The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel

A friend recommended this book and I was reluctant based on the title and preview. The first little while I wondered if it would keep my attention long enough to finish it, but it kept gettting better. There were a lot of interesting characters and I kept wondering how things would all come together by the end. The two narrators made it interesting. I liked it.

I reallly enjoyed listening to this book. The story is great and so are the narrators.

I'm an AVID reader (seriously, I get withdraw symptoms if I am *not* reading something, anything)....this is by far, one of the best told tales that I've listened to in a very, very long time. You will not be disappointed....and I enjoyed the narrators so much, I will be looking for more told by them actually. And I'm a hard-to-sell critic (between how something is written and the style of telling as well as the wealth of horrid narrators that are out there ugh!) And I seldom write reviews, as nothing much moves me to do so....But this book! The author has written this in such a way as you are unable to leave the story for long without yearning to listen/read more. Intriguing, captivating, mysterious, devious, addicting, rapturous - Being a literary person, I can't say it holds against some of the ultimate historical greats that carry far reaching messages over time or literary wordplay skill...but as far as modern literature and a wonderfully woven tale go? Absolutely amazing....

This was a little slow to start for me but once I got into Vida's story I just could not stop. It's an old fashioned type tale in a contemporary style.The protagonist is a little stand-offish to begin but I soon started to relate to her. I will listen to this one again.

Although this is not my normal audiobook fare, this novel surprised me with its ability to grip the reader and draw them into the story. Several times I found myself wishing my commute was longer so I could keep listening. The characters are well developed, the "mystery" surrounding the characters is very well preserved and I didn't find myself guessing the ending before I got there. I found the narration superb and just overall a very good purchase. I was hesitant to purchase this because I'm not usually a "mystery" reader, but this is the type of mystery I can get into. It's more a mystery of personas and characters....rather than an event, such as a murder, theft, etc.

Unfortunately, the only ghosts in this story are the ones conjured in the disturbed characters' minds. It is a tale full of odd people in unusual (wierd) circumstances. This isn't one I'll listen to a second time.

There were things about this book that were great, and there were parts that I wanted to skip over. I was captivated by the story of the older woman and found it fascinating. It had enough twists and turns to be interesting and keep me engaged while at the same time it wasn't so unrealistic that I was put off by it.

By the same token, I found that I had little interest in the drama of the younger woman. Mostly, I thought, "You need to suck it up and get a life, sister." I found that, at least until the very end, I didn't like her much. She was fussy and a general pain in the tush. Yeah, there was trauma in her background and she had a cruddy childhood. Get some therapy and get over it.

It almost felt as if two different authors had written this book. One was talented and had clear story lines that were gradually revealled to us; the other had the feel of a dime novel and really made me wonder why I was wasting my time. Part of that may be my inability to engage with the younger woman, though, but I did find my mind wandering during some of her longer soliloquies and, unlike a lot of other authors, I did not feel compelled to rewind and listen to them again. To some extent, it reminded me of having a whiney sister-in-law that you just tune out after a while.

Don't get me wrong. This wasn't a terrible book, and there was far more to enjoy than put me off. I would read something by this author again, but probably not until I'd read a lot of other things. On the other hand, if you really like the involved novels of, say, Thomas Hardy, this is likely to be exactly the right thing for you.

The narration in this audiobook was superb. The story was engaging, although a bit long, it took me almost a month of commuting to complete it. Vivid descriptions by the author paint vivid scenes of a grand backdrop and a twisted family tale. Would recommend this.

After reading all the hype about how wonderful and atmospheric this novel is, I made it my first Audible purchase. Diane Setterfield had good intentions, inspired as she was by Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and other grand novels written in the gothic style. Alas, Ms. Setterfield is no Charlotte Bronte.

The first chapter was promising, but as it progressed the book surrendered to lazy, amateur writing. I am astonished that Setterfield's editors allowed her juvenile reliance on adverbs and redundant descriptions to pass unchanged. Chapter after chapter, I thought if I heard one more reference to something being Clean, hair being Neat, tea being Hot, someone moving Slowly, Smoothly over something else, I would tear out my own hair.

The awkward back story to the novel, that of being a twin, was portrayed with such melodrama it was impossible to take it seriously. The primary character, Margaret Lea, was so haunted by absurd images of some lost twin she never knew, every time she saw her reflection she was nearly overcome by the vapors. The book's subject of interest, Vida Winter, is described as the most successful author of her time. If that is to be believed, Ms. Winter should be capable of telling her own story in an elegant, literary style. She does not. She tells her story in the same dull order as the rest of the book.

Ms. Setterfield wanted to create a dark, gothic atmosphere. Instead, she gave us characters without depth and a setting that we can only conclude was "gray." For all her references to Jane Eyre, she could stand to read it again.

While the story itself could have been intriguing and enigmatic, the novel reads as if she was so excited about the neat story idea she came up with, she did not consider whether or not she had the skill to tell it. Perhaps with better editing and more rewrites, future Setterfield novels will live up to the hype. This one, not so much.

The narrators, on the other hand, were fantastic.

Margaret Lee, the protagonist, was bookish and tells her story at an antagonizingly slow pace. Her world was her father???s shop that dealt in rare books until she was compelled by invitation to write a biography for a dying, yet famous author. I have to admit I seldom read stories about women as central characters. I must overcome this limitation, but looking back over the year, John Irving, Richard Ford, and Pat Conroy???s characters were easier for me to comprehend sympathetically. Women live in a parallel world from men. (Thus reveals my narrow perspective.) As an example, Miss Lee??? musings of lost twins never stirred in me the sensation of mystical presence and wordless communication it intended. Nevertheless, as the story reached its climatic end I realized the slow, easy, wandering pace had covered an enormous tale spanning three generations. I fell in love with it. The narrators were excellent. Just as I thought I could predict the outcome, the story would reveal another twist thus, burying the truth a little deeper into the lost past. Repeatedly, the entreaty of the young man in the beginning would point the way with his plea to the dying women to ???tell me the truth.??? The ending was very good and made me want to start the story again from the beginning to better understand Margaret Lee