Skip to main content

Their Finest Lissa Evans

Another book another film deal making me think immediately of our recently reviewed Nocturnal Animals where a book that has been around for a while and has undergone a few name changes reaches a wider audience as the film hits the big screen.

The book had an original topic - England's film industry during World War 2 and I did really enjoy reading about the advertisements, Madam Tussauds and script writing.

There were quite a few characters and the book did skip around a bit between them all (a trait I am finding happening more often at the moment). A few of the group struggled with this and I must admit it did take me a while to remember who was who.

Evans characters were very likeable, particularly Ambrose however I love Bill Nighy (who plays Ambrose in the film) and I do question whether I liked Ambrose so much because I could envisage Nighy.

I found Edith and Arthurs story to be strange, the random proposal and the sudden 'Edie' moment. I also didn't believe in Catrin and Buckley and was pleased in a way with their ending.

It was predictable in parts, there were moments of humour, generally nice characters and some interesting insights into wartime London. It was also easy to read. I have to say though that the book just didn't do it for me. I can't put my finger on why, it was a bit bland, a bit slow but nothing that really justified me not liking it. A few of the group also felt this way with one person taking a particular dislike and marking it a zero. I think this was unfairly harsh but also don't think it justified the 10 another of the group awarded it.

The book ended up with a 6 overall which I think was probably about right. I won't be keeping it but if you are after a light hearted read this could comfortably help you pass an hour or two.

Next book is The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you).  I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

"In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year. The beautiful one The golden couple The volatile one The new parents The quiet one The city boy The outsider The victim. Not an accident – a murder among friends." We had all read the book and all agreed we hadn't really read a book where the victim was revealed at the same time as the murderer. We liked this and found it a definite page turner. The victim not being revealed so late however meant that everyone had to, theoretically, be capable of wanting to murder everyone else which made for a whole host of not nice characters. We all struggled with the characters in someway. We didn't like them. There were too many. They were too self-centered, too two dimensional. Not liking the characters often means we don't like the book and there is no denying it was definitely a hindrance. A few of the group also commented on a plot hole or two. When exactly did

Lock down book club - autobiographies

After what felt like 13 million weeks in lock down we attempted to conduct our first online meeting via Zoom. We chose a broad theme of 'autobiographies' to give as many of us as possible a chance at obtaining a book without too much difficulty. I actually didn't have an autobiography on my shelf and so borrowed The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. The book was all about raccoon eating, teepee living, deer skin wearing Eustace Conway. He has lived a fascinating life and Gilbert had carried out interviews with a wide range of friends and family but I found the lack of pictures puzzling. You gotta have pictures in an autobiography. The group had chosen autobiographies from a real wide range of people. Partly due to availability, partly due to differing interests. We had Gok Wan and his troubled childhood as a non white gay person. Louis XIV (the Sun King) and his debauched court and two Michelle Obamas one of which was given up on. I think the broad topic made fo