Spoiler Alert!!! My discussion of this book will include the ending, so be warned.This book was a great summer read! I enjoyed the references to Nancy Drew (my girlhood hero) and the Jayne Eyre-ish plot line. It didn’t take long to read and I finished it on our trip to the San Juan islands, just in time to write up something before month’s end.
I read some of the reviews on Amazon, and they were definitely mixed. This is not classical literature. It never will be. However, it was a fun, fast read for the summer and just what I was looking for. I especially enjoyed the ending of the book where Charlotte Bell actually ends up solving a mystery of sorts. I didn’t see it coming and that is one of the marks of a good read, in my opinion. When we find out that the daughter of the ambassador is not really his daughter and that she is in grave danger, it’s really great how Charlotte saves the day.
I would probably have preferred that she didn’t end up pregnant at the end, because this is something that really bugs me. I hated that part of Cold Mountain as well. Ugh! And having a child does not complete your life. I just spent one summer teaching alternative high school and spending time with the teenage girls that had babies so one person would love them. It was enough to break my heart for life thinking of those kids. Charlotte’s reaction to finding out she’s pregnant is just too close to that. It also means that she won’t be able to take the world by storm in the near future. I was really hoping for her to have more of a transformation into someone more like the girl detective. It was fun anyway though, so I’ll take it as it is.
Let me know what you thought of the book. I can’t wait to hear!
2 comments:
Sorry this took me so long. I read the book all the way through. I have to say that I didn't like it. In the begining I kept thinking that the main character was very imature and rather distasteful. Then I started to change my mind about the book because I thought, "Oh, this must be a modern adaptation of Jane Eyre and the main character will surely grow and develop by the end of the book." I was even excusing the bad language (the way it was used only made the chacter seem more imature) and the gratuitous sex scene hoping that it would all pay off in the end. Then it ended and I was left feeling that the poor girl had gone through all that for nothing. She wound up just as imature as ever and now with a baby on the way. I felt sad for her. I also have to say that it was way to much of a cheap copy of Jane Eyre for my taste. At one point she starts to give credit to the story she is copying but then refutes it. So, I have to give this book two thumbs down. Sorry.
I'm a little late reading this book also, but I kind of liked it. It was an easy read and I'm a sucker for a little romance, a little mystery solving. Plus right know I needed something that wasn't too serious. I don't like that she ended up pregnant, but I was glad she didn't marry him, I think she did alot of growing up. It was a perfect read for me right know when I need to sit back and relax a little.
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