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kathis_wonderland's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford is about... Yeah, what is this book about? I am not exactly sure. Smith arrived in New York in the middle of the 18th century and has a bill of a lot of money he wants to cash there. People are sceptical and Smith is not upfront with what he needs the money for.
A friend of mine gifted this book to me years ago. I finally came around to reading it, but I just did not like it. This book is not my cup of tea at all. When the very first sentence of the book was nearly as long as the whole page, I was sceptical. The book is kind of lyrical and quite hard to understand. The descriptions were quite long and I jumped over some passages all the time. The book is written from a third person view, but towards the end a "I" appears and I am still not sure who that is. I had to force myself to keep reading and to finish this book. I just wanted to finish it, because a dear friend of mine gifted it to me and said it reminded her of books we read in our teenage years. Now I can say that this book is nothing like we read in our teenage years. It is more like a book I would have to read for university.
The book got a little more interesting towards the end. The duelling scene made everything a little more interesting. However, I still did not get the book or the ending. I am still not entirely sure why he needed all the money. I think I skipped too many passages in the book to fully understand all of it. But I can live with that.
I don't have much to say about this book. It is not my cup of tea and I did not enjoy reading it.
A friend of mine gifted this book to me years ago. I finally came around to reading it, but I just did not like it. This book is not my cup of tea at all. When the very first sentence of the book was nearly as long as the whole page, I was sceptical. The book is kind of lyrical and quite hard to understand. The descriptions were quite long and I jumped over some passages all the time. The book is written from a third person view, but towards the end a "I" appears and I am still not sure who that is. I had to force myself to keep reading and to finish this book. I just wanted to finish it, because a dear friend of mine gifted it to me and said it reminded her of books we read in our teenage years. Now I can say that this book is nothing like we read in our teenage years. It is more like a book I would have to read for university.
The book got a little more interesting towards the end. The duelling scene made everything a little more interesting. However, I still did not get the book or the ending. I am still not entirely sure why he needed all the money. I think I skipped too many passages in the book to fully understand all of it. But I can live with that.
I don't have much to say about this book. It is not my cup of tea and I did not enjoy reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, and Slavery
Minor: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Sexism
chalkletters's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
When book club actually started to vote for my nomination, I felt irrationally nervous. No matter how much I told myself that voting meant they'd read the blurb and were interested, I couldn't shake the feeling that it would be my fault if Golden Hill was bad and nobody enjoyed it. Fortunately, that feeling went away as soon as I started reading.
Mr Smith is immediately intriguing; he keeps the reader, as well as the characters, in suspense about what he is doing in 1748 New York. The very real possibility that he's pulling an elaborate con adds a certain spice to his introduction to the city, especially if you find con-artist characters in fiction particularly fascinating heroes.
Golden Hill's narration, like The French Lieutenant's Woman, has a metafictional sense of detached commentary, which particularly stood out when the narrator deliberately obfuscated the rules of piquet and the high-action of the sword fighting. As a winner of the Ondaatje prize, Francis Spufford has been lauded for creating a sense of place — and yet, Golden Hill still feels modern, especially in its treatment of LGBTQ+ characters, characters of colour and slaves.
As well as evoking 1748, Golden Hill specifically brings to life the Christmas season. There's a fascinating mix of traditions, taking from British, Dutch, protestant, catholic as well as some which are probably unique to this particular set of characters. Despite being set entirely in the real world, Golden Hill shares a surprising amount with the fantasy novel The Republic of Thieves — especially the focus on ‘historic’ theatre.
Like *Gentlemen & Players*, Golden Hill has an ending which almost makes the reader want to immediately start again from the beginning. Even if you resist that urge, it would reward rereading once you know the truth about certain things. I'm certainly looking forward to reading it a second time some day.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood and Death
Minor: Infidelity, Slavery, and Racism
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