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Frog Music (2014)

by Emma Donoghue(Favorite Author)

3.14 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

031632468X (ISBN13: 9780316324687)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: I really enjoyed the subject matter, as far as San Francisco in the the early stages of its history and the diversity of the city and all from the perspective of the underbelly of society. First time I've read this author and rather liked her style and story-telling, mostly the cultural references and all the songs that were in the book. Loved the character of Jenny and there were some great little truisms to life tucked in. I would read her other books.
review 2: I had high expectations after reading and enjoying "Room" and this one disappointed me. I don't know if I would have liked it better if I'd read instead of listened to it. For one, I would have been able to skip through the songs of the period instead of having them sung to me. For another I wouldn... more't have had to put up with Blanche, Arthur, and Ernest's French accents. Finally, I wouldn't have to put up with the sighing way the narrator said the baby's name "Petit" every.single.time. The novel does do a fantastic job of bringing to life the vibrant, tumultuous, teeming San Francisco of the 1870s, but beyond that, there wasn't much. The characters, except for Jenny, all seemed like stereotypical stock characters. I didn't feel that Donoghue got to know them intimately as an author at all. Blanche wasn't much of a mother, feminist, or friend at any point. I understand that she's supposed to be complicated, but she just came off as someone sort of veering from one action to another with little explanation. And honestly, I wasn't that much interested in what became of her "Petit" (sigh), or her cohorts. If Donoghue had been able to combine the remarkably vivid characters of "Room" with her clearly skilled research abilities, then this would have been a better book. less

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