SBD a day early Courting Miss Bronte
I learned a few things from this book:
Things I Learned 1-100: stuff about Brontes. I mean I learned a LOT about them. And as I read, I occasionally checked the author's facts and I could see the author did her research. She also usually did a good job inserting fact as fiction--as in it was pretty seamless. No bits standing out as obviously Fact Inserted.
Thing I Learned 101: I discovered I'm not a fan of fictional versions of a real life. I don't mind chunks of "this might have been the way this actual scene played out" in a book, or brief appearances of non-fictional people in fictional works, so I thought a whole book written that way would be fine.
But it didn't work for me. When I read certain scenes, I kept wondering if that's the leap I would have taken . . . which means I didn't trust the author's interpretation of her characters -- which was because they weren't really her invention. **
To anyone still reading this: because of Thing I Learned 101, ignoring everything I write in this review seems perfectly reasonable. It annoys the BEJEEEBUS me when I see "I hate X Sub-Genre but I'm reviewing this book anyway. And...hey! I hate this book because it's X Sub-Genre."
But I'm not dumping this entry because this review is a record for me, too. And this is the first time I'd read a novel in which the main characters were real people (I don't count The Other Boleyn Sister because we don't have acres of her letters etc. [for the record, I think I liked that Other Boleyn book, or at least I think I did, pretty much. {Not much of a record}]) Is it called a novel when it's recording real events, as well? Fictionalized history?
There were other issues for me in this book--for instance the author often showed a scene and then told us what we just saw. Unlike some modern readers, I don't mind the omniscient POV or authors doing a lot of telling in historicals (and that "little did she know" thing doesn't put a bug in my butt like it does some editors I know, Linda) Anyway. I don't mind the author inserting her voice if she's interesting or witty or provides a fresh version. But it was frequently just plain old telling, usually, without adding anything insightful or moving.
Hey, the book had moments of grace so it's prolly best to ignore me. It's too hot again. And it's that "this isn't my cup of tea" thing. As in this cup had milk when I prefer the lemon version.
__
**I do like Arthur and the way she grew to care for him was lovely.
Things I Learned 1-100: stuff about Brontes. I mean I learned a LOT about them. And as I read, I occasionally checked the author's facts and I could see the author did her research. She also usually did a good job inserting fact as fiction--as in it was pretty seamless. No bits standing out as obviously Fact Inserted.
Thing I Learned 101: I discovered I'm not a fan of fictional versions of a real life. I don't mind chunks of "this might have been the way this actual scene played out" in a book, or brief appearances of non-fictional people in fictional works, so I thought a whole book written that way would be fine.
But it didn't work for me. When I read certain scenes, I kept wondering if that's the leap I would have taken . . . which means I didn't trust the author's interpretation of her characters -- which was because they weren't really her invention. **
To anyone still reading this: because of Thing I Learned 101, ignoring everything I write in this review seems perfectly reasonable. It annoys the BEJEEEBUS me when I see "I hate X Sub-Genre but I'm reviewing this book anyway. And...hey! I hate this book because it's X Sub-Genre."
But I'm not dumping this entry because this review is a record for me, too. And this is the first time I'd read a novel in which the main characters were real people (I don't count The Other Boleyn Sister because we don't have acres of her letters etc. [for the record, I think I liked that Other Boleyn book, or at least I think I did, pretty much. {Not much of a record}]) Is it called a novel when it's recording real events, as well? Fictionalized history?
There were other issues for me in this book--for instance the author often showed a scene and then told us what we just saw. Unlike some modern readers, I don't mind the omniscient POV or authors doing a lot of telling in historicals (and that "little did she know" thing doesn't put a bug in my butt like it does some editors I know, Linda) Anyway. I don't mind the author inserting her voice if she's interesting or witty or provides a fresh version. But it was frequently just plain old telling, usually, without adding anything insightful or moving.
Hey, the book had moments of grace so it's prolly best to ignore me. It's too hot again. And it's that "this isn't my cup of tea" thing. As in this cup had milk when I prefer the lemon version.
__
**I do like Arthur and the way she grew to care for him was lovely.
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