Customer Reviews

A Short History of Women: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have never read this author before, but I love historical fiction, and cannot put this book down. I am reading it slowly and absorbing the characters, the time lines, the relationships of this family. It is amazing to me how K. Walbert just transports you from here and now into her universe- the language of the early 20th century England, for example- completely entrancing, beautifully woven stories of hope, loss, and really what drives people to do what they do. Bravo!!

Brief, cogent, pithy.
Seems to capture tue striking points of each era.
A great read.
B. Dubois

I suppose the first sentence brings hope of an interesting book: "Mum starved herself for suffrage, Grandmother claiming it was just like Mum to take a cause too far." However, what follows is the rest of the book, which is is quite boring. The characters are neither interesting nor is their way of life. Some characters see their lives as a challenge posed by their ancestor, but the connection is weak.

Moving back and forth through time in all media is perfectly acceptable, but this book is a mess. Thank God for the family tree at the beginning of the book! Nonetheless, some of the characters from the family tree are left out. Basically, the author does not have a clear idea how to move her characters through time. Kate walbert said that she was not happy with putting the book in chronological order, but she hasn't a clue how to organize the book "out of order."

Karen Nemet-Nejat

I think you will either love or hate this book....and I hated it. Boring and hard to follow are my two main problems. On the flip side, though, her writing is quite eloquent, so I can see how the hardcore, artsy reader may like it. I was drawn in by the rave reviews ("New York Times Ten Best Books of 2009", Bestseller, etc), but I have learned that sometimes the big winner of reviews isn't all that great. Similar to the "Best Movie" award at the Oscars, sometimes it's just an artsy film that was really boring but made people feel like they were intelligent for watching so it won. Anyway, I would not recommend this one to a friend. I enjoy a book that gets the reader hooked and leaves him/her wanting more. This is not that book.

I finally finished this too long "history" of the "family" featured in this book. I don't have to love or identify with characters, but I have to at least find them interesting and none of these are. Especially boring is the 78-year-old Florence Nightengale blogger. Is this a way for the author to ironically point out the difference between Nightengale's altruistic active life and her admirer's self-pitying, wasteful one? The only character I liked in this story is Charles, and I felt sorry that he was married to the blogger. On the plot structure of this book, isn't it time that we give the segmented novel a rest?

This was the fastest delivery of a book that I have ever encountered. Book was in better condition then I expected.