From the Bookshelf of The Perks Of Being A Book Addict…

Once Upon a River

Diane Setterfield

Start date: November 1, 2019

Finish date: November 30, 2019

Discussion: Group Books of the Month (BotM)

Why we're reading this: Chosen as our group BotM for November 2019.
[close] Chosen as our group BotM for November 2019.

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What Members Thought

Jul 23, 2019 Karon Buxton rated it really liked it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 stars 🌟. A beautiful gothic tale , written in the style of a cross between an Edgar Alan Poe /, Dickens tale with hints of Rebecca and the the snow child . The story reminded me of several classic novels or beautifully tied up into one .Diane Setterfield is a genius story teller and thirteenth tale still remains one of my favourite books. My goodness she is good at creating a baddie and there are a few in this tale . It’s very rare that you read such a lengthy novel and honestly like ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 stars 🌟. A beautiful gothic tale , written in the style of a cross between an Edgar Alan Poe /, Dickens tale with hints of Rebecca and the the snow child . The story reminded me of several classic novels or beautifully tied up into one .Diane Setterfield is a genius story teller and thirteenth tale still remains one of my favourite books. My goodness she is good at creating a baddie and there are a few in this tale . It’s very rare that you read such a lengthy novel and honestly like and engage with all the main protagonists; I particularly liked Armstrong and kept thinking please don’t let anything bad happen to him or Maud (you’ll know who they are if you read it 🐷 I don’t eat pork I’m a pescatarian if I did i would give it up after reading this book ; I’m a huge piggy lover & everyone knows their intelligence. I kept thinking of the two who escaped the slaughter house in the UK and were nick named Bonny and Clyde and when eventually found hundreds of people offered them a home and they ended their days in a petting farm and not on the butchers block !) anyway the story isn’t mainly about pigs 😆and as some reviewers have said it is a very slow burner it took me at least 60-70 pages to get into it ; at first you think 🤔 where is this story heading ! But it all comes together quite brilliantly as do our wonderful lead characters ; Rita and Daunt were also wonderful protagonists, the last book Iv read this year where I actually cared what happened to fictional characters was daisy jones and the six ! The reason it’s not a 5star review from me is because it does take a while to get into it and I can see that would make some readers put it down and leave it which would be a shame & also the ending , although a good one it felt slightly rushed after 414 pages . I’d very much like to do the Thames river walk as suggested by the author at the end and not living very far away from Oxford and with summer here at last I intend to do that ! Happy 😃 reading folks ...more

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Nov 10, 2018 Elizabeth marked it as to-read