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What Members Thought
Wonderful book! I very rarely give 5 stars, but this one had me enthralled from beginning to end. I'd recommend waiting for a gray, rainy day to read this, as with all true Victorian gothic. If you spend a lot of time on this site, then you're probably bibliophile enough to enjoy the intertwined fictions and histories. Call it a "metabook" - a book about books, a story for anyone who was ever scolded by a teacher for trying to read a paperback during class.
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I think this was a book that was trying really hard to be fantastic. Trying too hard. It's not that it wasn't written well; it was written excellently. The story and the characters themselves weren't very good, or at least they failed to hold my attention.
From the summary and cover, you would think this would be an amazing book. You'd think it was a book about secret pasts, lies turned truths, and an old novelist connecting with a young biographer. It sounds good, right? Sounds like something i ...more
From the summary and cover, you would think this would be an amazing book. You'd think it was a book about secret pasts, lies turned truths, and an old novelist connecting with a young biographer. It sounds good, right? Sounds like something i ...more
Until the final twist towards the end, the movement of the story felt somewhat predictable, as if I had heard it before. A few moments felt too trite to be believable: a shiver of someone's presence turns out to be a black cat that leads the protagonist through a winter garden at midnight. But even with these moments of unoriginality, the story itself is interesting and engaging, and makes for a fun read. A moment with the doctor three-quarters of the way through the book, referencing the ninete
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This book started out SO STRONG I could not put it down, but the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. I expected better, but I recommend it, regardless. A book for book-lovers.
Bibliophilia. I got pulled in deeply to this story.
Jan 09, 2009
Heidi
marked it as to-read
Jun 01, 2011
Kathy
marked it as to-read
Jul 30, 2011
Ruth
marked it as to-read
Jan 12, 2012
April Zola
marked it as to-read
Oct 12, 2012
Kelly
marked it as to-read
Oct 13, 2012
Jessica
marked it as to-read
Aug 09, 2013
Ashton
marked it as to-read
Sep 30, 2013
Elizabeth Ruth
marked it as to-read
