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Bruid Van Argentinië (2012)

by Pam Lewis(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

9044333887 (ISBN13: 9789044333886)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

The House of Books

review 1: I won this book from Goodread's First Reads.When I read the description to the book it seemed really interesting. Which it was. But the characters were so unlikable it was unreal. I couldn't stand how cruel and abusive everyone was or how naive and air headed Minke was.The ending and plot put a bandage on the terrible characters. It's worth the read, just brace for some cruel and unusual characters.
review 2: For the most part, this was an enjoyable read- enough so that I would have no problem reading any of Pam Lewis’ other works, though from what I understand by reading the back blurb, are not historical fiction. That’s a bummer, because she has an eye for detail that really submerses her readers into turn of the century Argentina, New York, and Amsterdam... more.When the story opens, we meet a very young Minke as she is about to embark on the first of her travels to become a nurse to a wealthy man’s ailing wife. From there, it’s little time before the plot shoots off, as the wife dies maybe a chapter later (under suspicious circumstances that aren’t resolved until much later,) and Minke finds herself engaged to the master of the house himself and on the way to Argentina.In Argentina, life progresses as one would expect: she finds her footing as a new wife, explores her surroundings, and ultimately has a son who is kidnapped. Up until this point, I was happily along for the ride, but here’s where it started losing its five star rating. After the kidnapping of her son (which is blamed on Minke’s male friend, whom her husband was jealous of and therefore shot and killed- or so you’re led to believe,) the family business starts going downhill and Minke and her husband are forced to relocate themselves and the rest of their family to New York City in search of work. Minke has another child, her sister is having an affair with her husband, and Minke’s only friend is her husband’s best friend (who it is now revealed is also his uncle!) who she forgives for not saying, “oh, by the way, I totally knew your sister was banging your husband. My bad.” But that’s not all! Minke, tired of dealing with her husband’s stupidity and philandering ways, gets some lady balls and finds herself a job and board for her and her daughter. She cuts contact with her sister and her husband (easier said than done, because they bump into each other a few more times,) and pretty much only hangs around with the uncle-friend when she’s not being pestered by the other household servants who work with her. While flipping through a newspaper one day, Minke catches sight of the old neighbors (the ones who ruined her family business, pretty much,) and surprise! There’s her stolen kid. Now, granted, I understand that in order for closure to happen in this novel, the son had to be found. However, the way the book ended, it seemed to me like Lewis knew what she wanted to happen, but lost sight of how to get there in the very end. I won’t ruin everything for you, but basically the reclaiming of the kid did not seem plausible- particularly the vapid, sideswiped way she described the whole civil suit between Minke and the neighbors over who really had a right to the son (who the husband had sold to them, surprise! And even bigger surprise, her sister knew about it!) For reasons that aren’t really explained, Minke decides she’s going back to Argentina (which, granted, she talked about going back to look for her son, but hey, he was down the street the whole time.) And the thing that bugged me the most? Lewis wanted to have one of those nice, tie-up-all-the-ends epilogues, but she forgot one major part: she does not tell us what happens to uncle-friend Cassian. We hear all about Minke’s nephew-step-son going to a good school, but not about her best friend who helped her get back (in a possibly illegal manner, or does kidnapping from kidnappers cancel out?). All in all, I’m left with mixed feelings. I want to give the first half of this book 5 stars, and the last half a passable 3. It’s a light read, but it could have done with some more thinking. less

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