Kaseys Korner

Crossings

The concept is what reeled me into this book. It's fascinating. The idea of a consensual swapping of minds/souls = most intriguing. It would be the ultimate way to experience another life or to know someone in the most intimate of ways. The feeling when the soul starts to lift from the body (as interpreted by the author) was beautiful and makes me hope to experience something similar when my life is over. It's described as a tingling feeling then a lightness like bubbles rising effervescently and pure freedom. Who doesn't find that appealing??

Overtaking another person without their knowledge/consent, not so cool and how the whole story begins.

This is the first book I've read that gave the reader the choice of how to read it. The conventional "front to back" method or by the "Baroness Sequence" which sends the reader flipping all over the book. Of course, I chose the latter method. (what do they say about curiosity??) Now I wonder if I would have liked it better if I'd just read it straight thru?? If only I had the interest, I'd put it to the test. 'Crossings' is a mere 384 pages but it felt like it could have been quadruple that. It didn't help that I couldn't get into it so I would put it to the side and literally dread picking it back up. That should have told me to put it in the DNF pile but I forced myself to the end thinking something extraordinary had to happen.  Ummmm, don't hold your breath!

On the upside: very inventive idea. In a nutshell, it can be described as a very convoluted account of the lives two people live to get back to each other. Unfortunately, where I expected to dive in and be instantly caught up, it just did not capture my interest in that way or very much of ANY way.

 

Portrait of a Scotsman

Couldn't wait to read Hattie's story.

Loved her in the first two books of the series where she had a fantastic flair for fashion, a love of tea cakes, and a desire to channel her inner rebel.

Where did that woman go????

She meets the most bad ass man in London, had instant combustible chemistry with him, then wanted to take affront at the means in which she came to be married to him?? ugh. Total train wreck. It's like the author deviously thought she could insert a different character into the story in place of our heroine and we'd all buy it. No, no, no and NO!!!

and don't even get me started on the ending. Ruined the whole book for me. I should have stopped reading after 75% of it. I can't even imagine the man we were introduced to (in book two) as the darkest, most dangerous & formidable shark in the city, accepted a separation???? Seriously Evie Dunmore?? I think the pandemic addled your mojo. That separation was pure B.S. Lucian revealed his tortured, twisted rise to being a financial kingpin and almost became a milksop over Hattie and she needs time to come to the marriage as an equal???? Puhlease! He had it right when he called her a spoiled brat. She needed time alright ~ to grow up! But this unconventional twist to a historical romance was not appreciated.

I do have to admit I've learned a lot thru this series about issues pertinent to women a couple of centuries ago. The books are weightier reads than typical HR's.

As abominable as the last chapters were, you can believe I'll BE THERE for the final book in the series. I'm counting on the author to redeem herself...

Cloud Cuckoo Land

** spoiler alert ** I'm pretty sure my feelings about this book will be in the minority. It looks like it's been getting good reviews and maybe once an author has proved himself, those follow no matter the material??

I'm feeling like I could go off on 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' ~ let's see how well I restrain myself?!
Maybe you've noticed I've been trying to keep my reviews on the shorter side lately??  But that seems impossible to do here. If the message was to demonstrate how words, stories and texts transcend centuries, cultures, etc., I received it. But holy cow was it ever a convoluted, unsatisfactory way of getting there. So many questions remain about the stories.

Let me back track for a minute. This novel is told from FIVE different points of view. Yes, five. Anytime you get that many, it takes the reader more than a minute to get invested in each one. Then every time the stories alternate, it's another mental adjustment until halfway thru the book (hopefully) all the characters are cemented mentally. Interest waned and waxed for me about these characters/stories. There were times I could have thrown a few away. In the end I was invested the most in the story I first liked the least (Konstance.) But hers was also the one I wanted the most explanations about. It appeared she was involved in an abandoned experiment which brought up moral/ethical questions. Was the "ship" purposely infected so as to erase the inhabitants and not have to answer any questions that would eventually have to arise?? Because how else does a virus infect a hermetically sealed capsule?? Did Konstance's father outsmart the people who drugged them and placed them inside by saving her?? Mr Doerr has a lot of explaining to do....

I could appreciate the environmental message in the book that came with Seymours story. I seem to be reading a lot of books with similar messages lately and with the current state of our planet, I understand their increasing frequency. Seymour being upset about the clear cutting of the forest behind his home and the fact that everyone seemed complacent about it, very relatable. He had little to no guidance in his daily life and that combined with his issues (autism??) of not liking noise, being touched, etc. left him a loner. Classic recipe for trouble. By the end of the book, he's presented as having changed from troubled villain into a hero of sorts tho???

If I were editing the book, I would have clipped Zeno's whole trip to London. I mean, what the hell was the point of that?? I wanted more from Rex and well, basically more for both of them. As it was, the sole point of him being in Zeno's story was to teach him Greek. I guess it was worth it???  Same with Omeir's oxen. Did we have to kill them off just for his path to cross Anna's??  Mixed feelings about his story too except, in the end, he was the conduit in getting the ancient book from one point to another so I guess not pointless??

I just knew the stories were going to intersect into something brilliant.  I mean, they had to right?  Unfortunately I missed that part? Was I reading over my skill set?? Unless the purpose was to create independent stories showing a books passage thru time??  Now that I've written the question, maybe that IS the answer???

Having said all that, it remains that Anthony Doerr is undisputedly a beautiful writer. There were passages among the pages that were absolutely memorable. Like this one:

“Repository,” he finally says, “you know this word? A resting place. A text—a book—is a resting place for the memories of people who have lived before. A way for the memory to stay fixed after the soul has traveled on.”

How beautiful and meaningful is that? Perhaps read it just for those glinty nuggets and don't expect to be blown away by the book in its entirety...
Sadly, I won't be recommending this one, it just missed the mark for me.
2.5 stars