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maplegrey's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
agjuba's review against another edition
4.0
Great writing with lots of historical detail. The pacing of the book was slow (to me) at the beginning, but gradually became more and more absorbing.
little_red_dragon's review against another edition
4.0
Thomas Keneally doesn't sugarcoat war and the sacrifices made by the Australian nurses who served during World War I. Instead, he paints a beautiful, haunting picture of bravery in the face of suffering, both by the wounded soldiers and the nurses themselves.
pelicaaan's review against another edition
5.0
Terrific World War I novel, seen through the eyes of Australian nurses. Long, sometimes rambling, sometimes epic. People seem to be of two minds about the ending -- I liked it. Excellent.
cels's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
alcyon_alcyon's review against another edition
3.0
Really wanted to like this book, but it was all told and not shown. No real point of view for most of the book, and lots of just mechanical telling of events...inadequate, even though the events and settings were potentially very interesting. Will be a much better movie!
gr8reader's review against another edition
5.0
Not an easy read in terms of length, language (Keneally tends to be quite wordy) and some of the content (can be disturbing/gruesome) but an excellent read........a different perspective of WWI --- told from the nursing side, the sidelines and not the front. (If you read this for a book club, be sure to give yourself more time than you think you need. This was the first time I did NOT finish a book before the discussion! {And I gave myself twice the usual amount of time than I usually would! } )
lgiegerich's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. I just couldn't get into it, nor could I connect with the two somewhat enigmatic main characters. Ah well. Not all WWI books can be winners.
lynnski723's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the story line and the relationship between the sisters and some of their fellow nurses but truly, parts could have been condensed to make it about 100-150 page shorter. It just felt a little repetitive and drawn out at times. And of course, the part most irritating for me - no quotation marks. I know this doesn't bother some people but it requires me to occationally re-read a sentence/paragraph to determine if what I just read was spoken out loud, a thought, or a descirption. That disrupts the flow of the story. Overall, I give it three stars though.
desirosie's review against another edition
3.0
This book really grew on me the further I got into it. I wasn't sure about it during the first...100....pages. Keneally's style is a little different, in terms of how he handles dialogue and that took some getting used to, and I was uncertain about the authenticity of the two main characters internal voices and perspective. I got used to both, however, and even though I had ongoing moments of low-level skepticism about this-or-that "thought-bubble," it was a compelling story and the setting and narrative arc were well done. I haven't read a lot of fiction (or non-fiction for that matter) based on the first World War, but its such an interesting topic.
The story really drove hard to the end and I stayed up waaaay too late on Saturday night trying to finish it and I accidentally woke up Frank when I uttered "Oh shit, the flu" too loudly, because, well, you can't forget the 1918 pandemic will have its say!
As to the ending, I can't really say much without spoiling it, but I don't necessarily like what he did there, but I also understand it. The one thing that bugged me about it is that it seemed to suddenly make the story about a person who was not one of the two sisters in a too significant way, and that annoyed me.
The story really drove hard to the end and I stayed up waaaay too late on Saturday night trying to finish it and I accidentally woke up Frank when I uttered "Oh shit, the flu" too loudly, because, well, you can't forget the 1918 pandemic will have its say!
As to the ending, I can't really say much without spoiling it, but I don't necessarily like what he did there, but I also understand it. The one thing that bugged me about it is that it seemed to suddenly make the story about a person who was not one of the two sisters in a too significant way, and that annoyed me.