2.

The publisher’s summary refers to his search as “a wrenching odyssey of discovery that threatens to break his heart—and also sets him on a new course for the rest of his life”. Huh? Are we talking about the same book??

I didn’t like it. I just didn’t “buy in” to the characters - and therefore the story. I could not relate to Marshall (the main character) so I didn’t believe his longing to connect with the past and embark on the journey. The rest of the cast was no better, they all seemed like caricatures more than anything else - cliché and exaggerated. … Frankly, I didn’t give a bleep about anyone!!

Regarding the narration, this book drove home my biggest pet peeve with audio books: a narrator who doesn’t have a knack for foreign languages or accents. In this case it was French, and it was very irksome to hear it be massacred over and over again. Things like: pronouncing “Rue” as “Roo” or pronouncing the N in “ca va bien” when it’s meant to be silent.

Glad to be done with this one!