The storytelling i loved from The Miniaturist without the dissatisfying ending.

i finished this book a little more than a week ago and realized it hadn't left much of an impression. i found myself disappointed when the story shifted to the 1930s story line not because the plot was uninteresting but because the characters all seemed to be heading down a path destined for failure, much of it of their own making. the book neatly ties up all the loose ends at the end but not in a way that was satisfying, at least for me. also (me being nitpicky here), the book's driving plot is predicated on a pretty big coincidence and one of the characters and their later persona seem to bear no resemblance to one another. overall not a bad book - very readable - just little issues i had here and there.

The novel switches between Britain in the 1960s and Spain in the 1930s. I thought the author's depiction of those societies was well done, particularly with regard to the experience of a Caribbean immigrant living in Britain after World War II.

Don’t read a synopsis in advance!

A splendid piece of work, with some well written characters & interactions. A crisp ‘page turner’ of a plot & the author even does a bait & switch on the genre. There’s a couple of reality glitches but the quality here carried me through.

The dual timeline looked really interesting. On the one hand, there's a young woman born in Trinidad’s experience of life and work in 1967 London. She gets a job at an art gallery and comes across a fascinating painting that is brought to the gallery. On the other hand, there is Southern Spain in 1936, just prior to the civil war as society is beginning to convulse. A foreign wealthy family living just outside Malaga employ the services of a local brother and sister.

I obviously thought that I’d really enjoy this but it was a disappointment. By the time I got half way, I was sorely tempted to give up. I’m not sure why. I’ve got covid and perhaps this wasn’t a good choice when I’m feeling ill?

I found the first half of the book too wordy, and slow to get interesting. Rather than focusing on the plot and characters, I was often more conscious of the writing style which was a distraction to me.
The second half of the book was more interesting, and I began to care about some of the characters at last.

Perhaps this is, in part at least, a much more philosophical read than I had anticipated about the nature of creation (both writing and art)? Whatever the problem, it was a disappointing and uneven read for me.

dnf

Wow, what a great read! I really liked Odelle and Olive's characters. Usually I find naive characters like Olive annoying, but in this case it added to the story. I was quite sucked into the narrative (after a slow start), and really wanted to know what happened next! The cover, as many others have said, is also gorgeous. A few critiques: the book's pace was quite lopsided. It was VERY slow at the beginning, and it seemed to take ages to really get going, but then at the end all sorts of storylines were squished together and rushed in order to get to a conclusion. I also was really turned off by the author's use of "Caribbean dialogue" for Cynthia and Odelle's conversations-- it wasn't necessary to the plot, and I'm concerned about the white author shoehorning in her version of "dialect" to make her book more interesting. It didn't really work, and just sort of felt awkward and like cultural appropriation. I also found the characters of Teresa and Isaac extremely one-dimensional. Their motivations are never known, especially Teresa's. She just has some sort of obsession with Olive, and Isaac is just a jerk, honestly. That arrogant, "revolutionary" character who lets others suffer on his behalf is SO trope-y and tired. And so typically male-- taking credit for a woman's success yet resenting her for it. I felt bad for Harold, and the book never really resolved what happened to him. I liked that Odelle escaped the mold of "traditional happy ending" and really came into her own. Overall, definitely recommend!

A lovely book following a painting from Spain's Malaga region through the beginning of the Spanish War Civil War 1936 to it's rediscovery in London in 1967. The characters and the mystery of the painter and his/her connection to the 1967 characters, kept me anxiously reading. Nice to feel the part of Southern Spain that we loved when we spent a little time there.