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Apr 13, 2012
Laura
rated it
did not like it
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review of another edition
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old-reads
This was a DNF after I got about a quarter of the way through - the characters of Emerald, Clovis and Charlotte were just not grabbing me. They wanted to be a cross between Bright Young Things (slightly down at the heels), Cold Comfort Farm and something more quotidian, but it didn't quite work. Smudge, on the other hand, had promise, as did their home, Sterne. Perhaps if the writing hadn't tried to be quite so clever and there was more a sense of why these people, why this plot, I could have re
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Mar 10, 2012
Lauren
added it
I don't know how to rate this. It's very odd and a bit of a failure but a noble one. It takes place in a crumbling old house somewhere in England and sometime in the early 20th century - ambiguity is purposeful here. It is the 21st birthday of Emerald Torrington and the party plans go wrong when a terrible train wreck neccessitates the use of the house as a way station for the injured passenger and one guest in particular who seems to know secrets about the family. And things just get weirder fr
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I can't really say much about this without giving it away, so I'll be brief:
Emerald Torrington is about to have a very...interesting... birthday party.
What didn't work:
Granted, I'm spoiled by "Downton Abbey", but I didn't feel like Sadie Jones captured the time period very well. The story, set in 1912, could have happened any time before WWII: the family dress for dinner, don't leave the ladies unchaperoned with men, etc., but without any outside references it just didn't matter when the story w ...more
Emerald Torrington is about to have a very...interesting... birthday party.
What didn't work:
Granted, I'm spoiled by "Downton Abbey", but I didn't feel like Sadie Jones captured the time period very well. The story, set in 1912, could have happened any time before WWII: the family dress for dinner, don't leave the ladies unchaperoned with men, etc., but without any outside references it just didn't matter when the story w ...more
This book was very odd. I think it might have been intended as an allegory, but if it was, I don't think it really worked that well. I felt vaguely dissatisfied with it after I was finished, and that feeling has only strengthened with time. I will refrain from saying too much about the storyline because almost anything would be a spoiler, but I will say that I absolutely loathed the character of the mother. She's supposed to be flawed, but I don't think I was supposed to loathe her!
As an aside-- ...more
As an aside-- ...more
Too weird for me...
Not bad, not great. I can understand why some may recommend it to fans of Downton Abbey and usually I'd really be into a British family story...but this one just wasn't what I wanted to read at the moment. Does that make sense?
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This is getting four starts because it deserves more than three but I can't give it three and a half. Weird, very weird. Ending is a little rushed.
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Apr 04, 2012
Suzy
marked it as to-read
Apr 13, 2012
erin
marked it as to-read
Apr 22, 2012
Meg
marked it as to-read
Apr 25, 2012
Tasha Corcoran
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2012
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Jun 08, 2012
Rachael
added it
Jul 03, 2012
Bethany
marked it as to-read
Jul 17, 2012
Emily
marked it as to-read
Jul 31, 2012
Sharon
marked it as to-read
Jan 04, 2013
M
marked it as to-read
Jan 30, 2013
Maggie
marked it as to-read
