The House at the End of Hope Street in Our Shared Shelf

Apr 14, 2013 Colleen rated it liked it

Shelves: goodreads-wins

A sweet, feel-good read, but...I'm not sure how much I'll remember about it a year, a month, even a week from now. I guess that's OK, but I like my reads a little meatier. First the positive: endearing characters, especially Alba. I wish the story had focused primarily on her instead of introducing so many other characters. Alba's story was interesting enough on its own without being diluted by their stories. There was one exception: I do wish we had spent more time with wise, spunky octogenaria A sweet, feel-good read, but...I'm not sure how much I'll remember about it a year, a month, even a week from now. I guess that's OK, but I like my reads a little meatier. First the positive: endearing characters, especially Alba. I wish the story had focused primarily on her instead of introducing so many other characters. Alba's story was interesting enough on its own without being diluted by their stories. There was one exception: I do wish we had spent more time with wise, spunky octogenarian, Peggy. I mean, how many books feature an old lady whose lover finds her incredibly sexy! The author also did a good job with foreshadowing. She strung the characters' stories out, throwing in little bits of suspense here and there to make you keep reading. The negative: way too many characters. I've never read a book where almost every character was a main character. You can't possibly do justice to their stories when there are so many. And there were times when I wasn't even sure whose story was currently onstage. The magic house theme wasn't fleshed out either, which was disappointing. As an avid reader, I was excited to see that the house had formerly been inhabited by literary greats such as Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Parker, and Daphne du Maurier (then, oddly, she throws in Florence Nightingale and the actress, Elizabeth Taylor). They appear as talking portraits on the wall. But they appear too seldom to have any impact. You don't get a sense of their personalities. The helpful advice they're supposed to be giving the troubled residents of the magic house doesn't have much of an impact either. That whole idea deserves more time--perhaps even its own book. Overall, I think the author took on much more than she could handle. A magic house, talking portraits, people with telepathic powers (not explained very well, either), suicide, domestic abuse, homosexuality, family secrets--it's all just too much! Something has to give and you end up frustrated by the watered-down stories. Here's what Van Praag should do--write a separate book about each character. They're all worthy of it. ...more

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