The main problem is the narrator and main character, Giovanna. While early in the book, Giovanna tries to convince the reader that she is brave and courageous because of that one time she carried a hawk, at no point do her actions in 1943-45 ever make her seem any of those things. Instead she comes off as spoiled, self-centered, stupid, unrealistic, dumb and flighty. Now some of those things could be okay in a main character, especially since Wurtele uses Giovanna as a character that […]
The Consolation of Philosophy
Boethius, a prominent statesmen in Italy (after the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire), wrote The Consolation of Philosophy while imprisoned for treason after having been one of the most important advisors to the king of Italy. He declares himself innocent of the charges, and as this piece begins, he is in despair, under arrest. It is at this time that his old muse, Philosophy, comes to him, to console him and remind him of himself and the actual path to happiness. […]
The Secret History – except the secret’s not quite worth the effort
I’ve heard about this novel quite a few times, and have had it on my “I should get around to that” list for a while but somehow, while I knew the novel existed, my idea of what it was about was completely off. Maybe it was the title but I think I was expecting something along the lines of secret societies meet National Treasure and that the characters would use old literature and culture to discover some deep conspiracy and secret – but in a […]
A Conspiracy of Faith
This has definitely been one of my more entertaining reads so far this year. The third novel in the series, this novel once again features Carl Morck and Department Q of Copenhagen’s police force. Just like in his last two novels, Adler-Olsen flashes back and forth between the cold case squad and either the victims or perpetrators of a current crime that relates to the investigation. One reason I think I like these as much as I do is that unlike many other crime novels, […]
Jen K’s Review #11: The House Girl
This is another novel set up with the two timeline style that seems to be popular, especially for historical fiction. In this case, the past is 1852, and focuses on Josephine, a seventeen year old house slave at the Bell estate, who decides to run. The modern day piece follows Carolina “Lina” Sparrow, first year associate at a corporate law firm in New York. Her mother is dead, and her father is an artist that has finally found success. After 20 years of not talking about […]
Jen K’s Review 10: No One is Here Except All of Us
Less than two weeks into the New Year, and I’ve already discovered my first one star review. I’m actually surprised because halfway through I thought there were still enough redeeming qualities for two stars, but the more it went on, and the more I wanted it to end, the further my rating went down. I admit it doesn’t help the novel at all that I kept having to force myself to read a few chapters between books I actually wanted to read instead of reading […]