Book Review: The Quiet American by Graham Greene

This is the first book of Graham Greene’s that I’ve read and I found it took me completely by surprise, totally unputdownable!  The topic of the book isn’t my normal choice at all, but the writing style had me hooked until the story was finished.  For such a short book it contains so much:

- characters are shy and innocent yet tough and imaginative
- clashes of american, british, french and asian cultures
- descriptions of locations are detailed
- even the theme of the book could be said to cover political, romance, thriller and military tastes

Surely this book must therefore prove to suit a multitude of reading styles!

My score: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Another excellent book by Kelley Armstrong, this author never fails to please when it comes to her supernatural series of books.  This one is about Chloe who comes into her Necromancy powers during adolescence and finds herself in a group home for people of similar a disposition.  The book flows well, unputdownable even (well for me anyway).  This is one of Kelley’s young adult series of books.  An excellent plot and the ending leaves you wishing the next in the series was already released so you can just carry on reading.

My Score: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I found this book somewhat unsatisfying and actually rather annoying in the way it was written.  The author was obviously writing the book from the eyes of the main character, Margaret Lea.  However, one chapter to the next would jump from having Margaret’s story as the current text to Vida Winter’s story as the current text with no clear destinction between the two.  This confused me several times.  

I also don’t see how Adeline can be suggested as Vida Winter’s childhood name/character through about three quarters of the book when all along she isn’t.  How then does Vida Winter tell her story as Adeline to Margaret if she isn’t that person?  

The book doesn’t appear to be placed specifically at any point in time, but I felt that it must have been set in a victorian period.  No modern facilities are mentioned at least.  

How people with such serious mental illnesses can be left to their own devices for so long by authorities (even in victorian or older times) seems totally unrealistic.  Doctors are mentioned throughout the book, why on earth didn’t the doctor have Adeline and the uncle, Charles, committed for such serious mental problems?

I found the book long winded, unrealistic, tedious and confusing.  Not my sort of thing at all.

My score:  2 out of 5