Wednesday Books - The House at Tyneford
This week (or rather, Sunday afternoon) I picked up The House at Tyneford. *spoilers ahead*
This book follows Elise Landau, a wealthy young woman enjoying her life in pre-WWII Austria as the daughter of an illustrious singer mother and a novelist father, with an amazing violinist as a sister. She however, feels left out since she has no musical talent. Her parents decide they're all going to America, but since they don't have the money for everyone in the family, Elise will be sent to a manor in England to become a housemaid. She arrives, has difficulty learning to be a housemaid, figures out how to be a housemaid, falls in love with the son of the head of the house, etc.
Okay. When I saw the title for the first chapter was "General Observations on Quadrupeds", I knew I was going to like this book. And I did, mostly. However, it was highly predictable (not that that's a bad thing, just not as fun that way.)
Things I liked:
-Why I haven't watched Downton Abbey yet, I have no idea. Apparently this book is very similar to the show, being that it's English and about the distinction between poor and wealthy (I think? Again, haven't watched it...) But my mom and R like it so it must be okay. But I love this era in history. Pre-WWII has so many storylines you can follow, so many perspectives you can explore. I am in love with WWII literature, for the most part. And hey, that's when this was set!
-One day I'll go to England, I'm sure of it. It's books like these that make me want to see England for myself. It sounds beautiful, and this book definitely spent time describing the countryside in a way that made me want to go there.
Things I didn't like so much:
-Elise herself. She was just...unlikable. She spend a lot of time whining about her lack of musical talent, looks, how her sister doesn't like her, etc. Surprise! Sister doesn't really like you either. She calls her parents by their first names, which was weird and I didn't really enjoy. I kept forgetting they were her parents and were thinking they were characters I had somehow missed the introduction of. I guess that's more a reflection on my poor memory skills than the book, but whatever. I also disliked how she has this manual on how to be a maid, and she never even picks it up, and in fact comments numerous times about how much she dislikes it. I'm sorry, maybe this is just me, but if I had a manual spelling out everything I had to do for my job, I'm pretty sure I would read that sucker cover-to-cover multiple times. But whatever.
-The romance between Elise and Kit. We all knew it was coming, and so none of us were surprised when it did. Since they get engaged in the middle of the book, you know something else is coming, and I was honestly just waiting for her to get with Mr. Rivers, since I could just tell that's where it was going anyway. And what was with that, anyway? How on earth could you marry the father of your dead fiance? It's just... ugh. Why? Why??? Is their love based on mutual grief in Kit's passing? Is that all it's based on? Sheez. And can I just say - how did they know Kit was dead? I reread that section but all it says are fishermen are singing dirges about a fisherman dying, and then somehow they all know it's Kit? I am seriously wondering if I missed something here. I mean, just send a freaking telegram saying he's lost at sea. I never felt closure about that. You can't just... "feel" that someone's dead and expect the reader to go along with you. Or maybe you can, but the writer didn't pull this one off exceptionally well.
-The novel in the viola - what?
So overall, it was not a waste of time, but it didn't really make me feel anything, except faintly vindicated when I predicted everything that was going to happen, before it happened, or slightly annoyed that the words were slowing me down because I just wanted to finish.
My next reading project? Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke, the sequel to Prisoner of Night and Fog. I'm enjoying it so far. I like the change of scenery (Night and Fog was set in Munich, Blood and Smoke is set in Berlin.) I'm loving seeing Hitler's rise to power through Gretchen's eyes. I'm loving the deepening of her love for Daniel and his love for her. This one takes a slightly different approach, she's definitely less of a child and you can see feel that in the writing, but I'm liking new, more mature Gretchen. I'm about 3/4 through this one, and it's so intense. I love Blankman's ability to draw you in and keep you there, and I'm also loving the strong female protagonist. You get in Gretchen's way, you might as well shoot yourself in the foot before she'll do it for you. Ah. So refreshing.
-K
(Question: If I were to create an Etsy shop of cross-stitched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt quotes, would you buy one? Just thinking out loud here.)
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| Thanks Goodreads! |
Okay. When I saw the title for the first chapter was "General Observations on Quadrupeds", I knew I was going to like this book. And I did, mostly. However, it was highly predictable (not that that's a bad thing, just not as fun that way.)
Things I liked:
-Why I haven't watched Downton Abbey yet, I have no idea. Apparently this book is very similar to the show, being that it's English and about the distinction between poor and wealthy (I think? Again, haven't watched it...) But my mom and R like it so it must be okay. But I love this era in history. Pre-WWII has so many storylines you can follow, so many perspectives you can explore. I am in love with WWII literature, for the most part. And hey, that's when this was set!
-One day I'll go to England, I'm sure of it. It's books like these that make me want to see England for myself. It sounds beautiful, and this book definitely spent time describing the countryside in a way that made me want to go there.
Things I didn't like so much:
-Elise herself. She was just...unlikable. She spend a lot of time whining about her lack of musical talent, looks, how her sister doesn't like her, etc. Surprise! Sister doesn't really like you either. She calls her parents by their first names, which was weird and I didn't really enjoy. I kept forgetting they were her parents and were thinking they were characters I had somehow missed the introduction of. I guess that's more a reflection on my poor memory skills than the book, but whatever. I also disliked how she has this manual on how to be a maid, and she never even picks it up, and in fact comments numerous times about how much she dislikes it. I'm sorry, maybe this is just me, but if I had a manual spelling out everything I had to do for my job, I'm pretty sure I would read that sucker cover-to-cover multiple times. But whatever.
-The romance between Elise and Kit. We all knew it was coming, and so none of us were surprised when it did. Since they get engaged in the middle of the book, you know something else is coming, and I was honestly just waiting for her to get with Mr. Rivers, since I could just tell that's where it was going anyway. And what was with that, anyway? How on earth could you marry the father of your dead fiance? It's just... ugh. Why? Why??? Is their love based on mutual grief in Kit's passing? Is that all it's based on? Sheez. And can I just say - how did they know Kit was dead? I reread that section but all it says are fishermen are singing dirges about a fisherman dying, and then somehow they all know it's Kit? I am seriously wondering if I missed something here. I mean, just send a freaking telegram saying he's lost at sea. I never felt closure about that. You can't just... "feel" that someone's dead and expect the reader to go along with you. Or maybe you can, but the writer didn't pull this one off exceptionally well.
-The novel in the viola - what?
So overall, it was not a waste of time, but it didn't really make me feel anything, except faintly vindicated when I predicted everything that was going to happen, before it happened, or slightly annoyed that the words were slowing me down because I just wanted to finish.
My next reading project? Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke, the sequel to Prisoner of Night and Fog. I'm enjoying it so far. I like the change of scenery (Night and Fog was set in Munich, Blood and Smoke is set in Berlin.) I'm loving seeing Hitler's rise to power through Gretchen's eyes. I'm loving the deepening of her love for Daniel and his love for her. This one takes a slightly different approach, she's definitely less of a child and you can see feel that in the writing, but I'm liking new, more mature Gretchen. I'm about 3/4 through this one, and it's so intense. I love Blankman's ability to draw you in and keep you there, and I'm also loving the strong female protagonist. You get in Gretchen's way, you might as well shoot yourself in the foot before she'll do it for you. Ah. So refreshing.
-K
(Question: If I were to create an Etsy shop of cross-stitched Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt quotes, would you buy one? Just thinking out loud here.)
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