Zoe Adams

This was disappointing. I do really like this series; the writing is good, and it's an interesting ‘new take' on the crime novel/legal thriller. But this was just a bit unrealistic.

This was another solid read - but I just didn't enjoy this one as much as American Boy or the Scent of Death. The characters were less developed - and there was less of a mystery too.

This was beautifully written. But it was a very strange experience, and I just didn't ‘get it'. I think the mice were symbolic of the way in which our emotions/trauma are always there beneath the surface even if we try to deny them - but I'm not sure. I am just not sure if this was extremely clever - and it I just didn't get it - or if it was just a bit pretentious and pointless.

3.5 stars. Was this good writing? No. But was it fun, creatively, and engaging? Yes! There's no doubt this isn't going to win any literary awards. But I don't care. I love historical fiction that takes the form of a creative ‘what if?', offering a highly unlikely - but still possible - interpretation of historical events. It's very ‘Sherlock-esque', tongue in cheek, and just generally funny and extremely enjoyable.

I don't get the raving reviews AT ALL. This was not a deep, nuanced look into addiction. It was a fairly dull, un-engaging and emotionally empty tail of addiction that lacked depth and insight.

This was a beautiful, heart-wrenching book. I can't believe this is a debut. I loved getting an insight into Croatian history and culture, but I just thought this was one of the most realistic, beautiful and incredibly sorrowful love stories I have read.

3.5 stars. This was well-written, and I definitely enjoyed it - but it is rather forgettable.

3.5 stars. This was a solid historical mystery. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as The scent of Death or the American Boy. A little bit too formulaic.

This was shockingly bad. It was completely irrelevant; it was like this was a novel written ten years ago, and only just published. It seemed to ignore how the metoo movement has unfolded, and was just so ‘old news'. Completely unoriginal and shallow.

This was great! I love the books this author writes under the name John Fairfax, but have always shied away from the Father Anselm novels, because I wasn't sure I'd like the monastery setting. But the combination of the monastery with the legal element is great. And as with Fairfax's Benson and De Vere series, it was full of moral dilemmas which I really enjoyed.

This was okay. But the main character was SO annoying. ‘Pity party' was right. And I also didn't believe the romantic relationship. To be honest, nothing seemed very real or realistic. While it passed the time, it was rather vacuous.

This was intolerable. I found the sentence length in Berta Isla hard to grapple with, but here, one sentence might last an entire page. The novel was just an ongoing mental ramble, with no sense of direction, and no consideration at all for the reader.

This was just okay. I expected more because it gets such good reviews. But it was a very cliche run of the mill historical fiction novel that was entirely unoriginal.

I appreciated this book, rather than enjoying it. It was, of course, political; but it was also intensely human. It dealt with extremely complex and difficult themes, and was more thought-provoking than anything. I really did struggles, however, with the writing. I don't know if it's a stylistic thing or a translation thing, but it combines first and third person very inconsistently, and the switches between the two can be really quite jarring.

3.75 stars. I really enjoyed this memoir. It was funny, but also moving and honest - as well as surprisingly informative.

This is my favourite type of book: historical mystery, with great characters.

This was good - but it felt more like a first draft than finished product. The whole thing was ‘promised, but as yet under-developed'.

This was my first Marias novel. I found the writing beautiful, but I also found this hard-work. I can't work out whether this was a translation issue, or an author issue, but the narrative voice was so inconsistent. Between ‘parts' I think we switched from first to third person, with the first person accounts being Berta, and then those chapters about Tomas when Berta wasn't with him, being third person. But very occasionally, an “I” slipped into the first person narrative which made you think - oh. Who is the narrator then? Is it Berta after all? I think, on reflection, it was a transaction error, as it was always turns of phrase “or should I say etc” where the “I” crept in, but it was remarkably jarring. Apart from this, the basic story itself was extremely predictable. But I don't think this really was a plot-driven book. Overall - not sure.

There were aspects of this that made me reflect on my own friendships, and I did find some of this thought-provoking. But the vast majority was very trite, self-indulgent, and remarkably ‘liberal-white-feminist'.

There was nothing wrong with this book. But that's the best I can say about it. I appreciated the themes being explored, but something just fell flat. I simply did not care what happened. I didn't find the writing particularly enjoyable, and so, this was just all very bland.

3.75/4 This was really enjoyable. It was somewhat predictable, but it explored grief well, and was well-written

I loved this even more than the Bean Trees. The characters are wonderful, but it's such a clever exploration of the intersection of race and class issues. Really clever and so well-written.

This was readable, but did get on my nerves.

I'm torn with this one. It was not really a novel. It was a book of philosophical musings loosely structured ‘through' a story. I appreciated these musings, and found some of the passage very thought-provoking and quite beautiful. But it did get old very quickly, and I can't say I ‘enjoyed' the book, however, much I recognise its quality.

This was beautifully written, and a really interesting exploration of what it means to ‘belong', from a multitude of perspectives.