Reviews

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

megchall's review against another edition

2.0

I tend to gravitate towards books like this, stories of magic and fairytales, so it was such a shame that I just couldn't get to the end of this book. There are a lot of characters and pages and pages of descriptive writing which I enjoy but not to this extent. Totally down to personal preference, I enjoy something that is a little more to the point. It's very rare that I have to put a book down however I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. Maybe one day I will and it will all be worth it

cassmccaff's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 Stars. I rounded up for the sake of not bashing on what I know is a good book. But it just did not hit me at the right time. This book took me forever to finish and I was disappointed in the ending. It is very well written, the author is phenomenal. The characters are fun. It just seemed to drag on and with no intention of you actually being able to figure out the mystery. Some things you can guess. But it’s more just a fun story. One that I enjoyed a moderate amount. It’s really more of a personal problem. (Although I did love River Armstrong!)

ellenmorgan's review against another edition

3.0

3.5. Eh.

stephnbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

groadie's review against another edition

I didn't like the writing, it was too meandering. Some of the characters interested me, some didn't, and I wasn't interested enough to hang around for those that did. 

jnicweb's review

Boring!!!!!!

avesmaria's review against another edition

2.0

This book was a colossal disappointment. A nugget of poignant ideas about the intensity and lasting trauma of grief and unmet expectations, completely buried under ordinary writing, flat characters that were either nobly, perfectly moral or utterly vile but never in between, and a very small degree of magical realism/folklore that didn’t seem to know where to fit itself in a Jerry Springer-esque narrative about two families claiming a child found in a river.
Also I don’t think I really needed to hear about how one of the main characters jerked off as a teenager by fantasizing about sexy mermaids living in the Thames.

ellievberg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rocomama's review

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

elowgang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0