I don’t know about you, but I LOVE getting new books at Christmas. I just finished one such book – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – and I have a word of advice: don’t bother. What a bore. Predictable storyline, boring and unsympathetic characters, and a literary style (using letters and correspondence to convey the story) that can work, but in this case just didn’t. I noticed the blurb on the back was written by none other than the celebrated Elizabeth Gilbert.
Now, I’m not sure if I should hack on Elizabeth Gilbert – I mean, did I found a whole you-go-girl-find-yourself-travel-around-the-world-do-some-yoga-build-a-house-for-a-native-Islander movement? No, I did not. – but wow, did I dislike Eat, Pray, Love. Not because of the concept; conceptually it is a very interesting story. I just thought the writing was boring and I found myself really not caring what happened to her, Miss “I Gave Too Much of Myself and So I Get To Live a Fabulous Year Abroad Doing Whatever I Want and Getting Paid For It”. Sorry if that sounded a bit bitter. The thing is, once I finished enjoying the food descriptions in Italy, I found that the rest of the book sort of sucked. One big snore. I really expected more from an acclaimed writer; instead I found myself paging through the book looking for whatever it was that made it a sensation. I still haven’t found it.
The point is – read the blurb on the back of the book. Often the blurb author is a great indicator of the quality of the book. So I’m looking for a book recommendation – anyone?
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