Customer Reviews

The Truth About Unicorns

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

 

 

This book begins as a simple story set in the 1920s with witchcraft and unicorns in the background, and becomes a mystery as stranger and stranger events follow. This is also a story about people-- and how stories can snowball from a child's tale into a trial. The characters are well painted, you'll be hooked!

I was touched by the illustration of how events can spiral beyond the truth - even without malicious intentions - to inflict real and lasting pain.

The way we deal with this fundamental injustice is what reveals our character, our courage, and our humanity.

The struggle is truthfully and touchingly portrayed in a setting that has supernatural, mythical, and more sinister satanical elements as its backdrop, making it all the more a page-turner.

I first read this book as a 17 year old and loved it! I just re-read it -and it's still just as good, 30 years later. Crosses all age levels. It's really a girl's story; I don't see my husband being interested in this. Bonnie Jones Reynolds now runs an animal rescue facility called Spring Farm Cares- her old family farm and the setting for this story. Someone call Bonnie and tell her this story should be brought to the masses and immortalized in the movies!

While this book was in no way perfect, I could not help falling in love with it. For the first time in a LONG time, I found myself wondering what was going to happen next & thinking about the characters even when I wasn't reading it. The plot line and characters seemed to consume me for as long as I read the novel, and I stayed up late to finish it. It had a little bit of everything--romance, fantasy, danger, adventure--and had a very unique, GOTHIC feel that I love specifically because it is hard to find. I would recommend this book especially to fans of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, or other "vintage" books of the same mysterious genre.

I read this book when I was a girl of about fifteen , and it affected me deeply. Pieces of the story stuck with me over the years - Lil Bascomb's relationship with her father, the hoofbeats in the woods. It took me a couple of tries to find the book again, but once I did, I didn't want to put it down. Nope, it's not a perfect novel, there are some awkward moments, a few unbelievable motives and a bit of preachiness here and there. Nonetheless, this book rocks. The characters are complicated - you can't box them up as "good guys" and "bad guys" and be done. Paul Bascomb is a good dad and a monster. Hitty is a scheming tempress and a loving wife. And their relationships are equally complex. Sisters Cassandra and Lilith both love and hate one another. Lil's marriage to Nick is both a matter of convenience and one of love. And in spite of the fairly simple premise of this book, you're never quite sure where it's going to end up next. I love the fact that, while most of the questions are answered, things don't all tie up neatly in the end. I also love the fact that, is spite of the ambiguity, you learn enough to know the good guys - whoever they are - are going to make it.

The novel reminded me of a short story one reads in high school to discuss social, anthropological and religious intersections in a small village for the larger, global implications: gossiping, religious zeal (& manipulation), social hierarchy, education and generational divides in perspective/knowledge. It's not a bad read and setting descriptions are great, but it lacks depth in characters. Save perhaps for Upjohn (and a distant second in Harley, Lil, & Tobin), I was never committed enough to a character to emotionally attach myself (like or dislike) and at over 400 pages there was plenty of room for character development. Perhaps fewer more developed characters. Spoiler Alert: This is also one of those stories where you get to decide for yourself what happens to the characters after the abrupt ending. If you've made your way to the end expecting the semblance of a tidy ending (or even one with some direction), you won't find it.