From the Bookshelf of Book Club for Introverts…

Once Upon a River

Diane Setterfield

Start date: January 1, 2019

Finish date: January 30, 2019

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Mar 27, 2019 Toni rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club

I don’t like giving a book a negative review. What little writing I’ve done has given me profound respect for authors, and I’m sensitive to the work each author invests into their stories. But I want my reviews to be honest, so here goes... 📚

ONCE UPON A RIVER by Diane Setterfield was SO hard for me to finish! If it had not been our bookclub book, I probably would have given up. It’s not that the story was bad - it was fine. But there were too many plots woven together, each story line with multi ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Aimee Andrews rated it really liked it

Once Upon a River is an atmospheric story with fairytale elements and large cast of characters. It's about a small village outside of Oxford along the Thames River. The river itself is just as much of a character as anything else in the story as it can be restful, winding, powerful and even dangerous. The book starts off in a tavern along the river called The Swan which is known for its great storytelling. On the night of the Winter Solstice, a badly injured man and a small child who appears to ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Boz rated it really liked it

I expected to love this book, and I mostly did, but it wasn’t a 5 star read for me. I think it meandered a bit too much at times, and I think the slower pacing meant that I saw some plot twists coming. There were certainly things in the book that surprised me, but maybe not as much as I’d have hoped from a book that opens with such a magical mystery. It’s still a good story that I liked, but I had higher expectations for this one.

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