I started reading The Friday Night Knitting Club once before, and put it down after a few chapters because I just could not buy into the characters, and it's really hard for me to read a book where I don't care a whit about the people in the book.As luck would have it, my book club is reading it this month, and I am hosting the get-together for discussion tomorrow night, so I thought I better read it through.
Unfortunately, I don't like it any better this time. And I realized this time 'round that it's not so much the characters themselves that I don't care for, it's the writing style of the author. This is her first book, and she is trying really, really hard - and that is too apparent. I want to be generous, since maybe I will have a first novel out there someday, too, but ..... oh, my, goodness, this woman just doesn't have the skill to build up realistic, deep, empassioned characters. It just all seems to fall flat.
And frankly, she is not a knitter, and it's hard to pretend to be one when you are not.
So I give this a decisive two thumbs down.
3 comments:
I just finished that book, too--and thought of you and your knitting dreams! I thought the book was shallow and a bit flat, too. Kind of like an imitation of something better. Too many characters, many. It reminded me a bit of Maeve Binchy's format, but she spends more time with the characters (and she has a lot of them)so you know each person better. I felt like this book skimmed over (or didn't have much to say) about most of the characters.
Now, as you know.. I liked this book!! I read it a while back.. I enjoyed it.. I like all of it.. except for how it ended.. I didnt care that her details of knitting were wrong.. I liked the sappy story that it was..
I know I am a bit weird sometimes.. but well..
Okay Karen and Shawn the Newbie - You complained I don't leave comments so you don't know I'm here...
I haven't read this book but have heard similar comments. Sad too, because it is a book I probably would have purchased on a whim.
So, to save others spending on... here's one from my list of "two thumbs down": Lucky by Alice Siebold (author of Lovely Bones). It is autobio recounting her years in college leading up to and following her brutal rape. Boring, boring, boring... and this from the perspective of a woman who cares about the topic. Just in case the book club floats Lucky as a possibility, I'd suggest running away!
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