Rebecca in Reading with Style

Oct 15, 2009 Juniper rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, 2013-books

below, there will be spoilers. consider yourself warned.

YAY!!! this book was so much fun and so awesome!!

a couple of my GR friends read this last fall and had a good discussion going on under their review, so i popped over to share a few thoughts. i have just copied over my comment, so i can tie these things into my review:

they were talking about unreliable narrators:

re: unreliable narrator: as soon as she lied about spending time with maxim in monte carlo, to mrs. van hopper...our narrator's cr ...more

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Jun 24, 2009 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

First irritation is that we were never given the name of the narrator. She and Maxim had a conversation about it indicating it was an interesting name. Nice – but what is it?

Second irritation is that this always nameless individual was so busy thinking about what life might be in the future that she never got around to living the present. I wanted to take her out onto the terrace and give her a good talking to.

Third irritation is coupled with the second. I don’t really want to read books written ...more

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Jun 28, 2009 Wendy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense, classics, 1001-books, national-book-award, gothic, twisted-love, 500-women

If I hadn't been so crazy busy this week, I should have blown through this book in just a few days. I'm embarrassed that it took me an entire week, actually, because it's just so well plotted. The slow-building tension, the gothic atmosphere, the naive narrator so clearly out of her depth, all build to a mostly (though perhaps not completely) surprising climax. I only just finished it, and at the surface it seems a rather straightforward story, but I haven't yet had the time to think things thro ...more

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Nov 27, 2011 Frankie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2021

Reread this for the first time as an adult. The first time was long enough ago that I had no memory of the plot. These characters are all maddening. I do not like anyone, and the first half is painful. But I have to admit it’s gripping as. Also there’s some fun social satire like their endless polite lunch the day of a gruesome event. 😱

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Jan 04, 2011 Tien rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, mystery, england

Sorry, peeps, not a favorite at all.

I do have to admit, as per all your reviews, that the writing is very good but I don't like the novel. Unfortunately, I am an emotional rater hence, 2 stars only (please don't kill me!).

The novel contains memorable descriptive turn of phrases and ingenious characters but I was really annoyed and frustrated with it. And the ending, oh, the ending... *Aarggh* ...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Krista rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book-cd, fiction, romance, 1001-read, 2010-2011-winter-challenge-read, 2011-books-read, classics-modern

Even thought this book was originally published in 1938, it still holds up well as a classic romance with modern Gothic undertones and some suspense thrown in for good measure.

The narrator does ramble at times but the descriptions are worth the wander. Once I got used to the pace I enjoyed how the story unfolded.

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