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Book report
Jul. 31st, 2007 07:11 pmIt’s time again – another book report!
1. The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant – Diamant is the author of the best-seller “The Red Tent”, a novel of Biblical times which I adored. Shortly after “The Red Tent” was published, another book came out by her, “Good Harbor”. I gave “Good Harbor” a scathing review in one of my previous book reports. It was so bad that I could scarcely believe it came from the author who wrote “The Red Tent”. Anyway, I was happy to give Diamant another chance with her third novel, this one, and I’m glad I did. “The Last Days of Dogtown” tells of a small community in the 1800’s and its very colorful and family-like inhabitants. There are lots of strong women, secrets, and interplay among well-drawn characters. Diamant hooks you; you want to see how each person’s story turns out. I wouldn’t say this book was as great as “The Red Tent” but it definitely held my interest the whole time and was worth reading. Nice to see Diamant back on track! Grade: B
2. Blood Sisters by Mary Jacobsen --- This book sounded so good and I really looked forward to reading it. It’s an “epic tale” of a friendship between two women, one straight and one lesbian. The subject matter means a lot to me as most of my friends --- like my best friend of some 20 years,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nytshd3 -- are straight. The book gives us the naive, romantic, and brash Val and the steady, reserved, and logical Ashmont. I felt that both women were drawn realistically. But the problem with the book is that all the other characters were totally flat and one-dimensional. Val and Ashmont’s interactions with the other characters didn’t ring true. And another major problem with the book is the plot. It is plodding and dull; nothing much ever happens, and for many sub-plots (if you can call them that), you can see right where they are going pages before they slog to their resolution. It’s almost like the author said to herself, “I’m gonna go out and write a cool book about a friendship between a lesbian and a straight woman!” but then could think of nothing remotely interesting for her characters to actually do. And while I’m at it, much of the dialog and the narrative were melodramatic and just fake. The only reason I made myself finish this dud was because I bought it. Grade: D
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1. The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant – Diamant is the author of the best-seller “The Red Tent”, a novel of Biblical times which I adored. Shortly after “The Red Tent” was published, another book came out by her, “Good Harbor”. I gave “Good Harbor” a scathing review in one of my previous book reports. It was so bad that I could scarcely believe it came from the author who wrote “The Red Tent”. Anyway, I was happy to give Diamant another chance with her third novel, this one, and I’m glad I did. “The Last Days of Dogtown” tells of a small community in the 1800’s and its very colorful and family-like inhabitants. There are lots of strong women, secrets, and interplay among well-drawn characters. Diamant hooks you; you want to see how each person’s story turns out. I wouldn’t say this book was as great as “The Red Tent” but it definitely held my interest the whole time and was worth reading. Nice to see Diamant back on track! Grade: B
2. Blood Sisters by Mary Jacobsen --- This book sounded so good and I really looked forward to reading it. It’s an “epic tale” of a friendship between two women, one straight and one lesbian. The subject matter means a lot to me as most of my friends --- like my best friend of some 20 years,
nytshd3 -- are straight. The book gives us the naive, romantic, and brash Val and the steady, reserved, and logical Ashmont. I felt that both women were drawn realistically. But the problem with the book is that all the other characters were totally flat and one-dimensional. Val and Ashmont’s interactions with the other characters didn’t ring true. And another major problem with the book is the plot. It is plodding and dull; nothing much ever happens, and for many sub-plots (if you can call them that), you can see right where they are going pages before they slog to their resolution. It’s almost like the author said to herself, “I’m gonna go out and write a cool book about a friendship between a lesbian and a straight woman!” but then could think of nothing remotely interesting for her characters to actually do. And while I’m at it, much of the dialog and the narrative were melodramatic and just fake. The only reason I made myself finish this dud was because I bought it. Grade: DMore behind the cut...
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