Scan barcode
thenovelbook's review
3.0
Quinby Graham is recuperating from injuries sustained during the Great War (World War I to us, of course) at a hospital in Kentucky (it's Louisville, though it's never actually specified). While on the path to recovery, he meets Eleanor Bartlett, and instantly falls head over heels in love with her. He makes her the guiding light of all his future aspirations. She's socially a bit above him, so he sets out to win over her entire family and also better himself in hopes of winning her love.
I liked a lot of things in this book, but the love story wasn't one of them. Eleanor's main qualities seem to be spunkiness, naivete, and beauty... a bit of a thin basis for undying love. IMO. However... Quinby himself I liked. He pitches in and makes himself indispensable to her prickly but sad aunts and ruler-of-the-roost grandmother. He is so straightforward and undisguised that he disarms them all. And also helps several in the family to find the things that they've really wanted to do all along but have been too scared to attempt, whether it's getting married, buying a farm, or nursing at a hospital. He "handles" everyone, but with such honest good nature no one can mind.
Also, the writing was pretty good and there were several fantastic passages that I'll be sharing from my Kindle highlights. I didn't completely love the book, but it did have its pleasant surprises.
I liked a lot of things in this book, but the love story wasn't one of them. Eleanor's main qualities seem to be spunkiness, naivete, and beauty... a bit of a thin basis for undying love. IMO. However... Quinby himself I liked. He pitches in and makes himself indispensable to her prickly but sad aunts and ruler-of-the-roost grandmother. He is so straightforward and undisguised that he disarms them all. And also helps several in the family to find the things that they've really wanted to do all along but have been too scared to attempt, whether it's getting married, buying a farm, or nursing at a hospital. He "handles" everyone, but with such honest good nature no one can mind.
Also, the writing was pretty good and there were several fantastic passages that I'll be sharing from my Kindle highlights. I didn't completely love the book, but it did have its pleasant surprises.
lgpiper's review
4.0
The only reason I ever picked this book to read is because it was by the author of one of my spouse's favorite books ever, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. I liked Mrs. Wiggs ok, so I figured I'd check out more by Ms. Rice. Quin was my second selection.
I think of Mrs. Wiggs as being a book for children, but Quin was not. It was your basic adult novel. Quin, or Quinby Graham is a young man who was a war hero (WWI), who was gassed. He grew up in a rural area, Maine, actually, and finds himself mustered out in Kentucky, where this book takes place. Quin is highly capable, but unpolished and uneducated. By accident he meets and falls in love with a lovely, well off, young woman and makes it his purpose to refine himself so that he can win her. He eventually succeeds in that, while also rearranging the lives of the hapless people around him, notably the autocratic grandmother of Quin's love interest, her two maiden aunts and her sot of an uncle. Quin has a way of convincing people to overcome their prejudices and act in what ultimately turns out to be their own best interests.
The story is well written and keeps one's interest. Some of it might seem exceedingly romantic to modern readers, but it's a story of its time. Personally, I thought the other young woman in the book, Rose, seemed like a better catch than Quin's love interest, Eleanor, but what do I know about romance?
I think of Mrs. Wiggs as being a book for children, but Quin was not. It was your basic adult novel. Quin, or Quinby Graham is a young man who was a war hero (WWI), who was gassed. He grew up in a rural area, Maine, actually, and finds himself mustered out in Kentucky, where this book takes place. Quin is highly capable, but unpolished and uneducated. By accident he meets and falls in love with a lovely, well off, young woman and makes it his purpose to refine himself so that he can win her. He eventually succeeds in that, while also rearranging the lives of the hapless people around him, notably the autocratic grandmother of Quin's love interest, her two maiden aunts and her sot of an uncle. Quin has a way of convincing people to overcome their prejudices and act in what ultimately turns out to be their own best interests.
The story is well written and keeps one's interest. Some of it might seem exceedingly romantic to modern readers, but it's a story of its time. Personally, I thought the other young woman in the book, Rose, seemed like a better catch than Quin's love interest, Eleanor, but what do I know about romance?
More...