Thoughts?

[Lori]

I just finished The Baker's Secret. I gave it 3 stars because I didn't love that some of the storylines were left incomplete and I never found Emma, the main character, to be very likeable, yet I have picked up a couple other books and I can't get into them. Can't seem to shake this book. I only gave it 3 stars yet it is sticking with me like glue. Would love to know how others felt after reading it.

[Jane]

I just finished The Baker's Secret last night. I also gave it 3 stars. The best thing about the story for me was that Emma was many times ingenious in how she went about providing for her family and neighbors. However, some of the situations depicted did not seem very plausible--for example when she is taken to give the bread to the commander, the captain then tells her military secrets as he shows her their entire defensive operation....really? Also, I felt that the reasons behind Emma's pessimism about getting help from outside allies were not well explained. I felt all of the characters were somewhat undeveloped and that's why I did not connect with them. There were a few times that I was reading about Emma and Michelle that I remembered/confirmed that the story was written by a man--it did not ring authentic to me. Overall, I liked the book (thus the 3 stars) but it was not very good or great.

[Lori]

Thanks for your thoughts Jane. I was wondering if it was just me!

[Suzanne]

I am not sure that the characters were developed nearly as much as they could have been. Some of the pessimism and aloofness of Emma is more realistic than being overly positive. I related to this book because of my French relatives who lived through a very similar situation. Historically the French have been invaded so many times, by so many different groups I think they are more naturally pessimistic under those circumstances.

[Jane]

Suzanne ~ I didn't think her aloofness was necessarily unrealistic, just that it wasn't explained very well in the book. Thank you for writing about your French relatives.

[Suzanne]

My French cousins that I am still very close to have shared with me that the older generations are still very guarded with "outsiders". Still too many memories from WWI and WWII in the more rural areas of France. I felt the book expressed the strong "survival instints".

[Max]

The Baker's Secret is five stars for me. The writing was incredible. Any book that sticks with me after reading it gets high marks. I read this when it first came out and I still get goose bumps when I think of it.

[Lori]

Suzanne Skelly, thank you for your thoughts. It must have been absolutely fascinating to talk to relatives from those errors but I understand that it's hard to get them to share. I have an uncle that was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He died in his 90s and pretty much refused to talk about it his whole life.

[Lori]

Mysterymax thank you for your comment. I didn't think the writing was bad. Anything world War II sticks with me. I am 62 and learned about it in high school but until you read personal stories it's hard to grasp. Fiction or nonfiction. My problem with the book was I just didn't care about the protagonist. That's kind of important to me. Other than that, I'm not sorry I read the book. I was just somewhat apathetic about it.