We had a choice of two books to kick off 2017. Wuthering Heights, as one of the group really wanted to read it and Agnes Grey the alternative as most of the group had already read Wuthering Heights and weren’t bothered about reading it again.
Turns out only one person read Wuthering Heights for the meeting and was bitterly disappointed by a) the lack of anything happening and (mostly) b) Heathcliff. I think visions of a brooding Aidan Turner were expected. Poldark Heathcliff is not!
Wuthering Heights was therefore swiftly glossed over and Agnes Grey was put forward. It’s a very thin book which was refreshing given that most books of this era I believe are too wordy. Pretty much all of the group were able to read it quickly which always gets bonus points from me.
I read Grey off the back of David Copperfield and Bess of Hardwick so was slightly put off at the thought of having to read another similar book but the lack of pages really helped. I enjoyed the book, it was gentile if predictable but again the lack of pages worked here to its credit. You didn’t feel as though you were wading through 500 pages just to get to the ending you picked out on page 203.
I did wish it had lingered slightly longer on Greys experiences of being a governess, a different angle when so often the lead character is a lady who does very little but attends balls and sits practising the piano until handsome if unattainable Lord identified on page 203 is suitably snared. I would happily have read more detail, in fact would have read a whole book on this subject should it have continued. Instead the two boy pupils were packed off to boarding school never to be seen of again and we were left with a lead character taking country walks and attending church (well she was a governess not a Lady so ball attending was out of the question).
It is quite easy to criticise the book however I found it comforting and above all enjoyable. Here is the tale of a heroine who, despite her family's wishes, ventured off in to the unknown to carve out a living for herself and when it didn’t work brushed herself off and tried again. She persevered even when her pupils were positively horrible and she didn’t complain. Not a bad message to have in a book and for that it got my vote.
It averaged a 6.8 out of 10.
Next book is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Turns out only one person read Wuthering Heights for the meeting and was bitterly disappointed by a) the lack of anything happening and (mostly) b) Heathcliff. I think visions of a brooding Aidan Turner were expected. Poldark Heathcliff is not!
Wuthering Heights was therefore swiftly glossed over and Agnes Grey was put forward. It’s a very thin book which was refreshing given that most books of this era I believe are too wordy. Pretty much all of the group were able to read it quickly which always gets bonus points from me.
I read Grey off the back of David Copperfield and Bess of Hardwick so was slightly put off at the thought of having to read another similar book but the lack of pages really helped. I enjoyed the book, it was gentile if predictable but again the lack of pages worked here to its credit. You didn’t feel as though you were wading through 500 pages just to get to the ending you picked out on page 203.
I did wish it had lingered slightly longer on Greys experiences of being a governess, a different angle when so often the lead character is a lady who does very little but attends balls and sits practising the piano until handsome if unattainable Lord identified on page 203 is suitably snared. I would happily have read more detail, in fact would have read a whole book on this subject should it have continued. Instead the two boy pupils were packed off to boarding school never to be seen of again and we were left with a lead character taking country walks and attending church (well she was a governess not a Lady so ball attending was out of the question).
It is quite easy to criticise the book however I found it comforting and above all enjoyable. Here is the tale of a heroine who, despite her family's wishes, ventured off in to the unknown to carve out a living for herself and when it didn’t work brushed herself off and tried again. She persevered even when her pupils were positively horrible and she didn’t complain. Not a bad message to have in a book and for that it got my vote.
It averaged a 6.8 out of 10.
Next book is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
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