‘Look at all the little shiny specks, swirling around,’ said Sophie. ‘Do you know what they are?’
‘Do you? What are they?’
‘They’re the dust that falls from dreams.’I fell in love with Louis de Bernières’ writing when I read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, as I’m sure most people did. At that point I had no idea how many books he had under his belt. After exclaiming to my Mum how much I loved it, for my birthday last year she bought me this one. Shamefully, I have only just got round to finishing after beginning it twice already but being rudely interrupted by the demands of my degree.
Firstly I want to talk about the quote at the top of this post and how lovely it is. I get such a warm fuzzy feeling when a books title is a quote from the book. It helps that the title in general is so beautifully worded, but I just love how a tiny, little moment in the text became the title of this book.
I read a few reviews of this book on Goodreads, and they were a mix. Some people sang it’s praises, others thought it was average and then I saw a few awful reviews. To this I wanted to reply to each one personally explaining why I thought it was incredible, but alas I did not have time. I definitely agree that this wasn’t as good as Captain Corelli, but then its a fairly different situation he writes about so I feel they can’t be compared too closely. It definitely has the same in-depth and intricate writing style that I loved.
I completely agree with some of the reviews that said this was very long, and the story could have been condensed. However, there was no point during reading this that I was bored or thought ‘I wish he’d get to the point’ but I think that depends on your reading preferences. For me I felt the opposite, I was so invested in it I was devastated when it ended. Luckily for me when I went to read the synopsis for his new book So Much Life Left Over, (which I was planning on buying anyway) I discovered its the sequel! Which had me a little unnecessarily excited but never mind.
I’m going to finish with some points on my favourite elements of the book. The fact it was an all daughter family gave me such Pride and Prejudice vibes, especially considering the unlikable mother figure and loveable father figure. I don’t know whether it was part of inspiration but I kept thinking about it in the family scenes all the way through. I found Rosie a little bit infuriating at points to be honest, but I still sympathised with her situation and was so happy when in the end she got her character development. I loved Sophie, Christabel and especially the Father and I was in love with Daniel the entire way through. In my opinion the relationship between Gaskell and Christabel was written so well according to the period it was set in and I loved how the different characters perceived this relationship. Lastly, this book was the first in a long time to seriously pull on the heart strings, as it is set in WW1, the topic of death, loss and grief come up A LOT. Bernières does not shy away from the gritty detail either, and I felt that by the 3rd or 4th death I couldn’t take anymore emotion.
I am going to get my hands on the sequel ASAP, and I shall definitely be reviewing that too.
Molly ♥
Molly Elizabeth Marcelle Books 