My paperback edition has a lot of praises on the very first pages. And some of these make me wonder, if I´m reading the same books as these people:
"It grabs you from the off ... Like nothing you´ve read before" (Glamour)
Has this person read any other book in his entire life?
"In this lushly written debut, it´s as though figures from old Dutch masters come to life ... Feisty yet tender, Nella is a heroine to suit a modern readership" (Rachel Hore, Independent)
Nella is a whiny brat and she annoys the heck out of me.
"A fabulously gripping read that will appeal to fans of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Goldfinch"... Burton is a genuinely new voice" (Observer)
I haven´t read The Goldfinch and yet from what I know about The Goldfinch and based on the one book I have read by Donna Tartt (The Secret History), it seems to me a sacrilige to compare these two authors.
"A compelling, atrmospheric literary thriller" (Sunday Times)
I´m still looking for the thriller part. This is run-of-the-mill historical fiction, nothing more and nothing less.
"An old-fashioned page-turner, with sudden twists, cliffhangers at the close of every chapter and an absorbingly unfamiliar and rich period setting ... The reader is never allowed to relax for too long before the ground once again shifts under their feet" (Financial Times)
I just encountered the first cliffhanger and I suppose the revelation was an okay one. I was not suprised though and I´m still not at the point where I desperately want to know what´s going to happen next.
So far this is not a bad read, but it´s nothing special either.
15
17
