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stressgirl70's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
atlantic_reader_wannabe's review
3.0
I thought this book was fairly good. The chapters could have been a bit shorter in order to create more, but other than that I liked it.
goldenorchids12's review
Will not be rating this book because.... it's a DNF for me! I'm actually a little bit sad about this one, because I wasn't hating it at the beginning. It actually was pretty okay. The thing is, and this is not a spoiler, about 120 pages in, the viewpoint changes. Now, normally, that wouldn't be an issue, but it kinda came out of nowhere. And continued to happen sometimes even mid-page the further I read, and it was really throwing me off. Also.... it got.... boring? I dunno, it just seemed like it was trying a little too hard to be poignant and moving, and I just don't care. Kudos to you if you gel with this book, but it's just not for me.
bkmckown's review
3.0
2.5 stars. It was very well written and the plot had potential but it was boring to me. You’d think a story about an archaeologist (which was my childhood dream to be when I grew up) who sees ghosts would be an interesting read, but it was slow and fairly uneventful.
expendablemudge's review
3.0
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Book Description: A specialist in prehistoric ceramics, Ren Taylor launched her archaeological career with the unearthing of a stunning set of bowls in southern New Mexico. The bowls seem to belong to one remarkable 12th-century artist, and Ren is convinced they hold the secret to understanding a woman who died a thousand years earlier. Now in 2009, archaeologist Silas Cooper invites Ren to the remote Cañada Rosa, where he’s discovered more evidence of her artist.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
My Review: Great Literature it isn't. Great Writing likewise. It's a fun way to spend a day.
Phillips does something I haven't seen before: She makes Ren, her heroine, respond to the ghosts that clutter up her life exactly as one does to the teenagers that clutter up parents' lives...slightly impatient, slightly amused, mostly befuddled by behaviors that seem to us, the observers, so self-evidently self-defeating. That gets the book a quarter star.
Then Phillips creates the swoon-worthy Silas. My favorite porn star is "named" Silas. It was the work of but a moment to slot him in the mental movie of the book, the one I always cast and direct with every book I've ever read. *swoon* Another quarter star.
The ghostly Kaffeeklatsch of pot-ladies made me grin. A half-star for making them all so cute.
And a half-star added to the baseline chick-lit two for the pots, the archaeology, and the artistic trappings. Loved those.
I liked this entertainment. Provided you don't approach it with some outsized expectations, you might too.
The Book Description: A specialist in prehistoric ceramics, Ren Taylor launched her archaeological career with the unearthing of a stunning set of bowls in southern New Mexico. The bowls seem to belong to one remarkable 12th-century artist, and Ren is convinced they hold the secret to understanding a woman who died a thousand years earlier. Now in 2009, archaeologist Silas Cooper invites Ren to the remote Cañada Rosa, where he’s discovered more evidence of her artist.
Ren has an unusual connection to the dead, a connection that’s revealed during her stay in this lush canyon disconnected from the outside world. When she was twelve years old, her brother was killed in a car accident. Yet he did not vanish completely. Ever since then, he has been a not-quite-concrete presence, inserting himself into the quiet, still moments of the day, nothing more than the snatch of a song or a silhouette in the moonlight.
Ren is someone who lives with her ghosts. And now, at the canyon, she starts to see her artist, a young woman with dark eyes and strong hands, shaping bowls and tending fires before she disappears into the wind. She sees a woman in a macaw-feather skirt walking barefoot through the sand. The ghosts are holding out clues, and Ren is tempted to immerse herself entirely in their past. But then there is Silas, a man who has reached Ren in a way no one has managed since her brother died. Ultimately Ren begins to suspect that she must choose the ghosts or Silas, the past or the present.
Ren’s story explores the ways we connect to each other and the ways we keep each other at a distance. The novel revolves around our bonds to those we’ve loved and lost, the bonds of family, and the bonds we have with those who have come before us.
My Review: Great Literature it isn't. Great Writing likewise. It's a fun way to spend a day.
Phillips does something I haven't seen before: She makes Ren, her heroine, respond to the ghosts that clutter up her life exactly as one does to the teenagers that clutter up parents' lives...slightly impatient, slightly amused, mostly befuddled by behaviors that seem to us, the observers, so self-evidently self-defeating. That gets the book a quarter star.
Then Phillips creates the swoon-worthy Silas. My favorite porn star is "named" Silas. It was the work of but a moment to slot him in the mental movie of the book, the one I always cast and direct with every book I've ever read. *swoon* Another quarter star.
The ghostly Kaffeeklatsch of pot-ladies made me grin. A half-star for making them all so cute.
And a half-star added to the baseline chick-lit two for the pots, the archaeology, and the artistic trappings. Loved those.
I liked this entertainment. Provided you don't approach it with some outsized expectations, you might too.
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