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A review by jacki_f
The Garden of Letters by Alyson Richman
2.0
This is the story of Elodie, a cellist living in Verona during WW2 who gets involved with the Italian Resistance. It's...okay. It's fine. There are some lovely descriptions of Italy and the story starts really well and is moderately involving, but no more so than that. It's certainly not a patch on "The Lost Wife" by the same author.
What I didn't like was firstly, that none of the characters felt terribly involving or real. Nor did I feel any particular suspense with any of the supposed danger that Elodie was in. It felt like the risks that she was taking were pretty slight and for minimal benefit as well. There are other books that cover similar territory much better, such as [b:The Nightingale|21853621|The Nightingale|Kristin Hannah|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422580224s/21853621.jpg|41125521] or [b:Trapeze|13000865|Trapeze|Simon Mawer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333580751s/13000865.jpg|18161766].
The story itself seemed to have elements that happened for no particular reason other than to serve the plot. I have no idea why Elodie's mother had never returned to Venice, a short train trip away. Or why Elodie even came to Portofino. And I find it ludicrous that (minor spoiler ahead - skip to the next paragraph to miss it but really, surely you're not going to read this ridiculous book) - how can someone feel a baby kicking inside another person's stomach only a month after they get pregnant - that is defying all medical science.
Other things irritated me, like the way the book lurches from the present tense to the past tense. Initially I thought that the past tense would be for everything up to when the book opens, but that's not the case. It just becomes distracting. And don't even get me started on the ending - I mean, really? All wrapped up neatly like that?
If you love music, you may like this book because that plays a central part in the story. And if you like Resistance novels you may like it, but it's one of the weaker ones. I struggle to recommend it.
What I didn't like was firstly, that none of the characters felt terribly involving or real. Nor did I feel any particular suspense with any of the supposed danger that Elodie was in. It felt like the risks that she was taking were pretty slight and for minimal benefit as well. There are other books that cover similar territory much better, such as [b:The Nightingale|21853621|The Nightingale|Kristin Hannah|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422580224s/21853621.jpg|41125521] or [b:Trapeze|13000865|Trapeze|Simon Mawer|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333580751s/13000865.jpg|18161766].
The story itself seemed to have elements that happened for no particular reason other than to serve the plot. I have no idea why Elodie's mother had never returned to Venice, a short train trip away. Or why Elodie even came to Portofino. And I find it ludicrous that (minor spoiler ahead - skip to the next paragraph to miss it but really, surely you're not going to read this ridiculous book) - how can someone feel a baby kicking inside another person's stomach only a month after they get pregnant - that is defying all medical science.
Other things irritated me, like the way the book lurches from the present tense to the past tense. Initially I thought that the past tense would be for everything up to when the book opens, but that's not the case. It just becomes distracting. And don't even get me started on the ending - I mean, really? All wrapped up neatly like that?
If you love music, you may like this book because that plays a central part in the story. And if you like Resistance novels you may like it, but it's one of the weaker ones. I struggle to recommend it.