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Een Boek Vol Leugens (2011)

by Mary Horlock(Favorite Author)

2.99 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

9045802686 (ISBN13: 9789045802688)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Mouria

review 1: Overall, this book was OK. I'm giving it three stars, because the footnotes and the main character's observations are so clever and witty, and the writing is really good. Plus, I think a lot of people will love it; it just wasn't something I got caught up in.Cat starts off as an articulate and admirable protagonist, but for someone so smart and observant, she had zero ability to eschew the petty bullshit of her peer group. I get that she had some insecurities, but I was just too impatient to enjoy her spiral into a manipulative, albeit clever, twit who drinks too much and is so starved for attention, she'll take whatever she can get. I wanted her to rise above the typical teenage angst and not succumb to the stereotypical bullying and "mean girl" crap her (so-called) frien... moreds were dishing out, because as a narrator, she had insight that gave me hope. As a person, not so much. Though, in her defense, she had a lot on her plate, what with her father's recent death, her mom's lack of mothering, a murder she may or may not have committed, and something completely reprehensible (and also unoriginal) that she did that made me lose all sympathy for her altogether.This story is told through two first-person narratives: one is Cat's in 1985, the other is her uncle's during the Nazi occupation of Guernsey (the island where Cat’s story also takes place) in the Second World War. Though there were clever parallels of conflict and character development, I didn't enjoy them, because the WWII narrative was such an annoyance. I found myself skipping over it to get back to Cat. Also, the typeface was an old timey typewriter font that was also annoying to plod through.I think Horlock did an amazing job of capturing the voice of a conflicted teenager, but the conflicts (OK, not counting the alleged murder) and the supporting cast seemed really canned. All that said, this is another book that, while not tops on my list, I would still recommend, because the writing, from a technical standpoint, is great; it was interesting; and it has a lot going for it that others might enjoy quite a lot. Get if from the library, try a chapter and see for yourself.
review 2: I found this to be a rather disappointing read. I couldn't help but compare it to the excellent "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" as both books look back at the German occupation of Guernsey during the war and the effects on the inhabitants. Unfortunately, this book has neither the style nor substance of the other. Told alternately from the point of view of a teenage girl and extracts from her father's writing about the war and the effect on his family, notably his brother, the truth about her and about what happened to her father and uncle is gradually revealed. I can see how the author has tried to be clever in the structure of the book, but I'm afraid it just didn't work for me. less

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